


The Picture of Sherlock Holmes

by GloomyLight, MollySHJW



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, johnlock - Fandom
Genre: Actor!Lock, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Johnlock roleplay, M/M, Military!lock, Omegle RP, Pirate!lock (sorta), Roleplay Logs, Sherlock is a vampire, Vampire!Lock, ballet!lock, this actually is a roleplay from omegle that just sort of happened to turn into a full blown story, which means a hell of a lot backstory for our smart boy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-29 15:48:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 116
Words: 469,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10857132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GloomyLight/pseuds/GloomyLight, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MollySHJW/pseuds/MollySHJW
Summary: Just an RP that started on omegle and turned into a full story where Sherlock is a vampire, Jane Austen is a bisexual, Mrs Hudson is a badass (CANON), Mycroft had a pet mustache called Frank and Sherlock had a fling with Oscar Wilde! Have Fun! ;)





	1. Do you have any plans for tonight? SH

**Author's Note:**

> Hello :) so as the summary said, this is one crazy RP which I had with GloomyLight on omegle (where I met her), which I didn't think would go this far but it would be just too sad if the story was finished and just sat on our hard drives until we stumbled over it again and gave it another read.. So here we are posting it here, so you can all enjoy the story^^ we didn't change anything about the RP as it was written, so we didn't revise it, or something, it's still in the back and forth POV swap you know from roleplaying, I (MollySHJW) play Sherlock and GloomyLight plays John. We're not done with the story however and what I posted already is not even all we have written at this point, but there's a lot ooc I have to filter out and correct spelling mistakes, so I'll keep updating as long as we manage to keep the RP going :)
> 
> We hope you have as much fun reading it as we had writing it :)
> 
> (PS if you want to use the skin for the chatbubbles in chapter one, just drop your tumblr name in the comments and I'll get back to you (including a how to in case you're not familiar with basic html and css :) )

 

**Previously: John (20) and Sherlock (19 - officially) have been good friends for a while and have been very close to becoming more than friends until about month ago when Sherlock suddenly started to distance himself from John...**

* * *

 

                                                                                                                                          

Do you have plans for tonight? SH

No, I don’t actually. Why? JW

Well… by promising to give free tutoring sessions for three months to his kids, I managed to convince a colleague of Mycroft to give his tickets for that military exhibition you wanted to see, to me. SH

What? Are you serious? JW

Yeah. I thought this would be a good start for making up to you that I’ve been such an idiot lately.. SH

Yeah, I’ve been a little worried about you, actually. JW  
What was going on? JW

I just had to think about a few things. SH

Okay, I hope you've managed to sort those things out then. JW

Not quite. I just decided to roll with them as they’re unavoidable. SH

If you need to talk, you can come to me. You know that, right? JW

Yeah, I know. I might at some point. Just not now, okay? SH

Sure. Just saying. JW  
I can’t believe you did that to get those tickets by the way. JW

Well, he’s got enough money, so I needed to find something of value to him.. SH

Wow, thank you. You seriously didn’t have to do that. JW

Well.. I kind of wanted our first date to be something you’d enjoy. SH

Our first…? I think I’m definitely going to enjoy myself. JW

So.. it’s a yes to the implied question? SH

Yes, that’s definitely an implied yes. JW

Right. Good. That’s great. I was kind of worried I’d be too late, really. SH

Too late? JW

Well, I wasn’t sure you’d still be interested after how I’ve acted. SH

I mean, I was kind of annoyed, but mainly worried. JW  
I’m only going out with you under one condition though. JW

Which would be..? SH

Promise you won’t shut me out like that in the future. If there’s a prospect of a relationship, I want you to bloody talk to me. JW

I promise. And.. there’s no “if” on my part. SH

Good. And likewise. JW

That’s.. good to know. SH  
When do you want to go? The exhibition is open until 9 tonight. SH

How about you pick me up around six then? JW

Sounds good to me. SH

Looking forward to it then. JW

Me too. Really. SH

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                


	2. Hey There

Sherlock sighed as he put his phone aside, running a hand through his hair. He was still worried about losing John eventually and would probably always be as it was unavoidable, but he knew it would hurt to lose him either way, it wouldn’t feel any less awful to willingly avoid him now than if John died after they had spent their lives together - John’s life, anyway. It was better to get as much time with him out of it as he possibly could. Looking at his watch and realising with a start that it was already five, he stood up and quickly got ready, changing into his purple shirt and some suit trousers, before grabbing his coat and scarf (since as opposed to what the media made out of his kind, he did feel cold and heat and he could still get colds, even if they only lasted a couple of days at most, he still hated them) and leaving the house, catching a cab to John’s place. Feeling a sudden wave of enhanced nervousness, he arrived at John’s place, chewing on his lips as he knocked at the door.

John had been excited for the rest of the day, having thought about what to wear for the past hour until eventually having decided on a white (ironed) shirt, his oatmeal jumper and a pair of black trousers. He had been wanting to ask Sherlock out for a while now (and it genuinely wouldn't have even surprised him if Sherlock had noticed that and therefore decided to break off contact). So all in all this was pretty great. Once he heard a knock on the door he went to open it with a warm smile. "Hey there"

Sherlock couldn't help but smile back at John, "Hi..." he said and bit his lip again, he wasn't really up to date with well.. date behaviour. Not that he had never been with anyone, it was just that back then there weren't dates - not the today kind anyway. You got to know each other in public, with chaperones, admittedly, being with a man, he had bent the rules a little bit, but it still wasn't anywhere near what he had heard about dating these days. "Uhm.. should we.. leave or..?" he asked, feeling a little lost right now, shuffling awkwardly on his feet.

John smiled fondly and nodded, taking Sherlock's hand. The other probably didn't go out on dates too often, so his behaviour was a bit endearing really. "Yeah, let's go." He said closing the door behind him. "I'm very glad you've asked, by the way."

"Me too." Sherlock said and smiled, looking at their hands, before looking back up at John, "I should have asked much sooner, really." he said and sighed lightly, hating that he had wasted time he could have had with John. "I've missed you, you know.." he mumbled after a moment, giving John a crooked smile. "Way too much ever avoid you again, so it'll be very easy for me to stick to my promise."

John squeezed his hand and nodded at that. "Good. Because I've missed you too, you know. The silence was awful to say the least." After a moment's hesitation, he leaned forwards a bit to give the taller student a quick and innocent kiss on his lips - merely brushed them really - and drew back with a small complacent smile.

Sherlock's heart skipped a beat when he felt John's lips against his own, blinking dumbfounded for a moment, before his lips curled into a smile, "Well.. if that's what I get for staying away from you, it does seem somewhat tempting to do it again." he teased and chuckled a little, lacing their fingers.

"Don't you dare, you prick. That's a taste of what you'll be missing out on, if you decide to cut me out again." John said jokingly, though there was a certain seriousness behind in his tone; John certainly wouldn't take a second time that lightly. "And you'll have to earn your next one." John teased the other with a cheeky smile as he began to lead them out on the street.

"Even more incentive to stay.." Sherlock said and chuckled, giving John a challenging glance as he stopped walking and with a light tug, pulled John into his arms, "And I don't think I have to work  _ that _ hard for the next one.." he chuckled.

"Probably not. You know me too well, Sherlock Holmes." He said with a smile, leaning into the other and immediately feeling comforted by his familiar scent. "You'll have to take the next one yourself though." The pre-med student smiled, glancing into the other's eyes.

Sherlock smirked, he really didn't need more of an invitation as he leant in and gently captured John's lips with his own in a proper kiss, moving his arms around John's waist, pulling him just a little closer.

John closed his eyes and let Sherlock draw him in even closer. At first he smiled a little into the kiss before opening his mouth and kissing Sherlock softly back.

Sherlock eventually broke the kiss, opening his eyes to look at John, but not moving an inch. "We should probably get going..." he said and chuckled a little, "If we go on like this, we'll never make it there and have enough time to actually look at the exhibition." he said and smiled, softly pecking John's lips again, before slowly pulling out of their embrace and taking John's hand again.

"Yeah, probably. And what a shame that would be to spend the next three hours like that." He teased a little, beginning to walk to the exhibition again. "Three months of tuition though?"

"Ugh, don't remind me.." Sherlock groaned and chuckled, "You're really the only one I'd do that for. Not that I have a problem with kids, but the fact that he has money and has to practically blackmail someone to tutor them isn't really an indicator for them to be anywhere near pleasant company." he said and rolled his eyes.

John chuckled at that and shook his head a little. "No, that really doesn't sound too good. I really appreciate it though, Sherlock. I've been trying to get my hands on those tickets forever." He said, giving the chemistry student's hand a squeeze. "How about I make it up to you afterwards?"

Sherlock chuckled, "You want to make up for something to me, which was in turn a way for me to make up for acting like an idiot towards you?" he said and frowned, tilting his head as he looked at him, "I'm pretty sure that's not how it works." he chuckled

"And there I was, stupidly trying to ask Sherlock Holmes out to dinner. But no, probably not. I'll have to take my offer back in order to keep my dignity then, right?" He teased, nudging Sherlock lightly with his elbow.

"Well you could ask me out for dinner as your boyfriend.. instead of having to make something up to me." Sherlock said and blushed faintly, "That'd preserve your dignity just as well."

"What a brilliant solution." John said warmly, smiling at the other. "We're really not losing any time though, are we? But you now what, I might as well just do that, love."

Sherlock smiled, "We've lost enough time already. No point in losing any more just because of social rules. Never have been particularly good at sticking to them anyway." he said and hummed a laugh.

John laughed a little at that. "I guess that's a good point. It's not like time's running out though for the two of us."

Sherlock was silent at that for a moment, taking a deep breath and trying to ignore that John had basically nailed the center of his worries with those words. "Guess so.." he murmured with a delay, giving John an almost convincing smile.

John frowned a little at that kind of reaction, but didn't comment on it, figuring he had probably just imagined it. Smiling back a little at the younger man, he continued to walk with him to the entrance of the museum. "I'm not running away, unless you give me a damn good reason to, alright?"

That really didn't make it better as Sherlock might actually give John a reason to run away at some point. Shaking his head, he smiled at John again, "Yeah... I'll try not to give you a reason then." he said, thankful for the distraction pulling out the tickets and handing them to the man at the door gave him. When they were let in, Sherlock hummed in surprise, it was a much larger exhibition than he had expected.


	3. 1792

John grinned as he looked at the map of the exhibition, already looking at the different sections. "I'm glad we came early, because I want to take at least a glance at the different areas." He said, excited they were going to get to see that much. "Let's start with the armour over there." He suggested.

Sherlock couldn't help but laugh at how excited John seemed, "Glad you're having fun.. just try to remember I'm here as well when you're swooning over photos of soldiers." he teased, taking John's hand again as he lead John over to the armour he had pointed at.

"Oi, no one's swooning, alright? I'm just interested." He said maybe a little too defensively to serve his point and followed his date to the first section.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll see when we get to that." Sherlock said and smirked, leaning over to kiss John's cheek. He really was more interested in John than antique weapons - after all he had seen most of them when they were still shiny and new.

John smiled and leaned into Sherlock a little more, looking at the different pieces of armour, as they went along the showcases.

"Ah... well that's interesting.. even I've got to admit that.." Sherlock said, having decided to look at the map while John looked at the weapons. "They've got a whole area reserved for material about the stance of homosexuality, throughout the history of the military.." he said and hummed a chuckle, "They're more progressive than I'd have expected them to."

"Really? Let's go there next." He said after a moment, looking up from a shield. "I just hope the actual military is half as progressive." He commented with a wry smile.

"Your boyfriend is the government's little brother. Make that known and no one will dare to make comments. Mycroft's name can open doors and scare people to death likewise." Sherlock said and nudged John's shoulder with his own. "Not that I'm a big fan of your plan to go off to get shot at." he said and sighed, he usually tried to avoid the thought of John wanting to join the service. He still hoped something would interfere with that.

"Getting shot at isn't exactly a crucial part of my plan, you know. And I'll finish my medical training first anyway." John said, hoping that would soothe his boyfriend (he had a boyfriend!) for now. The military had always been where he had wanted to go - it played right in with his protective nature - and that wasn't going to change all of a sudden. With that he tugged at Sherlock's arm a little and pulled him into the next area.

"I don't think getting shot at is anyone's plan, actually and yet, people  _ do _ get shot." Sherlock said, grumbling a little as he followed John over to the next part of the exhibition, wondering what nonsense they were showing, because really what people said and how they'd act then was a whole different matter, especially these days. It did surprise him a bit, how many documented cases of homosexual relationships in earlier times there were, it didn't surprise him that there have been so many cases, but he hadn't thought there were so many proofs for them, it wasn't like people flaunted these things. Looking over everything, he suddenly froze in motion as his gaze fell onto a certain set of portraits, that shouldn't be here. It couldn't. They belonged to himself, Mycroft and he had a private collection of antique pieces and that's where the paintings of him and of Victor should be right now. Nowhere else - and particularly not where John could see his own portrait. "Uhm.. should we see if we can get something to drink here?" he asked, attempting to pull John into another direction.

John sighed at little at Sherlock's comment, but didn't want to start an argument again right now. "Let's do that after we're done here, yeah?" He replied at Sherlock's suggestion, looking around the place. Especially as of today, this was actually quite a personal topic for him, so he didn't want to leave this area that quickly. His eyes stopped at the portrait of a very striking young man; a very familiar looking one. "Wait a second... Let's go over there for a moment." That couldn't possibly be, could it? Frowning a little, he pulled Sherlock towards the strange painting.

"We... there's no point... We don't have to.." Sherlock began and trailed off, knowing that there was no way to get John to just leave and ignore the painting. This really wasn't how he had imagined telling John about all of this. But his mother had been way too talented, there was no way he could deny that this was him - naturally, there was always the fact that the painting was more than 200 years old, but still, so much similarity was very hard to explain.

Once they stood in front of the portrait, his frown slowly morphed into a look of disbelief, as he looked between his date and the painting (apparently of a man dating a military man; a coincidence he wasn't really able to appreciate properly). "That looks exactly like you." He commented, wondering why Sherlock didn't look nearly as surprised as he himself did.

"Well... that's interesting. Shall we go on?" Sherlock asked and once again tugged at John's arm, "Over there is a display with weapons from the first world war... that looks fascinating." he said in a poor attempt to distract John. Although he couldn't shake off the nagging worry that something might happen to the paintings, he didn't feel exactly good about leaving them there.

"Interesting? Jesus Christ... that's quite uncanny to say the least." He said, now looking more closely at his date. He'd heard about unrelated people looking like twins before, but he wouldn't have thought that that would happen to anyone he knew... A bit bewildered by Sherlock's reaction, he frowned and took a closer look at his date. "What's going on? You don't look surprised, but nervous."

Sherlock sighed in defeat, John wouldn't let go and he knew it, he didn't want to flat out lie to him though. "That... I know those paintings.. in fact.. they belong to me.. my brother and I are keeping our more.. sensitive belongings in a sort of private gallery with people to tend to them as needed." Sherlock said and took a deep breath, "And.. the reason that man looks so much like me.. is... well..." he cleared his throat, pointing in the right corner at the bottom of the painting, where his mother's signature - Violet Holmes - was clearly visible and below that, she had written 'Sherlock Holmes 1792'.

John was just staring at this point, after Sherlock had pointed at the names. Bloody hell...! "Is this some kind of joke, because I don't get it." He said; there weren't many things John didn't believe Sherlock was capable of, even smuggling an old-looking painting of himself into a gallery. "I'm not actually that gullible, you know."

Sherlock rolled his eyes, "If it was a joke, I'd have tried to get you to come to see the painting rather than the opposite.." he said and ran a hand through his hair, only now allowing himself to take a longer look at the portrait of Victor, his expression and his whole posture changing from tense and nervous to .. just sad. It wasn't only that it made all the fears he had about John bubble up inside of him once again, he also just.. missed him. Victor.

John's frown deepened, since he didn't believe Sherlock's story at all. This could obviously not be true and the fact that Sherlock was lying to him once more (and that soon again) made him quite angry. The pre-med student had literally no idea what to make of the other's expression and discarded it for now. "You apparently didn't try very hard, if you brought me here in the first place. You know bloody well that I hate being lied to, so you either tell me what's going on or I can go home right now. Without you."

It took Sherlock a moment to react, turning his head to him, "It's not a joke." he said and tried to shake the pain off, his general fears about John, Victor and now the risk that he'd lose John even faster than he had feared, it was a bit overwhelming right now. "Look, I'll explain it. I really will. But not here.. not.. in public." he mumbled quietly.


	4. John Isn't Stupid

John looked at Sherlock for a short while longer, taking a deep breath. Sherlock looked genuinely distressed and John actually doubted that he was acting right now. "Okay, fine. But you better be honest about it." He warned, glancing back at the painting of Sherlock's supposed then-boyfriend.

Sherlock nodded, "I will..." he said and followed John's gaze back to the paintings. "I just.." he sighed, chewing on his lip, "I don't just want to leave them here.." he mumbled and frowned, pulling out his phone, quickly tapping in Mycroft's number, not giving his brother the chance to say anything after he picked up, cutting him off immediately, "What the  _ hell _ , Mycroft? I don't even want to know how you managed to get the paintings into the exhibition at such short notice, but you are going to retrieve them.  _ Now _ . Unless you want me to make a fuss and just take them with me, good luck explaining that to the authorities. Because I have some stories to tell them, before you'd get to tell them anything. Get them back and for the love of god, mind your own business." he grumbled darkly, ending the call without letting his brother answer, slipping his phone off and giving a half smile a minute later as some staff people with white gloved hands started to remove the paintings very carefully, clearly having orders to handle them with extra care. Good.

John watched the whole scene unfold and didn't quite believe how quickly that had gone. But in the end this could just be one of Sherlock's tricks; though he had to admit that there wasn't really a reason why he'd want to do that. Sighing once again, he stepped away from the empty wall and closed his eyes for a moment. What was even going on? "Let's get those drinks you suggested earlier."

"Never mind about that.. I just suggested that to lure you away from the paintings in the first place.. I've got a bottle of wine at home." Sherlock said and pointedly watched the staff handle the paintings, though he was rather surprised when they handed him the two maps where they had just stored the paintings in, looking like oversized briefcases. "Mr Holmes?" they asked and Sherlock nodded automatically, "I assume my brother..." he began and the museum worker nodded, "He told us to hand them over to you right away." the man said and he had to admit, having them with him did make him feel somewhat better. "Right. uhm.. should we just go then?" he asked, turning to look at John.

"Yes, let's... do that." John replied, his earlier excitement vanished by now. He wanted to know what that had just been all about and why Sherlock was doing this. This really wasn't how he'd wanted their evening to go; he could definitely do with some wine.

Sherlock nodded again, holding both maps under one arm and hesitantly reaching out his hand to take John's again, but dropping it half way and pulling it back, just not sure if John would still want him to touch him at all - if he still wanted to be with him after that. "I'm sorry.." he sighed, "I didn't want any of that to happen, really. I'm not pulling a prank or anything.. please just trust me, okay?"

"I don't think you're quite aware of how much you're asking of me there." John said seriously, looking the other in the eye. "Look, you've been behaving strangely for weeks now. If this - whatever this is - is your method of coping, then trust me enough to talk to me." He said quietly enough for only Sherlock to hear it. Instead of taking his hand, John ran his own through his hair and began to walk towards the exit, being slowly enough so Sherlock could follow suit.

"It's not a way of coping... it  _ is _ what I'm trying to cope with." Sherlock said and caught up with John. "I just, I can't tell you what's going on without you trusting me. Just please try to." he said and had to look away as he felt his eyes sting a little. He'd be damned if he'd start to cry right now. Taking a breath, he turned back John, "At the very least hear me out, before deciding to believe me or not."

John didn't slow down and nodded. "Yes, we'll go back to yours and I'll listen to you." John said and looked straight ahead. He literally  _ knew _ that Sherlock had lied to him about the picture. The fact that hurt him was that he actually thought John was stupid enough to believe it and just wouldn't give in. Or Sherlock was actually serious and just being delusional... Whatever it was- Oh. They were outside now and John stopped at once. "Sherlock I'm going to ask you something and you have to be completely honest to me." He said seriously and like he was holding back anger.

Sherlock nodded again, "I will be. I can't make promises about you believing I am, though." he said and felt mostly helpless at this point. How was he supposed to tell John the truth if he wouldn't believe it is? It felt like running headfirst against a wall.

"Have you been taking drugs or any other mind-altering substances?" This would explain the silence (John already cursed himself for not realising and reaching out sooner) as well as the fact Sherlock had asked him out (a painful thought that made him clench his fist a little harder) as well as the nonsense talk, which he obviously seemed to believe. John knew that Sherlock smoked - a habit John didn't approve of in the least - but there had been suggestions in the past that Sherlock might've taken something stronger in the past; well, or present. "I'll probably be angry, but you need to be honest with me right now."

Sherlock couldn't help a bitter smile, "That'd be a convenient explanation, wouldn't it? Me being so messed up by drugs that I came up with a pointless all nonsense story? But no. I haven't." he said seriously and frowned, "Well.. not lately at least... This is gonna make you even more angry, because you'll think it's another lie, but.. I haven't take anything in the last fifty years... apart from cigarettes and the occasional 'herbal soother' my landlady and I share." he said and shrugged. "But nothing that would make me come up with a twisted idea like this."

John noted how Sherlock said that he hadn't taken anything since the bloody 60s and didn't smile back. He straightened his posture and put his hands in his pockets, seriously considering to leave right then and there. He didn't though and continued to walk towards Sherlock's flat; whatever it was, the other man had a serious problem and John didn't want to leave him alone with that. At least not tonight. "I can't wait to hear that explanation then", he muttered not even trying to keep the edge out of his voice in that moment.

Sherlock fell back a little, bringing some distance between the two of them for a moment, letting some silent tears roll out of his eyes to ease the sting in them a little, willing himself to calm down and ignore the lump in his throat. He was going to lose him tonight. And there was nothing he could do about it. He might perhaps could have worked it out with a small lie before, but he had made the mistake to go with the truth and now there was nothing he could say anymore that would get him out of this situation and that wouldn't make John even angrier.

John honestly didn't know what to make of any of this and continued to walk to the flat. He didn't understand what made Sherlock behave this way, which both worried and frustrated him. Any sane person would've already left right there at the exhibition, but John remembered what he had - quite ironically - told Sherlock, when they had entered it. Hopefully Sherlock wasn't going to give him a good reason to do so.

Sherlock struggled a bit to pull out his keys while still holding the paintings, but managed eventually and luckily had just opened the door as it started to pour with rain and he heard thunder grumbling through the sky. Perfect. It felt a bit like a bad joke, really. Nothing to set the mood for ghost stories than a thunderstorm, right? "Can you light up the fireplace? I'll get the wine." he said as he closed the door behind them.

John hummed in agreement and went over to the fireplace, sighing internally at the situation. If he hadn't known better, he would've said that Mycroft had had a hand in the weather as well. Anyway, this suited Sherlock perfectly well. Wine, a thunderstorm, a story about ancient portraits... Sherlock loved the dramatic, didn't he?

Sherlock carefully unpacked the paintings and set them down on the sofa, so John and him could see them from their usual places at the fireplace, the would help with the story after all, before he walked into the kitchen and grabbed the wine from the fridge, looking thoughtfully at the two bottles of blood he had stored in there - blood bags just didn't look very appetising so he preferred glass bottles. It probably was too early for that, though, he decided, still grabbing one of the bottles, mixing his wine with some blood, he hadn't had some since lunch and slow but steady he started to feel the effects of skipping 'dinner'. Not that he was craving blood or anything, but he felt like anyone else would feel in a situation like that who had skipped a meal. He just felt weak and hungry after what just happened in the museum. Quickly putting the bottle back into the fridge, he poured a glass of pure wine for John and made his way back into the living room, making sure to hand John the right glass. "Should we just sit on the floor?" he asked and smiled hesitantly, "That'd feel less like an interrogation or a job interview.."

After accepting the wine, John raised a bit of an eyebrow at Sherlock, but nodded. "You're right." He said and sat down in front of the chair, now leaning against in with his back. He noticed that he hadn't looked properly at Sherlock since the exhibition and... had the other cried a little? Christ, yeah, this was going to be quite something.

Sherlock took a large sip of his wine after he sat down, he really wasn't sure how to start this. How did you say things like that? He had told Victor, but the mentality of people was completely different, people already believed there were ghosts and vampires and whatever other monsters. But these days? It was difficult. "So.. explanation time, I suppose." he said and frowned, looking at his glass. "Can we start with you telling me what exactly you think of me right now?" he asked sheepishly.

John chuckled dryly at that and took a deep breath so as to calm down and keep himself from swearing; he did that when he was angry or stressed and knew that wouldn't be helpful right now. Right, they were having it Sherlock's way then. After letting it out slowly, he looked at the other man and said. "Okay, so I think you are a struggling 19-year-old chemistry student; with what you're struggling I have no idea. You're brilliant enough to pull of any trick I could think of and have a way too influential brother. Other than that I do not know, and that's unnerving, frankly."

"Wrong." Sherlock said and looked up at John, "Well not entirely wrong, I am a chemistry student, I do have a way too influential brother, I'm struggling with something and thanks to no money issues and my brother's connection I can pull off many tricks, but this isn't one of them." he said and took a long deep breath, "Don't forget you promised to hear the whole story, so don't just stand up and leave.. and for a while do me a favour and at least consider that what I'm telling you now is true." he said slowly and chewed on his lips, "You got my age wrong, though.. actual age, I mean... Physically, I'm 18... and the actual age.. I turned 242 last January.." he said and tensed a little, wincing in advance of John's reaction.

John closed his eyes for a moment and nodded. The fact that Sherlock claimed he'd lived in the 18th century wasn't anything new to him though by now. However, another thing struck him, making him frown a little. "You're birthday's in January?" He realised that he didn't even know the proper date. Not that it was gravely important, but he felt like he should have at least asked him by now.

Sherlock let out a nervous chuckle at that, "Really? I just told you I'm more than 200 years old and all that you pick up is that my birthday is in January?" he asked with a raised brow, before the smile faded again, "Anyway, yes... January 6th." he clarified.

"January 6th... Right, well, good to know that. I always wondered when your birthday was. We'll have to-" He broke off mid-sentence, because he wanted to tell Sherlock they needed to go out and celebrate next time. John Watson didn't make promises though, he didn't know he could keep. "Anyway, do continue with your story, please."

"Right..." Sherlock said and ran a hand through his hair, nipping at his glass again, "Well... there's much more to it, but the point of the whole explanation is.. I'm..." he groaned, "Ugh I hate that word, it's connected to so much nonsense.. but.. well I don't have a better one for it, so here we go, I'm a vampire, so is Mycroft." he said and toyed with his glass in his hands.


	5. Razor Blades

John looked unconvinced and had absolutely no clue what he was supposed to say to that. "Aha... So, I'm assuming you're drinking blood right now, yeah?" John asked, clearly not being serious.

"It's actually mixed with wine." Sherlock said and grabbed a tissue, dipping it into his own glass, before he turned it around and dipped the other half into John's to show him the difference in colour. "If that's not enough for you, I've got two bottles in the fridge and a stack of blood bags in the freezer. It stays fresh longer like that, I don't really have the right equipment to keep it fresh without freezing, and while that would be relatively easy to afford and quite useful, it would be a tad hard to explain if I ever need a craftsman or firemen..."

John shook his head a little, when he could actually see that Sherlock was drinking two different liquids. He tried hard not to groan and rubbed his palm over his face; he hated the direction all of this was going. "Yeah, I already knew you kept all kinds of ungodly things in your fridge." He replied, laughing a little (his angry laugh, he had right before having enough), before cutting himself off and sighing. "You can't actually be drinking blood. You're stomach's natural reaction to those kinds of amounts would be to vomit it back out. Right; vampire. So, we're talking human blood then?"

"Well, I don't. For all I care, come with me into the kitchen, convince yourself that it's blood and I'll drink it pure right in front of you. Naturally you can't see directly that it's human and not animal blood... but.. well, if you want to go and get a sample you know is human blood, I could drink that too. Without throwing up." Sherlock said and emptying his glass before setting it aside. "And.. well, I could always prove it to you... by drinking right from the source.. although.. if, then I would prefer it to be you. That kind of thing has become somewhat of a quite personal thing to me.." he said and shrugged lightly.

John felt a little like his head was about to explode, but ignored it. "Sherlock, I've heard enough of this to know that the only blood sample I'm going to take to the lab tonight is yours." He commented dryly, because genuinely, how could Sherlock not be on anything and talk like that? He was definitely not leaving without one, because, yeah, John wanted to help his friend. And if that meant sitting through a vampire story, then fine. "And you come near my arteries and I smack you." He added for good measure, taking a sip from his glass of (thankfully pure) wine.

Sherlock smirked at that, he had him there, didn't he? "Why?" he asked and sat up straighter than before, gathering some confidence back. "If I'm really just high, there's no danger, at worst, I could bite you and maybe scratch the skin a little. I don't need to bite hard for my teeth to sink and catch the vein. But if you think I'm lying anyway, what's the problem? It would be proof for either you or me, depending on the outcome. But in the end, well as I said, it would prove the point of one of us. If I fail, I'll happily let you take me to a therapist, clinic, whatever you wish. But if I don't fail, I expect you to believe me." he said and shrugged.

John had to really restrain himself so as not to punch Sherlock right then and there. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Just imagine having a guy that's off his tits believe he is a vampire. You could very well bite me and rip open an artery. Jesus, Sherlock, everyone has enough strength to bite a finger off like a carrot, if it weren't for an innate inhibition against that sort of stuff. And right now I don't want to find out if you'd go there, though, by the looks of it, you actually might. And need I remind you that human saliva is less sterile than that of a dog?"

Sherlock sighed, "John, honestly, you don't even give me a chance here." he said and stood up, shaking his head, "If you think this is easy for me, you're wrong. This isn't fun, I don't think this is in any way cool, I'm not high. It's just the truth, I can't offer you another explanation because there is none. If you choose not to believe it.. it's your choice." he said, taking his glass and turning to the kitchen, "I'm not asking you to listen to me anymore, you're not going to hear another version tonight, so stay, or leave, it's up to you. But I'm tired of having every word I say fired back at me. Go talk to Mycroft if you think he's more 'coherent' than me. But.. I can't do this. I'm trying to open up to you and you just..." he trailed off, walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge, taking one of the blood bottles and pouring himself a glass of pure blood, not bothering with mixing it with wine, John would find some excuse for what it would be anyway, one that doesn't involve that it might be actual blood, of course.

John stood up and went up to Sherlock, looking at him dead seriously. "Sherlock, you can't expect me to believe you, if literally the only argument you've got is that you could bite me without causing greater damage..." He sighed. How could he get through to Sherlock? He really wanted to believe him, because otherwise everything about this was bloody (ha!) worrying... "Shit, Sherlock. Just imagine for a second you were in fact high. How would you judge my behaviour afterwards, if I believed you and let you test your theory, hm? This is getting exhausting for me as well. Do you think I'm doing this for pleasure or to be right? I'm confused because I don't understand why you'd do all of this. None of it makes sense to me."

"For god's sake, John... I just.. I'm not high, alright? My argument wasn't that I could bite you without causing greater damage.. I just.. I'm trying to tell you who I am." Sherlock said and felt tears stinging his eyes again, this time he just let them roll. "You're no doubt wondering how you can make me understand that I'm what, delusional? Crazy? A poor junkie who's mind got meddled by whatever he's taken in time? So am I, John. I'm wondering how to make you understand that it's the truth. I'm not lying to you. When I say I could bite you, I mean.. to draw blood, I don't have to put effort into it, my canines are pointy and sharp enough, which means that if I was lying, or hallucinating or whatever you think, I wouldn't bite hard enough for average human teeth to break the skin." he said and took a sip of blood.

John just looked sad. "The only reason I said you might be high is because that's the only explanation I can come up with right now. I believe you when you say you're not. I genuinely do, but what you're saying-" He cut himself off, before pulling up a kitchen chair and gesturing for Sherlock to sit on it. "Sit down and open your mouth. I know what bloody teeth look like and I'll be able to tell if you had them sharpened." John said, feeling drained. The thunderstorm in the background really didn't help with that either.

Sherlock rolled his eyes at that, but obliged, setting his glass down on the counter, before he walked over to the chair and sat down, "Careful. Best handle them like razor blades, if you want to touch, do it carefully." he said and smiled faintly, "Wouldn't want you to cut yourself.. pretty sure you wouldn't be able to handle the effect my saliva has on a human without proper warning and some time to mentally prepare." he said, feeling like an idiot as he opened his mouth for John to look at his teeth.

John didn't comment on that, feeling equally stupid to look at his date's jaw. He hadn't been planning to put his fingers into his mouth anyway. Once he looked inside his eyes widened a little, because, even though they looked normal at first glance, he could tell that they were in fact as sharp as razor blades. You could not change regular teeth like that, that much the pre-med student knew. And Sherlock's mouth definitely hadn't smelled of iron an hour ago... Holy fuck. "You could've at least had the decency to tell me that, before French-kissing me, you know." He remarked, his head not able to process what was going on anymore.

Sherlock hummed a careful chuckle at that, "Don't worry, I know how to handle them.. and they don't cut unless I intend to cut skin with it, I just warned you because you don't know how to handle them." he said and closed his eyes for a moment, before looking up at John, "Did it become a fraction more likely that I might be telling the truth then?" he asked quietly.

"I think my expression speaks for itself, don't you think?" John said and sat down on the chair next to Sherlock, burying his face in his hands, groaning quietly. Rationally he knew there was the possibility that there had been something in his wine, but seriously, he wouldn't have believed (or thought Sherlock capable of doing) that. "What the fuck, Sherlock?" He muttered, even the thought of Sherlock being right clashed with his worldview (and medical training!), it was hard enough for him to feel sick.


	6. Of Mouldy Thumbs And Ex-Lovers

Sherlock smiled a bit, relieved that he had finally gained some ground, "Don't think of it as supernatural, because it's not. It's more like.. an unknown species.. or.. a virus, I don't know, but I do know that I don't have superpowers." he said and hesitantly reached out to take John's hand, "I'm not ice cold, I have a heart beat, I live. I'm not undead or what other nonsense you've heard and read about vampires."

"Mmh. So let me recap: You have sharp teeth, can stomach large amounts of blood, have a terrific immune system and don't age nearly as fast as regular people, yeah? Oh and I forgot about the saliva thing." John said, now looking at Sherlock. "Have I forgotten anything?"

"You're close. I don't age. At all. Or at least as far as I can tell. My landlady is nearing her 350th birthday and she says she doesn't look older than when she's been turned. About the immune system.. It's regular, I'd say. But I heal faster. And what do you mean 'large amounts', I work on a normal stomach volume, so forget about all the stories talking about vampires sucking people empty. I also am as strong and fast as a human with my build and figure can become, my night vision has improved too." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "My saliva.. that's another matter, when it gets into a human's circulatory system, they get high. Their body's endorphin production starts to run wild and they practically drown in them. I've been told by erm.. well..Victor.. that it feels roughly similar to an orgasm, but it's not as intense."

"Aha." Was all that John could manage. That was frankly a lot to take, because even though he hadn't bought that vampire-thing in the first place (he had certainly likened the chemistry student to a vampire before, but only because that bloke never went out into the sunlight and was therefore pale as anything - and that still seemed more of like a personal choice) this certainly wasn't close to what he thought was possible. "How have you managed not to die of the flu or something like that in 200 years?"

"Told you, I heal fast." Sherlock said and watched John's hand in his own. "Depending on how severe the wound or illness is, although, I don't seem to get too bad illnesses in the first place. So maybe you're onto something with the good immune system after all. I recover from most things within a week though.. large wounds can take a few weeks, I haven't had anything that took more than two, though." he said, looking up at John, "Other than that, though.. I'm still me.. the guy you've met and who took you out to the museum and who's dickhead brother has ruined it."

John didn't shake his hand off and sighed. "Yeah, joke's on me, because I actually believe you. Maybe that means that I'm too high to remember taking something." He joked mildly. "And I know you haven't changed, but this is a fucking lot to take and probably the only thing that keeps me from freaking out is the fact it hasn't quite sunken in yet... God, I mean there are people freaking out over parasitical twins on others, so I reserve the right to be confused and shocked." He sighed and managed a chuckle, changing the subject a little. "Especially because I thought you hadn't been in a relationship before. How wrong one can be."

"Well not too wrong.. It's been a while.. and I have in fact never dated anyone before you. There weren't dates as such it was more like...courting.. paying attentions and even that didn't happen to obviously around others, since it was more than just frowned upon for two men to have any romance like relationship. It was illegal." Sherlock said and shrugged, "So.. this has been my first date tonight. Not really a natural, am I?" he asked with a small laugh.

"Mmh. Right, I think the laws were changed in the 80s, right? And, I could tell that you haven't dated the past 18 years." John said with a chuckle. "You were a little stiff in the beginning, but that's alright." John commented with a short smile. "Offering to bite people is something you don't do until like the fourth date nowadays by the way; that's more of a private thing too, I guess."

Sherlock grinned at that, "I'm glad you're still here, you know." he said and sighed as he stood up, "Is uhm.. is that okay?" he asked and pointed at his glass. "I can mix it again or.. just refrain from drinking blood in front of you in general.. if it bothers you, just tell me." he said and lifted his glass, not sure what to do with it.

"Seriously? I know for a fact that the thumbs in that drawer over there have gone mouldy. That's a health hazard. Just don't get anything on me; I don't want to contract anything. Jesus..." He shook his head, feeling like he should be less okay with this. But this was Sherlock they were talking about. He was as odd as they came and had done a lot of freaky things in John's presence at this point. "Do you need to drink blood by the way?"

Sherlock smiled, "Guess that means I have to brush my teeth before I get another kiss?" Sherlock asked with a smirk, clearing his throat, "Anyway, yes. I have to. I mean, I can eat normal foods and drink normal things, but I mainly do that for the taste. Nutrition-wise, it doesn't do anything for me, I need about a litre a day.. I usually split it into breakfast, lunch and dinner, actually." he said and took a sip of his glass.

John sighed and nodded a little, still feeling like he was about to wake up any second now. "I guess human blood quite literally contains everything the human body needs. Your stomach must be awful at breaking food apart though." He commented, trying to explain how that all had to work. "Anyway; yeah, I'm only doing blood-free kisses. And with that extra info I'm definitely going to smack you, if you come anywhere near my arteries without my consent. I can't fucking believe you were about to do that ten minutes ago, you absolute cock"

"John, I wouldn't do anything like that without your consent. So even if I'd be kissing your neck or anything, unless I know for certain you want it, I wouldn't bite you. Which is why I asked you to do it, and it was more for demonstration purposes anyway. Have you ever tried to make someone believe you're a vampire? It's a tiny bit difficult." Sherlock said and smiled at John, shaking his head, "Do you really think I'd just go ahead and bite you against your will?"

"No, I'm just re-emphasising my earlier point. And demonstrational purposes or not, I doubt i would've cared much in that moment. But yeah, I understand, which is why I'm only calling you a cock, yeah?" John said, before adding. "And I'm not afraid of you, if that's what you mean. You've seemed very keen on trying to make sure I'm not. I know damn well, if you wanted to kill me, there would be plenty of other ways to choose from."

"Yeah, vampires don't kill by the way." Sherlock said and poured the rest of his blood into the sink, rinsing the sink quickly, before he turned to John, "And I'm going to brush my teeth now." he said with a smirk, giving John a small wink, before he walked over to the bathroom, "I'm actually more interested in kissing you than in drinking tonight. You might cause me to develop an eating disorder.. or well.. drinking disorder." he said with a chuckle, before he disappeared into the bathroom.

John watched Sherlock and gave a long sigh, closing his eyes. 242, hm? John still felt restless and stood up going towards the sink. He hadn't had much to do yet, but John didn't believe he was going to get used to the thought of all of that too quickly. In lack of anything else to do, John went into his default mode, so to say and opened one of Sherlock's drawers, properly scrunching his face now that no one was looking anyway. After the thumbs had been disposed of safely (wrapped in three plastic bags and thrown into the bin) he sat back down and took another sip of wine.

"Hey, I heard that. The squeaking drawer contained my thumbs." Sherlock called stomping into the kitchen with the toothbrush sticking out of his mouth, "Did you throw them away?" he asked, his words muffled by the toothbrush as he blinked at John.

"They were beyond mouldy. Were you waiting for them to grow legs and run away?" He replied non-apologetically.

"Beyond mouldy was exactly where they were supposed to be." Sherlock said and huffed, "Well, you threw my experiments away, I expect to be entertained. You know where the cluedo board is." he said, turning around and continuing to brush his teeth on the way back to the bathroom.

"A health hazard, that's what they were." He replied, finding that even though he had learned Sherlock was apparently much older than 18, he still felt the need to look after him and his flat. "And no, we're never playing that again!"

"You lost your veto right the moment you dropped my thumbs into the bin." Sherlock said and smirked at John as he emerged the bathroom again, this time without a toothbrush, "It's that, or you make a better offer." he said and grabbed a fresh glass from the cupboards, pouring himself some pure wine.

"I think I might have an idea, so it's good you've brushed your teeth." He replied with a smirk and went up to the other man.

"Hang on..." Sherlock said and blushed a little, "I'm all good with kissing and cuddling, but.. well the last time I've done anything more.. biting was not an option it was a given... it sort of established it in my head that these things belong together..." Sherlock said, clearing his throat, "So.. it would be good if we go slow with this, just so I can stay level headed enough to remember that biting would be a bit not good." he said and leant down a bit to rest his forehead against John's.

John smiled a bit and came a bit closer to wrap an arm around the other. "Kissing and cuddling is perfectly fine with me tonight." He said, liking the way Sherlock's body felt against his.

Sherlock smiled at John, "If you still want to properly see that exhibition.. I could try to get us in privately, you know.. I'm sure Mycroft could call someone... I'm sorry I ruined that for you." he murmured, his arms automatically going around John's waist.

"Thank you, but I think I'm good. And I think that was Mycroft's intention, so I'm not blaming you, love." He said, pressing a soft kiss onto Sherlock's neck and leaned into him a bit more.

"It was his intention for me to see the portrait and run as fast away from you as I possibly can.. he's gonna be so mad if I tell him that just made me tell you about us." Sherlock said and smirked, tilting his head a bit to give John more room, "He didn't know I had considered all of that before, though."

"He's a bastard then." Seeing the portrait of his dead ex-boyfriend on his first date with another person would put a damper on that for him too; even under normal circumstances... He sucked a little on Sherlock's neck and ran his hand up his back, before drawing back a little. "Are you sure, you're alright?"

"Yeah.. yeah I am.. it's just.. he's right." Sherlock said and took a breath, "If I was smart, I would be running from you.. the thing is.. I tried that and I missed you terribly.." he said and pulled back a bit. "I couldn't even stay away from you for a month."

"So that's what that was all about." John said, glad Sherlock hadn't gotten himself into anything serious. Bringing a hand up to cup his cheek, John smiled at him a little sadly. "I missed you too, you know. I thought I just had become too boring for you, that's why I didn't reach out more." He admitted after a moment.

"It just scared me." Sherlock said and covered the hand on his cheek with his own. "Even I know it's not that good to talk about one's ex all the time on a first date, but.. well. I've met him when I was 17 and well... we've been together for 73 years until he died of old age.. it's hard to get over that.. especially when you realise the person you love is gone and you just live on merrily with no end in sight. It broke me.." he mumbled and shrugged, "I've been staring every day at his portrait for decades.. that's why Mycroft confronted me with it as a reminder that.. that I'll lose you eventually."

John didn't know what to say to that, frankly, but that sounded horrible. "Sherlock, if you want me to stay away from you, I will." Though he knew it wasn't a solution, John said it anyway; and meant it of course.

"The problem is.. no matter when I'll lose you.. it'll be just as bad" Sherlock said and leant over to press a small kiss to John's lips, "So I'll stay with you as long as you'll have me." he said and smiled at John, "That's what I realised in that month and why I asked you to go out with me. I don't want you to stay away, I want to spend as much time with you as I can get."

John nodded, kissing him back a little. "Good. I'm glad." He rested his head in the crook of Sherlock's neck and sighed. "You thought you'd lose me today, hm? Up until a few minute ago, I mean."

"Yeah." Sherlock said and gave a small shrug, "You're still here though. That's what matters." he said and looked around, "Are we going to spend the rest of the evening in the kitchen, those though? I mean.. we could go into the living room... Or.. not. I should probably put the paintings away before." he said, it was probably stupid, but he would feel awkward with them there.

"Yes, that would probably be a good idea." John said with a nod; the portrait of Sherlock he could get used to, but having his boyfriend's dead ex-boyfriend watch over them was..., well, it didn't exactly add to the atmosphere.

Sherlock smiled, kissing John again, "Honestly, I'll have to get back at Mycroft for this. I might call his colleague and tell them Mycroft will be tutoring his kids in my place." he said and grinned, Mycroft was never good with kids. He'd be miserable. "He'll hate it." he said cheerfully, breaking their embrace and starting to walk into the living room to take care of the paintings.

John couldn't help chuckling at how much joy annoying Mycroft seemed to bring the other. Following Sherlock back into the living room, he watched him put away the paintings. "Great plan."

"I know." Sherlock said and chuckled along with John, carefully putting Victor's painting back into its map, before looking at John, "You want to fawn over this for a while longer or can I put it away?" He asked, pointing at his own portrait and smirking at John.

John ran a hand through his hair; he did think Sherlock looked extremely striking on the portrait, but he hadn't thought it had been that obvious. "Yeah, go ahead. I'd much rather fawn over the real version instead." He replied with a smirk of his own.

Sherlock smirked and gave the portrait a last look, paying somewhat more attention to the way it was painted than what it showed, his mother's style had been very distinctive, seeing pieces of her art was nearly as good of a reminder of her than the painting of her they had back where they usually kept these things. "You know.. I'll probably go and bring the paintings back to our gallery tomorrow.. If you'd like to .. more or less meet my parents and my sister.. you can come along." he offered, looking at John.

John watched the way Sherlock regarded the painting, guessing that it seemed to have another emotional connection for him (Sherlock couldn't be  _ that _ vain, could he?). It was clear to see that those obviously meant a lot to him, so John felt special, when the other offered to take him to see others. "Yes, I'd really like to." He said with a smile, before asking "Violet... is that your sister?"

"Mother." Sherlock said and smiled, "My sister's name was Eurus. My parents weren't that good at naming their kids. Even back then, Sherlock, Mycroft and Eurus weren't exactly common names." he said and chuckled as he finally put the painting into the map.

"Well, I could always start calling you too Mike and Billy, if you prefer more common names." John chuckled and sat down on the couch, waiting for Sherlock to join him.

"Oh don't even think about it." Sherlock said and shuddered playfully after he flopped down next to John on the sofa, "Unless you want me to start calling you Hamish." he said, kissing John's cheek.

John scrunched his face a little at that. "Never mind, Scottie." He commented, laying his arm around Sherlock's shoulder and grinning cheekily.

"Beam me up,  _ John boy _ ." Sherlock said with a laugh and playfully boxed John's shoulder. "I'd honestly prefer to stick with Sherlock and John, but two can play this game, Mister." he said with a grin.

"Dear god, you're right. Let's just stick to my boring first name and your interesting middle one." John commented and gave Sherlock a peck on his cheek.

"Suits me." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "And your name isn't boring.. it's just common, but it's a good name." he said honestly and leant into John's side. "So what now...?" he asked and glanced at the cluedo board stabbed against the wall, "You know we could always..." he began, trailing off and pointing at the board.

John followed his gaze to the board and looked at him, the memory enough to make him look quite displeased. "No way, Sherlock. You know, it's actually not possible for the victim to have done it; that's why." He was not going to let himself be talked into a debacle like that again.

"It was the only possible conclusion!" Sherlock said and laughed, actually that discussion that had followed the game was one of his favourite memories with John. "Okay, you make a suggestion then." he said and looked up at John.

"I think you said something about kisses and cuddles that I'd like to come back to." John smiled, running a hand Through the mop of dark brown curls. "Only if that's more entertaining than cluedo of course."

"Well, show me what you've got, I'll decide later." Sherlock teased and smirked at John.


	7. Not Exactly Wine, John

Sherlock stifled a yawn as he, still half asleep, walked into the kitchen, he had been somewhat reluctant to leave John's side, but he figured it would be nicer if he'd grab breakfast and brush his teeth before John would wake up, so he didn't have to deal with the non-bloody kisses matter at all, his blood was naturally clean, but well, he could understand why John would prefer if he'd brush his teeth after that. Grabbing a glass from the cupboard, he poured himself some blood, leaning back against the counter as he took a sip, smiling to himself as he remembered last night's events, more than glad he had been able to convince John he was telling the truth after all.

After hearing some shuffling in the kitchen, John awoke slowly, finding himself on a couch. Sherlock's couch to be exact. Speaking of which, where was the old vampire (- he'd had an interesting dream)? With a sigh he got up and padded tiredly into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Morning." He groaned, walking over to where he assumed the younger man was standing. "Wine that early in the morning?" He asked groggily, before pausing and frowning deeply. What the-?

"Not exactly wine, John." Sherlock said and frowned at John's expression. He'd been alright with it, hadn't he? Sort of at least... at the very least more than what would justify this reaction. "If you've got second thoughts about watching me drink.. I can try to hide it again..." he asked, holding his glass low next to his leg to keep it a bit out of John's sight.

"Not exactly..." John repeated more to himself than anyone else. No, he had definitely dreamed that up hadn't he? As soon as he could smell that all too familiar irony smell however he closed his eyes and groaned, as it was slowly dawning to him.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we have this conversation already?" Sherlock asked and still frowned at John, tilting his head a little. "I mean.. well.. you seemed more weirded out about the thumbs than my eating habits."

John rubbed his face with his palm and exhaled slowly. "No, we did, didn't we." He looked at the glass in the chemistry student's hand and last night's events slowly came back. "Right. Thought I had dreamed that up. Wow, it's definitely sunken in more than yesterday."

"Is.. is it still okay?" Sherlock asked slowly and chewed on his lips, suddenly feeling insecure again about all of this, he had thought John didn't mind, really. If he had, surely he wouldn't have let Sherlock come so close to him after that talk?

"Course, love." John muttered tiredly, leaning his forehead against Sherlock's chest. Wow, all of that was actually real. "You sound surprised I’m shocked." He commented, becoming a little angry at himself for not being more sincere. He was training to become a bloody doctor for god's sake. Chronic diseases shouldn't shock him; especially not after knowing about it for a day.

"You know.. if that makes it easier for you to cope with this.. you can use it.. me, I mean.." Sherlock said and set his glass aside to grab a kitchen knife from the drawer, drawing a not too deep cut (yet deep enough to draw blood) across his palm and squirming a little at the pain, yet he tried to be quick because he was sure John would have objected if he had warned him. Within a minute, though, the wound closed up completely. "It would be the same if you cut yourself.. if I'd lick the wound, it'd stop the bleeding instantly and it would heal quick.. not quite as fast as this, he sat stretching his hand a little, "But in two or three minutes it'd heal. If we can isolate whatever it is that does the trick and manage to synthetically replicate it.. you could be the next Alexander Fleming."

John watched in mild horror as Sherlock cut himself, cursing himself for not having intervened. Did Sherlock think he was helping him, because what John would've appreciated, would've been some time and a hug maybe; performing another 'magic trick' (that involved Sherlock hurting himself; John had felt him wince) didn't exactly help with his feeling of being overwhelmed by all of this. What made it worse though were Sherlock's words, which made John feel sick to his stomach. " _ Use _ you? Seriously? Jesus Christ, have you any idea what you're- Do you really think that's what I want?"

Sherlock sighed, "I probably should have worded that differently...  _ Be _ with me and use this." he said and held up the hand that was still a bit bloody, but the wound had disappeared, "You want to help people. If you can do both, being with me and helping people.. I mean.. just imagine if you're in a warzone, a comrade of you gets shot in the stomach, ripping a major vene, imagine there was a serum military doctors could inject to stop the bleeding and speed up the healing of the wound.. or in emergency medicine..."

John took a step backwards, because right now John was mentally very far from thinking about medical discoveries; if Sherlock's blood had been the antidote for HIV, John couldn't have cared less (and the military example didn't help to lighten his mood either). He was having problems to cope with the lack of normalcy of it all. What he had just shown the shorter man, only added to this feeling of being overwhelmed. "No, Sherlock. This is  _ wrong _ ."

"Okay." Sherlock said, giving in for the sake of peace, really. He didn't see what exactly was wrong with it, if it could help people. "I'm sorry.. I just.. I thought it would be a good idea.. never mind.." he mumbled and nipped at his glass, before he turned around to rinse the knife in the sink.

John sighed, knowing Sherlock had wanted to help. Anyway, he needed to pull himself together. Blood anomaly, a virus or whatever you wanted to call it. That's what it was and John found comfort in that. He should know how to deal with that. He sat back down on the kitchen chair. "Have you got coffee today by any chance?"

"Yeah... yeah I have.." Sherlock mumbled and washed the blood off his hand too, before towelling them and beginning to make coffee. "Can.. Can I ask you something?" he asked and turned to look at John after he turned on the coffee machine, "If it was... if it was something in the blood of an animal, would you refuse to use that too? I'm not talking about a mass vampire turning, you know. We obviously can't do that and we can't actually use me as a reference, I'd rather not end up as some lab rat, but if we could find a way to reproduce the substance that is speeding up the healing of injuries.. why not do it? I've been toying with the idea ever since I've been turned anyway." he said, taking his glass and sitting down on the chair next to John.

"Sherlock" John said carefully, having cringed at the word 'lab rat'. "I've learned about this whole thing less than twelve hours ago, and while I love you no less than before, I'm just starting to get properly used to the idea. Call me idiotic, but all of this is a lot to take for me, yeah? The fact you're sipping blood like wine and are older than my great grandfather are things that are very very odd concepts. I'm nowhere near the point where I can look at you and think that I want to know your genetic make-up. Even less so perform experiments. I'm just not. You cutting yourself in front of me is not helping." John sighed and glanced at the other. "So, do me a favour and kindly shut up now, will you?"

Sherlock couldn't quite oblige here, being far too stunned at one certain part of John's words, "You.. you love me?" he asked quietly and glanced up at John, just watching him, sure it probably meant something that he was still here with him after all of that, still he was surprised to hear it.

"Yes, I love you. Of course I do or how do you think I've been able to put up with you?" John teased mildly, looking up from the table at the other man.

Sherlock smiled and even blushed a little, "I do too.. I mean.. love you.. I love you too." he rambled and frowned about himself. That really had been anything but smooth. Could he have sounded more like a fool?

A fond smile on his lips, John stood up and went over to Sherlock. "I'm incredibly glad." John replied sincerely, still smiling, and pressed his lips softly onto Sherlock's.

Sherlock smiled against John's lips, "So... It's still raining a little, but I could borrow my landlady's car, so we could go to Sussex? That's where we have our gallery.. it actually used to be our family home back in the day." he said and chuckled a little.

John hummed in agreement. "That sounds lovely; Let's go for it." He said, feeling special that Sherlock was willing to share that with him; and honestly after that tough start this morning he could do with some distraction.

Sherlock smiled, "Let me just grab the keys and we can go." he said as he stood up, emptying his glass and frowning, "Well, I'll go brush my teeth and then get the keys." he said and smirked at John, putting his glass into the sink, before he walked into the bathroom.

"Alright." John chuckled a little and walked back into the living room to sit down and wait for the other student to return.

When Sherlock returned from the living room, he gave John a smile, "Come on then, Mrs Hudson is out, but I know where she keeps her car keys." he said and held out his hand for John.

John stood up and took it, smiling back at Sherlock. "Are you sure she's okay with that?" He asked, since borrowing his landlady's car was maybe a bit not good.

"Nah, she won't mind." Sherlock said and smirked, "Her next portion of 'herbal soothers' will be on me, that'll be enough to make it up to her. Also if she'd really mind, she'd lock her flat, or take the keys with her at the very least. She knows me well." he said and chuckled, lacing their fingers as Sherlock led him downstairs.

"Well, if you say so." John said, sounding not entirely convinced, but didn't say anything more, following Sherlock down the stairs. "Out of curiosity; how long have you been living in her flat?"

"Round about 70 years." Sherlock said and walked into Mrs Hudson's flat. "I have lived here before though.. interestingly my  _ previous _ landlady was a great great great etcetera grand-daughter of my  _ current _ landlady. She passed herself off as a distant niece and inherited the building. It's all a bit complicated." he said and dangled the keys in the air, "Let's go then." he said, taking John's hand again and tugging him after himself out the door and handing the keys to John, "It's the red car over there." he said, pointing at the shiny sports car a few metres away from the house. "I forgot the paintings, I'll be right back." he said and walked back into the house.


	8. The Old Tree

John looked at the car and couldn't believe his eyes for a moment.  _ That _ was his landlady's car that he occasionally borrowed? Walking over to the car John continued to stare at it. Sherlock was truly full of surprises, he thought to himself, as he opened the doors and sat down in the passenger seat. Regarding the interior. John doubted he'd ever sat in a car that expensive; not exactly the used Vauxhall corsa he had expected.

Sherlock smiled as he came back with the paintings, putting them into the boot, before opening the door on the driver's side, "You can drive if you like." he said, pretty amused by John's expression. "You look like you want to." he added with a grin.

"Are you serious? I might very well have an accident the one time I drive a car like that." John said, though it was  _ very _ tempting for the twenty-year-old.

"Of course I'm serious, get over here." Sherlock said and chuckled, "And well... just try not to drive too fast. If the accident wouldn't kill you, my landlady would." he said with a grin and walked around the car, opening John's door, waiting for him to get out.

After a moment's hesitation John got out of the car, biting his lip a little to keep from grinning. "I don't think I want to know how much she has been charging you, if she can afford this." John commented, after sitting down on the driver's seat.

"Oh she's got enough money, she lets me live there for free, though she keeps telling me to put whatever I destroy on my rent, despite the fact that there is no rent." Sherlock said and chuckled, "You'll like her though. She's crazy, but.. lovely."

"Very much unlike yourself then." John teased with a chuckle, before starting the engine. "So, you said Sussex?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sherlock complained in mock offence, "I am lovely." he said and laughed, nodding, "Yeah, hang on." he said, tapping the address into the GPS, not really in the mood to keep telling John directions. This was more convenient. "There you go." he said and smiled, fastening his seatbelt and leaning back into the seat.

"Yes, very." John said with a smile, fastening his seatbelt, before looking at the screen. "Thanks, love." He replied, glancing over at Sherlock. Wow, this was definitely quite something, he thought, before looking over his shoulder and beginning to drive.

Sherlock smiled to himself, moving his hand to rest on John's thigh, "Is this our second date by the way?" he asked with a small chuckle, glancing over at him, "Or does this still count as our first, since it technically never ended?"

"Let's call it our second outing." He suggested with a chuckle, keeping his eyes fixed on the street, though he would've much rather looked at the person responsible for the warm weight on his thigh.

Sherlock frowned, "Do we even have to go along with that routine? Doesn't the whole dating stuff end and turn into a relationship after the I love yous?" he asked and felt somewhat giddy remembering John's words from before.

"I think usually the I love yous come once you're in an established relationship though. Then again, I've never gone with an already-boyfriend on a first date." He commented with a chuckle, not even regretting having said those words that early on - if not entirely purposely.

"Well.. then again these days it would be odd not to have a weird first date story.." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I think we'd win every contest about that.." he said and shook his head, dearly hoping Mycroft wouldn't be awaiting them already. He wouldn't put it past him. Sighing he pulled his phone out and sent his brother a text, just in case, telling him in very graphic details, what exactly he would be doing to him if he dared to join, play a trick like yesterday or in any other way spoil this outing.

"Yeah, normal is boring, don't you agree?" John asked light-heartedly, already knowing Sherlock's answer to that. "Who are you texting? Sounds like you're writing an essay."

"I'm just letting my brother know my feelings about him doing anything remotely threatening to the success of this day." Sherlock said and smiled darkly to himself.

John opened his mouth tell him to leave his brother be, before remembering that that prick definitely deserved a text like that. "He's a little overprotective, I take it?"

"Possessive might be a closer fit." Sherlock said and placed his hand back onto John's thigh after he had sent the text, leaning back into his seat again. "I don't think it's actually about my well being... maybe he can keep trying to convince himself he's not lonely as long I don't have someone in my life I'm closer to."

"Wow, he sounds awful." John replied, immediately thinking about Harry. Things with Clara weren't going well from what he'd heard, which meant abstinence was probably not too well either. But as usual she'd shut him and their parents out (though the latter he could at least understand a little). "Where would we be without without them" John muttered, though more to himself anyway.

"I know where I'd be.." Sherlock said and sighed, "I'd be on the cemetery a few miles away from our house since 1793." he said and shrugged, "I might have.. exaggerated a teeny tiny bit. He's not all bad.. he did push me out of the way and got stabbed by the guys that turned us eventually instead of me."

Right, bis boyfriend was two hundred forty something. At the statement he raised an eyebrow. "That's really not all bad. I feel like I should thank him for that." He commented.

"Thank Jane too then." Sherlock said and chuckled, "She's fought them so hard that they had bleeding wounds, I helped but I wasn't nearly as skilled, however we lost.. but thanks to the fact they were bleeding some of that must have gotten into our systems when they dragged 'our supposed bodies' off to the side of the road."

So that's how that worked then; blood contact. "Sherlock, can I ask you something? You said you were eighteen, when that happened, right?" He asked after a moment.

"Hm?" Sherlock said and nodded, "Oh, yeah.. we've been visiting family in London and on our way back our carriage was stopped and we were assaulted and robbed."

John nodded and decided on different question, saving the other for another day. "So Jane is your... cousin?" He already knew that Sherlock only had one sister named Euros, so that couldn't be her.

"Ah.. no. Actually.. she used to be my fiancé once.. neighbours daughter. My mother and hers were best friends and we were the same age, they were enchanted by the idea to marry us off." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Not that either of us ever intended to actually get married. We had more in common than our mothers knew.. I wasn't interested in women.. and well.. she was." he said and chuckled, "Both men and women, actually, but she always tended more to the latter. But at that point in time, she was actually way more interested in the lovelives of the characters in the books she wanted to write... and mine. She introduced me to Victor, actually."

"Ah, alright. Will I be able to thank her as well then?" John asked carefully in case the answer was no.

"Oh yeah, sure. She's lecturing about her works at Cambridge, that's not too far. And we've got a fast car" he said with a grin, giving John's thigh a gentle squeeze.

John frowned a little, thinking about the year and her name. "Hold on a second... What's Jane's maiden name?"

"It's not so much a maiden name... she's never been married." Sherlock said and chuckled, "It's Austen." he said and smirked at John, "She goes by Jane Hawkins these days, though. It would attract some attention if a professor for Jane Austen's books and the regency period was called Jane Austen." he said and laughed.

John laughed with him, shaking his head a little at how ridiculous that all was. "So your mum tried to hook you up with Jane Austin, yeah? That's crazy."

"Well, she wasn't  _ Jane Austen _ back then." Sherlock said and chuckled, "She was Jane... you know.. just my friend Jane.. it's actually a little difficult to for me to see her as some great author." Sherlock said and frowned, "I mean, she is a great author, but mostly.. she's my friend."

John smiled at that kind of answer. "She sounds great; I'm already thrilled to meet her." He commented. "Cambridge you said, right?"

"Yeah.. we could drop by there on our way back to London." Sherlock said and looked around as they left London, before spotting that crooked willow that's been standing here for ages, "It was there." he said, "Where the old tree is. That's where they stopped our carriage."

John looked at the tree Sherlock pointed at as they drove by, finding it quite hard to imagine that Sherlock had been turned exactly here. "It must be hard to drive by it every time you visit home." John remarked, once he could watch it disappear in the rear view mirror.

"Actually.. it isn't.. I mean, it probably should be, but.. it's .. actually it's been a good thing. It's been amazing to watch all that scientific and technical development. Is study chemistry and physics all over again every time I can it never gets boring." Sherlock smiled and bit his lip, "To be honest.. the only downside really is that you see so many people you like die.. that you don't get to stay with them.."

John nodded at that, glancing at the passenger seat. "About that... You said you met him when you were 17 and were turned at 18. You knew him from before then?" He asked after hesitating a moment; he didn't want to be too insensitive, but at the same time it was probably better to ask a few thing right away.

Sherlock nodded, "Yeah.. we've met when his regiment came into town." he said and smiled at the memory, "Jane told me right after we met him that she was sure he was 'the same as me' and she managed to keep arranging situations at balls or dinners to sit together and have moments to talk alone." he said and chuckled, biting his lip, "But anyway, yeah, after it happened, I told him.. we had planned before already to leave and just be together in a place people weren't minding their neighbours as much as their own secrets. He decided stay with me and a few months after that, we ran off."

"That sounds very romantic, actually." John said with a bit of a smile. "I'm learning you actually have a thing for soldiers?" He asked, before adding. "By the way, what did you two do after that? Did he join the forces again or did you stay wherever you went?"

"He actually turned to practising medicine.. he was kind of a doctor.." Sherlock said and looked at John, "And don't start, it's just a coincidence. I liked you already before I knew your plans for the future.. I just seem.. to attract a certain type of men.." he said and chuckled, "Anyway, he actually focused on researching when he wasn't busy patching up our neighbours. That way we also made sure they wouldn't call us out even under pressure.. he was the only doctor they could go to.." he said and Sherlock shrugged, "He didn't make them pay for his services though.. he asked them to give him blood samples instead, some of which he actually used for his work... but the rest..." he said, trailing off and giving a shrug,

John chuckled a little at that. "You seem to have a very specific type. Anyway, he sounds like a very good man;,don't get your hopes too high with me." He joked a little, though he was kind kind of serious. He knew he wasn't going to live up to huge expectations. "What else did he like to do?"

"Really, you want to spend our second date talking about my ex husband too?" Sherlock asked and cleared his throat, "I mean.. of course he wasn't actually my husband.. but.. in all ways but legally he was so that's that."

"Right, sorry." John said quickly, and, if he hadn't been driving, would've looked out of the window. "So, it's a date after all then, yeah?" He said after a while.

"Well.. probably not.. seems like we're already done with checking each other out phase.." Sherlock said and looked over at John, "He.. loved riding.." he said and frowned, "I mean.. horses." he said after a moment and chuckled awkwardly. "Er.. he liked reading too. He was quite a fan of Jane Austen's books. He always said Jane based Darcy on me, with him being all shy and awkward around people when he first meets them, sometimes even being rude.." he said and huffed a laugh, "Honestly, I can live with that, as long as it isn't Mr Collins I'm compared with, he was actually based on a neighbour, his name was Philip Anderson." he said and rolled his eyes, "Awful guy."

John laughed a little at that. "I can see where he got that idea from. What has Jane said to that then?"

"She was very secretive about her writing, actually. Every time I ask about characters in her books, she just smirks and changes the subject for some reason, just with Anderson it was too blatantly obvious to miss." he said and shook his head. "She didn't even publish them under her own name at first, it was partly the fact that she was a woman, but.. there have been female authors, somewhere, very deep down inside of her, she's rather shy.. at least on that matter."

"Anderson sounds like quite a character from what you're telling me. I'm presuming he was annoying then?" He asked.

"Did you read the book?" Sherlock said and chuckled, "I'm not exaggerating when I say Collins from Pride and Prejudice was his spitting image.." he said and shook his head, "Anyway.. even living eternally, it's a waste of time talking about Anderson."

"Yeah, i suppose so." John said with a chuckle and went back to focus on driving. "Anyway, you've practically told me your life story the past couple of hours. I feel like I should let you ask questions about me, though, my life's obviously shorter and more boring."

"You're not boring." Sherlock said and shook his head, "But.. there is one thing I'm wondering.." he said and cleared his throat, "Would you.. eventually.. I mean.. I'm not asking you to.. it's your choice.. but could you imagine to.. become like me.. at some point?" he asked and wondered if he should have waited until John wasn't driving.

John wasn't too shocked by that question, having figured Sherlock would ask eventually; especially after the everyone-I-know-dies part. Nevertheless he didn't know what to say for several moments. "I'm... not saying no straight away. This is a lot to take in in just 12 hours, so you'll understand that I need more time than that."

"Yeah, yeah I know.. I just.. wanted.. you to know about the possibility.." Sherlock said and sighed, sinking deeper into his seat and turning to look out of the window, for some reason feeling a bit embarrassed about the question.

"It's fine. Really. I understand the need to ask and it means a lot to me that you'd want to spent that much time with me."

"Well... it's also.. because there actually  _ is _ the possibility.." Sherlock said and kept looking out of the window, "Victor and I obviously talked about it, but we didn't know how back then.." he said and chewed on his lip. "Neither of us has been conscious when we turned, we only found out when we met Mrs Hudson, she told us."

"So why didn't you do it then after Mrs Hudson had told you?" John inquired, glancing at Sherlock shortly.

"Because I met Mrs Hudson about in 1936." Sherlock said and sighed, "Victor died fifty years earlier.." he replied and turned to look at John, "He really surpassed the average expectation of life.. he was 93.. I kind of have the theory that it's been decades of regular doses of my saliva in his blood.. maybe that did something for his immune system.. but.. it wasn't long enough."

John nodded slowly at that, keeping his eyes fixed on the road. Talking about his date's deceased husband was really a little off. But apart from that he could feel the heaviness in Sherlock's words as he spoke. He couldn't doubt Sherlock honesty now. "I'm very sorry, love."

Sherlock gave a small smile, "Well.. maybe it was supposed to be like this..." he said and glanced at John, "To be completely honest, it seems impossible for me not to have fallen for you no matter the circumstances.. I don't know what it would have been like if he had been still with me, but even then, I just can't think of anything that would keep me from falling in love you. It feels weird to think that I might even have left him for you.." he said and thought for a second. "That probably doesn't make me seem like a very good partner.." he mumbled quietly.

John glanced at him and thought about his next words. "It makes you seem human, Sherlock. And to make you feel better I'm going to admit something selfish and awful too. I'm glad you're here with me right now. If I could change history, i don't know if I would do it so you had a more pleasant life." John said a bit more quietly.

It didn't seem like a comment Sherlock should smile about, but he did nonetheless, "Well, I'm glad we're equally awful." he said and chuckled awkwardly, "I always thought I would try to change something about it if I could.. but.. well, I stopped thinking like that quite soon after I've met you. You have to turn left here." he said, pointing at a small street that cut a forest in half, when the GPS said they had reached their destination, "That street isn't on the map, it's part of the lot already." he clarified for John.

John nodded and drove into the street Sherlock pointed at, watching the trees as the forest enveloped them. "This really looks like a place where fairytales are set." John commented with a dry chuckle. It did feel a bit like one actually, even if that may have sounded ridiculous.

"Not sure how well vampires fit into the fairytale world." Sherlock said and chuckled, which turned into a smile when the cottage came into view, "There we are.." he said and undid his seatbelt already, reaching onto the back seats to grab the paintings. "The 'gallery' is in the dining room. The rest is still as it used to be, apart from restorations, we didn't really change anything. It's an antiques dealer's dream."

"That's one big cottage." John said sounding impressed, as he drove in front of the house to park the car. The expensive sports car. John came from a working class family and had only really been able to finance his medical training through the army. And while he'd known (well, assumed, from Sherlock's whole demeanour and attire) he came from a relatively posh family (okay, the portrait might've been an indicator as well), this was a little more than he'd have expected. "You know, you do make me feel a bit cheap, with you luring me into your cottage with an extravagant sports car." John joked, shutting the engine down.

"Actually.. that was kind of a standard sized house.." Sherlock said and shrugged, "We weren't exactly rich, mind you. But we weren't poor either.." he said and smiled at John, "If you look at houses from that era, you'll see it's actually one of the smaller, less fancy ones." he said and chuckled, "And well.. these days.. yeah, I suppose one could consider Mycroft and me rich... but the money just piled up over the years." he said as he opened his door, walking around the car to grab the paintings from the boot.

John got out of the car and closed the door behind him, passing Sherlock the car keys. "Well, there a worse things." John remarked, before asking. "Do you need a hand with that?"

Sherlock smiled, "If you don't mind." he said, handing John one of the paintings, before taking out the other, "You know.. maybe at some point we could move into the house.. I only have a few more years I can spend in London before having to leave for a while again.. bet a couple of decades here would be nice.." he said, fumbling his keys out of his pocket.

John chuckled at that and regarded Sherlock from the side, while he wasn't looking at him. "The way you say that... I was born two decades ago, you know. But yeah, it looks very cosy, at least from the outside." He said, watching Sherlock with his keys.


	9. Introducing Frank

"Not sure if you'll like it from the inside, it's nearly exactly like it's been when Mycroft and I grew up here." Sherlock warned as he led them both into the house, the rustic charm of a regency era home welcoming them, yet the complete interior was in a perfect state, despite it's age. They had spent a fortune on keeping it like this. "Bit like time travelling, isn't it?" he asked and chuckled lightly, "Over there is the gallery, which used to be the dining room, it's the only room we changed." he said as he led the way into the room. "The windows are covered, hang on." he said as he pulled a lighter out of his pocket and moved through the dim, almost dark room, lighting up various candles on holders at the walls, "We keep this room dark so the sunlight won't bleach the paintings." he said, setting the map containing Victor's portrait down in front of a wall, right below one of the empty spots in the collage of paintings, covering the wall across the door and on the left. "This is the only room that's got electricity in this house.. More or less, we've got exactly one outlet." he said, pointing at the wall on the right, which held a large flat screen TV, above that on the ceiling was a screen one could pull down to watch footage on one of three projectors for film rolls sitting on the floor, everything placed just so that one large flat screen TV, above that on the ceiling was a screen one could pull down to watch footage on one of three projectors for film rolls sitting on the floor, everything placed just so that one could easily watch from the sofa near the fireplace next to the door, every other free spot being occupied by cabinets holding boxes of photographs, drawings and sketches, film rolls, VHS cassettes, even a few DVDs, which could be watched on the player attached to the TV. "So.. well.. this is our gallery.. We got a bit obsessive capturing our lives once we could." he said and chuckled lightly. 

John looked around the building as he followed Sherlock into the gallery, baffled by the sight. He would've expected an interior like that in a museum, so yeah, 'time travel' captured it quite well. "Wow" Was really all he could say in that moment. This really gave him a new insight to Sherlock's life (well, obviously it did, but right now it felt more real than when Sherlock had first suggested coming) and he felt the desire to go up to the shelves and look through the mementos Sherlock's life. 

Sherlock smiled at John's expression, "We can look at some of it, you know... doesn't take long to set up the players or projectors if you want to see some of the video footage." he said and smiled, taking the other painting from John and setting it down as well. "The earliest I have is from 1910." he said and smirked lightly.

"Yeah, I'd really like that." John said with a smile and glanced at the two portraits next to Sherlock, before looking back up at his boyfriend. "I wonder what you looked like back then. I mean the attire and all."

"Well... you'll see. It doesn't have sound though, naturally." he said and walked over to a cabinet, pulling out a box with some of their earliest footage, looking for a particular one, labelled April 1912. "How about we start with that?" he said and held metal case that contained the film roll up for John to see.

"Let's start with that one." John said with a smile and already sat down on the sofa, while Sherlock took care of the film. While he was sitting here like that, he found that he was more than excited to get to see that footage. [cf. notes] Sherlock quickly set the projector up and pulled the screen down, before he pushed the sofa in front of the TV, "If we're staying in here longer, I should probably light up the fireplace.. it tends to become rather cold in here, especially since the window is covered." he said and grabbed a few logs, popping them into the fireplace and lighting them up.

John smiled at that and watched Sherlock light the fireplace. It was really cosier in here than he would've thought. "Come here then love, I'm starting to get impatient." John said with a chuckle, actually wanting Sherlock to come and sit with him again. 

Sherlock smiled and sat down next to John once he'd made a nice cozy fire and extinguished most of the candles he had lit before. Starting the film, he smirked, "That was in Cherbourgh by the way.. and the ship you see in the background, is what you think it is." he said with a smirk. 

John shuffled a little closer to Sherlock once he was sitting down and leaned into him a little. The fact that Sherlock was wearing those old-fashioned clothes and seemed to carry himself differently, distracted John enough not to notice it until Sherlock mentioned it. Turning his head, he looked at his boyfriend with wide eyes; why was he even surprised? "You saw the actual titanic?" 

"Of course I did. You think I'd miss the opportunity to see that leap technology made there?" Sherlock asked and chuckled, "I was on it, actually. Got on in Southampton and off in Cherbourgh, it was a short trip for me. I actually meant to stay on until New York, but Mycroft got delayed with business in Cherbourgh and so I reluctantly agreed to take another ship a few days later. We tried to stick close together it wasn't like you could just text or mail each other to ask where the other is at the moment." he said and shrugged, "Well.. it was a lucky coincidence, I think.." he mumbled, shaking his head, "Such a shame it had to end that way. The ship was amazing, to say the least. It really was all people always say it was."

"Well, thank god for Mycroft's business then." John said, shaking his head a little at that, before planting a kiss on the other's cheek. "I'd be miserable and still dating Sarah." He commented, thinking back to the uncomfortable conversation he'd had yesterday with her. "Anyway, did it hold up by today's measures?"

"Oh yes. I mean there are bigger ships these days, like ours, but I haven't seen anything that's even close to the Titanic. You could feel how invested Andrews was, he had built his heart into that ship..." Sherlock said and shrugged, "These days it's only bigger, faster, more expensive.. Creating luxury like that, without feeling it's too much, it's an art." he said and smiled.

John smiled as he listened to Sherlock talk about something he enjoyed so much. He loved listening to Sherlock's silky smooth voice anyway though (he was quite certain he'd be willing to listen to his boyfriend read a phone book actually.). "It really looks beautiful." John said with an empathetic nod. "Speaking of which; you really do look a little younger on there. The way you move and look around on there... Thank you for sharing that with me."

"I guess some sort of ageing isn't avoidable.. even if it's just mentally.. your views on the world.." Sherlock said and smiled, "Oh there's Mycroft, he had this ridiculous moustache back then, he even put product into it and twirled the tips." he said and laughed, "Such a clod." he said and giggled. 

This was the first image of Mycroft he'd ever seen and judging by just how hilarious it was, John had a feeling he wouldn't forget it too easily. When he saw it, began to laugh as well and shook his head a little. "So that's the famous brother then?" 

"Mycroft Holmes and his pet moustache Frank." Sherlock said and giggled again, "I started to name it that... it does have a bit of an own personality. I think he got annoyed of me making fun of it, that's why he shaved it off eventually." he said and grinned.

John was almost laughing tears at that and grinned back at Sherlock. "That's way too accurate." He said, shaking his head a little. "Frank... I should better not grow a moustache then, I guess?" 

"Don't you dare to even think about it." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "You can wear nearly everything, but not a moustache." he said with a grin. "Oh, if you want to see more of hilarious Mycroft, by the way, there's incredible footage of the sixties and seventies." he said and smirked, "I was always more of a button up and slacks kind of person, thank god. But Mycroft always tried to fit in as best as he could, including the periodic clothing." 

John was cracking up at just the thought of that; he probably shouldn't find it that hilarious. "I don't think I'll be able to look him in the eye, when I actually get to meet him after that." 

"Ah don't worry about that..." Sherlock said and chuckled, "He's still ridiculous, you don't even have to watch some of his worse clothing choices to see that." he said and shuffled up a bit closer to John, moving his arms around him, "Is it strange for you? To.. well to see me like that?" he asked and pointed at the screen, "Seeing me... well live and breath on footage that was recorded more than a hundred years ago?" 

"Yes, strange is a fitting word for that." John said and leaned into Sherlock more, resting his head on his chest. Once he was comfortable, he brought his hand up to curl loosely around a bit of his boyfriend's shirt. "I always thought I was the one in this relationship who was supposed to be looking after the younger one a little. Thinking back to your flat, I still do actually." John chuckled, before adding. "It really is strange. I mean you obviously haven't changed, but, well, you make more sense to me, I feel; if that makes sense." 

"Well you do.." Sherlock said and chuckled lightly, "And you are technically the older one.." he said and shrugged, "To be honest, I never got to be an actual adult.. so I do still feel young. I suppose a big part of how old you feel is how people treat you.. when you're always the teenager for everyone.. well, it just sticks with you." 

"Right. And even for twenty you're looking quite young." John said into Sherlock's chest, before looking up at him. "I can't imagine to always stay exactly the same age." 

"It's not bad... although.. if I had actually gotten to choose.. I'd probably have waited until I'm around 30.. that would have been easier." he said and shrugged, "Though.. perhaps if you decide to do it, let's not wait quite that long.. it might be fun to fool around with schools and have you be the teacher and me the student, but generally it would be tedious to always justify the age difference." 

"I always thought an age difference of fifteen years was a lot." He chuckled a little. "But anyway, yeah I agree that would be weird and if you're doomed to adolescence forever it would be perhaps a little unfair of me to wait just for that. By the way, can you still increase your muscle mass? You said you were as strong as someone your height and stature could be, but I was planning to get ripped in the future, you know." 

Sherlock chuckled, "I suppose so.. I haven't really tried." he said and sighed dramatically, "But if you want to check that out, I suppose I could be persuaded to work out a bit and see if anything chances.. You think you know someone to volunteer to give my full body a regular look over to check if there's a visible changes?" he asked and grinned at John.

John grinned back at him and brought his hand up into Sherlock's curls. "You know, I think I might actually... As a doctor-to-be I'd know exactly where to look." He said the last part in a lower register and pulled Sherlock's head gently towards him, drawing him into a kiss. 

Sherlock smiled against John's lips, letting his eyes fall shut and relaxing into their embrace, before he snapped out of it again, hearing the 'flop flop flop' of the film roll, which signalled the film hat ended and had completely rolled up onto the other film roll. "Hang on.." he said and sat up a bit, turning the projector off and turning back to John, "So.. what now? Do you want to see something else? Or the rest of the house?" he asked, being somewhat fascinated about the shade John's eyes had now that the fire in the fireplace was the only light in the room. 

John was a little disappointed when Sherlock was up on his feet that quickly and smiled a little to himself at those questions. "I don't really have to see everything right now love." He said, before rising to his feet and going up to Sherlock. The room was cosy enough for him as it was, so he wouldn't have a problem with staying right here. Standing close to the other again, he wrapped an arm around his torso and looked up at him. 

Sherlock smiled, "Well, to be honest.. I kind of also didn't want it to go much further on that sofa.." he said and chuckled awkwardly, "I mean.. well.. it feels like my whole family is watching.." he said, glancing at the portraits in the dimly lit room, "Secondly, my mother already sat on that sofa," he said and chuckled, "And third, which is probably the most problematic thing... we don't have any supplies here. I mean.. I know how to improvise... but.. I'd still quite like to give modern supplies a go especially since I haven't done any of this in.. /a while/." he said and chuckled again. 

"I would have been fine with just cuddling, but if you want to do that kind of thing" He went onto his tiptoes and pressed a kiss onto Sherlock's lips. "Then I'm all for going into your bedroom. The portrait of your grandmother is really a bit of a turn-off." He chuckled quietly, before looking into his eyes again. "And don't worry about it, I'm genuinely already glad I get to spend time with you."

"Perhaps /that kind of thing/ can wait until we're back in the civilisation? You know where they have drugstores.." Sherlock giggled and took John's hand, lacing their fingers, "Can I still safely show you my old bedroom or are you going to pounce on me?" he asked jokingly, smirking at John. 

"I'll try very hard to restrain myself." John chuckled and gave Sherlock's hand a little squeeze. "I wonder how your younger younger self decorated his bedroom." 

"Well.. actually, everything you see here was my mother's and sister's work.." Sherlock said and chuckled a bit, "Although /if/ they asked any male for advice on the matter, it was me." he said and shrugged, "It wasn't really a man's thing to furnish and decorate houses, though.. their thing was building and renovating plans. But the details.. that was for the women." 

John nodded at that. "Interesting. How times have changed, I mean. A history lesson's all included with you, isn't it." He drew away a bit and tugged lightly on Sherlock's arm. "Let's have a look then, shall we?" 

"Is that.. bad? I mean.. I could try to stop blurting out history facts if it's annoying.." Sherlock said and chewed on his lip as he led John up the stairs and into his room, sitting down on his bed, smiling at the state of everything, "Well, the staff is really worth their money.. it's incredibly much work to make all of this stay in this state."

John sat down next to Sherlock and nodded. "It definitely looks like the kind of interior I know from textbooks." John remarked and looked around.

Sherlock smiled, leaning back on the bed, watching the canopy with a smile, "Really? It's not to... old-fashioned?" he asked with a laugh and turned to look at John, "But.. now that you've seen my room, I want to see where you lived when you were younger too." he said and shuffled closer to John. 

"If we were actually to visit my family's house, you'd have the pleasure of actually having to meet my family." John chuckled and shook his head, not wanting to imagine his dad's reaction to his boyfriend, after the thing with harry... "I don't think it's worth the trip. My room's basically like the one I have now, just with more posters and toys." 

"Pretty sure I could manage to charm your dad." Sherlock said and smirked, "If you learn one thing in 240 years, it's how to get your way with people. I'd like to at least.. you know.. try to meet your family..." he said and shrugged lightly, "Seems kind of.. mandatory, given that I intend to spend eternity with you." he said and smirked, "I probably spare out the vampire thing, though." 

"How did you know that- never mind. Yeah, I- I don't know. He doesn't even know I'm into guys as well, so I'd have to come out first." John ran a hand through his hair; he knew he probably couldn't hide it forever, but that didn't make the thought any less appealing... But that was hopefully for another time. "Yeah, maybe make sure to leave out that bit, when you're charming them." 

"It's nearly always the father, John. That, or both. It's very rare that it's only the mother that has a problem with it." Sherlock answered John's half question. "They'd find out when I'll marry you at the latest. Probably makes a better impression to let them know before that happens." he said and chuckled. 

John nodded and shuffled a bit closer to Sherlock. "What did your family say? I mean Mycroft and your mother seem to have known." John said and sighed a little, thinking about what his father might do. 

"Well, they actually encouraged it.. On that matter, my parents had their own beliefs. They didn't want to polish up their image with the choice of partner of their kids. I mean, yes, my mother would have loved it if Jane and I had gotten married, but more from a little girls hope that her later child and her friends child will marry.." he said and shrugged, resting his hand on John's hip. "But their main goal was for their kids to become happy. So around my family, Victor actually got to court me.. he even asked my father for my hand.. sort of.. he actually asked for his blessings for us to leave together.. and my father happily gave it. I really think I couldn't have ended up with a better family no matter which period of time I'd have been born in.. they were incredibly progressive." 

John covered Sherlock's hand with his own. "I'm very glad they were like that, especially your dad I mean. I wish mine were a bit more progressive in that respect. Well, I guess I'll find out, if their opinions have changed over the past few years quite soon now." John looked Sherlock in the eye. "You don't have to come the first time of course. It might be better if you didn't." 

"Perhaps it'd be better if I did.." Sherlock said, "Who knows, maybe if your dad sees you're with a respectable young man, rather than someone wearing a tight pink leather top, hot-pants and over-knee boots..." he said and laughed softly. "I guess it's the stereotype most fathers fear.” 

John gave him a pained smile. "Yeah, I hope so. I think it's more about the idea his son is a homosexual - which I'm not. I can't just ignore them, can I?" John squeezed Sherlock's hand and sighed softly.

"Well, I could make sure to always complain about you staring at attractive women whenever I meet him." Sherlock said and smirked, "You know, remind him that it's not just men.." he said and moved his hand up to cup Johns cheek, gently caressing it with his thumb. "Or maybe I'll just pass myself off as a women." he said with a sudden joking note in his voice, "My legs would look awesome in a short black dress." 

John chuckled at that and relaxed into Sherlock's touch, grateful for the comfort. "I think you're voice might be a bit of a giveaway. Not that I'm complaining about that though." 

"There's always helium." Sherlock said and chuckled, leaning in to press a gentle kiss to John's lips. "I could also try to wear military tags from the first or second world war." he said and cleared his throat, this probably wasn't exactly a good argument for their conflict about John joining the service, "I would obviously pass them off as my grand or great grandfather's... but I have the feeling it would impress your father.." he said and hoped to avoid the subject of his own not quite voluntary military career. It wasn't like you had a choice back then.

John's chuckle turned into a slight frown when he heard that Sherlock had served, since the chemistry student seemed very keen on making sure John wouldn't. "You served during both World Wars? Jesus." He asked, finding that new piece of information about Sherlock more interesting than the screwed up relationship to his parents

"Not voluntarily.. It wasn't a question of wanting to.. when you were old enough, you were pulled in.." Sherlock said and sighed, "I suppose I could have just faked my death to get out of it, but.. well, the chances to be beheaded or actually set on fire aren't that high.. and bullets wouldn't kill me. So I figured if I can catch some for others.. " he said and shrugged, "Makes more sense.." he said and sighed. 

"Wow. I didn't know that." John said, immediately feeling stupid for having complained to Sherlock about his family. Compared to that it seemed pretty petty, even though he was comparing apples and oranges. However, it did sound like Sherlock knew that feeling. "You understand why I have to join then." 

Sherlock sighed deeply, "Yes.." he admitted and chewed on the inside of his cheek, "The difference being that it would in fact kill you if you'd catch bullets for others." he said, resting his forehead against John's. "But.. in general, I understand why you have to do this.. but.. you should understand that I would go with you if you go." he said with a slight smile, "Not particularly fond of the prospect, but if there's ever been anyone I'd want to catch a bullet for, it's you."

"Don't you think you've had your fair share of wars?" John asked regarding him carefully. John would definitely not be responsible for Sherlock doing that to himself again in the times of professional military. "It's not like either of us could decide where we'd be stationed anyway." There was absolutely no way John would let Sherlock do this because of him. 

"Mycroft is the head of the government. I'd surely get stationed where you are." Sherlock said and sighed, "Can't you just wait and do it.. well.. after.. or.. if you turn?" he asked, biting his lip, "I'd really feel better if the chances you don't return would drop a good bit." he said quietly. 

"I haven't yet decided if I want to turn, love, but I already have decided that I'm going to serve." John explained quietly. "And even if you do get stationed with me - which I don't want, love - I'd still be a doctor and it'd be much more likely for you to get seriously injured or traumatised than being in the right place at the right time to catch a bullet for me - which I am not willing to let happen." 

Sherlock sighed, "I've survived two wars, I sincerely doubt I could get traumatised by another one." Sherlock said and closed his eyes, "Just.. promise me that if you do decide to turn, we'll do it before you leave." he mumbled, opening his eyes again. 

"Yes, I promise." John said quietly and took Sherlock's hand from his cheek to kiss it. He hoped Sherlock was aware that it wasn't only going to be a one time thing, because John wasn't going to spell it out for him right now. 

"What you can't stop me from is finding lodgings in a somewhat safe zone near you, though.. As if I'd manage to stay away from you for months." Sherlock said and chuckled awkwardly, "I didn't even manage one month." he said and shrugged, "Also.. if I should hear about you being severely injured and .. well.. near death.. I could still .. save you." he mumbled. 

"Sherlock," John said seriously, looking the other straight into the eye. "If I decide against turning then that's it. I don't know yet, but you'll know my answer before my departure. And if it's a no, I'll be well aware of the consequences of that, do you understand? Otherwise I'd just be injuring myself for fun, if I wanted you to turn me when it gets critical." He said and sighed a little. "And 'somewhat safe' pretty much nails it, don't you think?" 

Sherlock turned his head away, pretty sure the pain he felt about John's answer would reflect on his face as he sat up, "Alright." he mumbled and cleared his throat, standing up, "I should go extinguish the fire in the fireplace downstairs, I'll .. I'll be right back." he said and walked out of the room, needing a moment to gather himself together again and figuring he could just as well go do what he had just told John he'd do. 

John groaned and buried his face in his hands once Sherlock was gone. He'd seen the expression on his face and John felt completely awful for having put it there. He didn't know what else he could do about it, cruel as that sounded. He knew he'd have to make that decision eventually. As he waited for Sherlock, he turned his head into the soft bedding and tried to keep his emotions level.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's what the footage Sherlock is showing John roughly looks like:  
> http://youtube.com/watch? v=UlwojjLEr4c


	10. In Which Sherlock Is Driving Even Though His Blood Sugar Must Be A Nightmare

Sherlock took a moment longer to return, having just decided on completely tidying up the gallery, hanging up the missing paintings and putting the things he had shown John back into their places, just as putting the sofa back into the original position, before he went about extinguishing the fire. When he walked back into the room about 10 minutes later, he had his features under control again, not so much his feelings though, seeing Victors portrait while hanging it up hadn't exactly helped distracting him. 

John sat up, when he heard Sherlock finally approach the bedroom. Taking in his boyfriend's expression, he gave him a small, drained smile. "Hey, love. The fire's out then?" 

"Yeah.. it is." Sherlock said and sat down on the bed again, watching his hands, "Should we.. erm.. leave?" he asked and turned to look at John, "I mean.. unless you want to explore the house a bit more.. but if we want to make it to Cambridge to see Jane today as well, we should probably leave some time soon." he said matter of factly.

John nodded at that. "Yes, let's get going then." He agreed and slipped off the bed, subtly offering his hand once he stood. "How about you drive back?"

Sherlock gave a very faint smile as he took John's hand, "Yeah.. I can do that." he said and sighed, turning to John, "I'm sorry.. about that thing just now.. I just.. I don't know.. it was stupid to react like that." he mumbled quietly. 

"It's fine. I know it's an awful thing to think about." John said gently, bringing his hand up to cup his cheek. "I wish I could give you a better answer, but I can't right now."

"It isn't even so much the fact that you haven't decided yet.." Sherlock said and rested his forehead against John's, "The fact that you said you wouldn't want me to save you in case something would happen to you in service.. and.. that you don't want me to be there with you.. " he sighed, "It just.. hurt." 

"I'm sorry I hurt you with that. Just, if I decide that I don't want to live forever, then I mean under under all circumstances." John said quietly. "And of course I don't want you to be with me in war. I love you too much to let you get yourself injured or killed just because of me." John brushed his thumb gently over Sherlock's cheek. 

"Compromise." Sherlock said and looked at John, "If you decide not to turn.. you'll take viles filled with my saliva with you in case something does happen and since I know you'd also use it in the heat of the battle to patch up your friends and get them out of danger, I'll send packages every two weeks, because you would, you know as well as I do that they'll be just glad to live and won't mind the fact that they thought their injuries were worse than they actually are.. anyway.. I'll work something out with Mycroft, he can make them let you keep it and receive regular packages if he makes up a story about how it is medication for yourself." he said and smiled. 

"Okay. I can say yes to that straight away, love." John said with a nod, hoping this would console the chemistry student a little. 

Sherlock smiled and tilted his head a little, "I'll need to stock up on organs.." he said and already made a list in mind, "I know it seals broken veins and arteries.. but I need to check if it also stops the bleeding if an organ is harmed.. I need a spleen in particular. It's basically just a sensitive bag of blood you don't really need. It's like nature thought humans need self destruct buttons.. I need to see if my saliva can fix a ripped spleen and therefore stop the bleeding.." he thought aloud. "Sherlock. It won't change matters for me. I'll try it and if it doesn't work, it doesn't. Anyway, let's talk about that sometime else; it's not like I'm departing any time soon, love, alright?" John said, keeping the slightly annoyed edge (as if he didn't know what a spleen looked like) out of his voice. "It would still be better for you to know exactly what it can do. If you have someone, let's say with a ripped spleen and someone with a bad bleeding, but who would probably survive the trip.. if you don't know if it works on organs, you would probably give it to someone you know it would help, rather than taking chances and lose both persons. I need to make tests on dosages too.." Sherlock said and could practically feel his synapses light up with this idea. "You can work more organised and resourceful if you know what you're working with." he said and smirked, feeling the tingle a new idea always gave him. 

John regarded Sherlock for a moment. "On Monday, when I'm back at the lab, we can talk about that, alright? I think it might actually be interesting to see what kinds of mutations your DNA seems to have. It will very likely be useful, but for now let's drive back home first okay?" He asked and tugged a little on Sherlock's arm. "By the way, where in the world do you get all of those organs from that quickly?" 

"Ah, there's a girl at your uni.. met her when picked you up once.. Molly. She's got a crush on me and works in the morgue, very useful." Sherlock said and smiled, "Told you, I seem to attract medical and military people.." he said and took John's hand, giddy with the prospect of experimenting together with John. 

"Poor thing." John commented, shaking his head a little. "And yeah, I don't know what it is about you, but I think I can agree with that statement. And you certainly don't have a type, hm?" He teased and followed Sherlock down the stairs. 

Sherlock sighed, rolling his eyes, "Well.. I may or may not.. perhaps.. under very special circumstances maybe have a thing for men in uniforms.." he admitted, feeling a blush creep along his cheeks. 

John looked at him and grinned a little at the other student. "Is that so?" He chuckled and gave Sherlock's hand a squeeze. 

"Well.. yeah.." Sherlock said and blushed a little deeper, "But about Molly, don't feel bad for her, she knows I'm gay and it's common sense that it's not going to change, therefore, it's up to her if she clings to that crush, or moves on." he said and shrugged. "I can't do more than telling her the truth." "Well, that's true; I'm not blaming you." John said, smirking a little at the still apparent blush on Sherlock's cheeks. "So, let's experiment on Monday then. I'm busy on Sunday, but Monday after my lectures sounds great." 

"What are you doing on Sunday?" Sherlock asked, feeling just a tiny bit disappointed at being reminded that they couldn't just start to spend every waking minute together. "Hot date?" he asked, only half teasing, his other, more insecure half was a little worried, not that he'd actually admit it. "What? No of course not, love. I'm all yours." John said and brought their hands up to kiss the back of Sherlock's, sensing that his boyfriend wasn't just teasing. "No, I'm just driving down to the suburbs over the day, well hopefully a bit less than that." . 

"What for?" Sherlock asked unable not to smile at John's comment, noticing that he started to feel a little hungry. He should probably have brought something for lunch and possibly shouldn't have limited his breakfast to a half glass of blood this morning. He really needed to find some sort of balance here. Maybe he could make a deal with John just to use mouth wash after he had blood? That would be more easy to do if they were out. 

"Some birthday. I already know it's going to be boring." John said with a chuckle, careful to avoid that it was a his mother's. And since harry wasn't going to come, John had to. Hopefully Sherlock would just find the topic boring and drop it. Looking at him, his 'Sherlock radar' went off; he knew that look. "No wonder you're hungry; half your breakfast went down the drain this morning, didn't it?" 

Sherlock frowned, John did look somewhat uncomfortable about the subject, though he was temporarily distracted from that as John called him out on his hunger. "You know me well, don't you?" he asked and chuckled lightly, not sure yet if he was annoyed, or liked the fact that John could see right through him. 

"Of course I do." John said with a chuckle. "With you barely ever eating, your blood sugar must be a nightmare when you're hungry for once. Though I guess the drinking blood for nutrition explains the eating like a bird part." John said with a chuckle. "Let's go home so you can do something about that." 

"The joys of living with a doctor.." Sherlock said and chuckled, starting to walk again, "You do realise that a dropping blood sugar level or things like that can merely become unpleasant, but they don't really harm me?" he said and smirked, looking at John, "So.. don't get too worried about me.." "Right. I really need to learn more about you." John commented, figuring that with increasing technology and understanding of biology, the harder it must get for Sherlock to go see a doctor; well, apparently he didn't even need that either. "Alright, when should I get worried then? I mean you can definitely still starve yourself, but what else?" 

"I can't actually.. At least not easily.. It would take decades, it would just get increasingly unpleasant over time and drive you insane.. I don't really want to think about people in asylums claiming to be a vampire and needing blood.. there's a good chance that some of those are real. "The body would start to fall apart either.. well, not literally.. but it seems like a form of aging. But it can be undone with decades of proper blood supply. Mrs Hudson told me she's seen that back in the early days.." he said and frowned again, "If you don't get blood at some point though, it'd look for all the world like you just died from old age. But as I said, it would drive you mad and cause incredible pain, so it's a bit worse than just ageing."

"Jesus." John commented, finding the thought of that terrible. "It's still interesting how that works though. Anyway, were you ever in need of medical attention? I mean it was quite handy that your last husband was a doctor, but do you ever contract anything or injure yourself bad enough not to heal on your own?" Since John was very likely going to become Sherlock's doctor, he couldn't help asking. 

"Well, it's naturally helpful if there's someone to extract bullets, imaging having a bullet wandering through your body.. not pleasant.. and bad with metal detecting gates." Sherlock said with a laugh. "And well.. if I have some major accident that rips of a body part.. someone would need to sew it back on, bones would have to be shifted into the correct position to grow properly together. And well, even a cold heals even faster for me with proper treatment, so I'm not out of the soup and bed rest drill..." he said and shrugged, "But... well, I doubt you'll have to sew body parts back on with me. I'm not that reckless." 

"Well, that's reassuring." John said, chuckling and shaking his head a little. Hopefully it just wouldn't come to that. "And you're reacting differently do medication?" John asked, wondering if he was becoming too specific. Though he figured since Sherlock's body seemed to have trouble absorbing nutrients, it wasn't too far a stretch that that could also interfere with say IVs or tablets. 

"Well, I know for a fact that general anaesthetic works for me if you mix the substance with blood and then use it on me.. same goes for local anaesthetics. Blood transfusions comes in handy as well if I've lost a lot of blood from a larger wound.. the larger the wound the longer it takes to heal, so if it's really bad, a transfusion will help me feel better faster than just drinking it would.. in the best case, I'd do both at the same time." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "In general my body responses to things like soup, coughing syrup, fluids in general when I mix it with blood. I also feel the effect from alcohol faster if it's mixed with blood."

John nodded at that, making sure to commit that to his memory. "Well, I'm glad I asked. What good does it bring to start medical training to be able to help almost everyone except your boyfriend?" 

"Well, if you're not too afraid, you could make a lucrative side business.. Believe it or not, there aren't too many 'vampire trained' doctors we can go to, which is why most of us at least once in our lives go through basic medical training." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Well at least Jane, Mycroft and I did and Mrs Hudson told us she did too when we met her." he said, locking the door as they left the house. "So maybe Mrs Hudson could spread the word, she knows some more vampires..." 

"Right, I hadn't even thought of that. It's a bit of a strange "niche market", thinking about it." He said, opening the front door and stepping outside into the sun. "Anyway, I'm still three years from becoming a doctor's assistant, never mind an independent one, so that's still quite far out of reach. At least it feels like that to me." 

"It'll be child's play for you. You're talented." Sherlock said and remembered the birthday thing from before, "I could come with you, you know.." he said suddenly, and cleared his throat, "I mean.. to that birthday.. I'd like to meet your friends." 

John genuinely wished Sherlock had just forgotten about it, since he'd hoped he'd be able to put that talk off for a while. But since he wasn't going to lie to Sherlock... "I'll definitely introduce you to my friends sometime, but tomorrow's going to be a family event. My mum's celebrating her 45th; so it's nothing big, but harry is not going to turn up again and at least one of us should be there... If you'd still like to I'll take you." John added, guessing a fight with his family that soon was still preferable to Sherlock feeling rejected. 

Sherlock smiled lightly, "Well.. I'd still like to come.. You don't know if it's really going to be as bad as you think.." he said and nudged John's shoulder with his own, "And there's still the black dress option." he said, trying to cheer him up a bit, "Can I have the car keys?" 

John smiled at him and chuckled at the idea, still finding it hilarious. "I might actually hold you to that, you know." John reached into his pocket, before passing Sherlock the keys. "Here, there you go." He still wasn't any more optimistic about tomorrow, but maybe that could mean he wasn't obligated to come to events like that, so there was that.

"Might get myself a black wig too." Sherlock said and grinned at John as he took the keys, walking around the car to open the door for John, "But seriously, I'll do my best to impress him." he said and smirked, "And I'd like to meet your mum, really." 

"Thank you, love." John said for both the door and for what he'd said, even though John would call tomorrow a success if they got past the introductions. He turned to give Sherlock a little kiss on his lips. "I'm sure she'll love you." 

"Well.. what does she like to eat? I could ask Mrs Hudson if she could help me cook, which would get me sympathy points with your mother, for your father.. does he have more respect for suit and tie people, or T-shirt and jeans?" Sherlock asked with a smile, "I think I could pull both off pretty well. But I suppose the tags would fit better with the latter... " 

John gave Sherlock a very genuine, adoring smile. "I've never had a boyfriend - or girlfriend for that matter - as sincere as you, you know that? Look, I don't want you to change your whole attire for my father." John sighed. 

"If he can't deal with the way you dress and wants to start a fight over that... that's his choice, I suppose."

"It's just for the first impression. The first impression will influence how he judges the rest of my person, so better make it a good one. Once he likes me, it won't matter what I wear later on." Sherlock said and smiled, getting into the car himself and fixing his seatbelt, "It's psychology." he said and grinned at John. "I mean, naturally I won't get too far away from the way I usually dress or behave, but I know I'm a difficult character, don't have to overcharge him with the fact that I'm his son's boyfriend /and/ have a demanding personality." 

"Fine, I can't argue with that I suppose." He said and thought for a moment, still sure that Sherlock wouldn't get to make more than a first impression anyway. It was frustrating to think about, so he decided to just let it go for now. "Maybe put on some jeans, a tshirt and a pair of trainers. He has no respect for politicians, art of any kind really, even music, or things like that... maybe just don't bring those topics up." 

"Probably better not tell him that I play the violin and have done ballet then..." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Good think I can still adjust to the sir routine pretty well.." he said with a smile, "Military left over.. too bad I can't actually tell him about my military careers... I /could/ tell him I've been in a military school when I was younger, though. 

"Well, whatever happens, he's your dad. Tell me what you want, but I know you care about him in some way." Sherlock said and smiled, "So I'll try and try over and over again until he accepts that we belong together and that you can still be his son..." he said, starting the car. "You think it would be a good idea to go there in this car? Is he into cars? Or would it have to be a more manly one? Like a jeep or a truck?" 

John smiled to himself a little, really appreciating what Sherlock was saying. At the second part he chuckled and looked over at his boyfriend. "Look, I was going to take public transport until ten minutes ago. I won't rent a car to impress my father - and neither will you. Though I would pay money to see you parking a tractor in front of our house." John said and began to laugh a little at the image. 

"Whatever makes me more manly." Sherlock said with a laugh. "Mycroft could probably get a tank for us." he said, only half joking, he was pretty sure if Mycroft wanted, he could get one, including a special licence to drive that thing on the streets. 

"I don't think I want to know if he'd actually do that." John said, remembering the thing at the exhibition. "Roll up in a tank and a black dress and I'd marry you instantly." John chuckled; he was only really able to make a joke about that, since it seemed to him as if the matter of them marrying was just a question of 'when'. 

"Tempting." Sherlock remarked with a smirk as they passed the willow again, he wasn't even joking, getting to marry John was worth quite a lot of things. "But maybe I'll save that for the day I'll propose to you." he said and chuckled at the idea. 

"I'd make sure those pictures would follow you an eternity." John remarked, still chuckling as he looked out of the window. He didn't even notice the willow as they passed it this time. "And who says you're proposing to me? Maybe I'd like to propose to you." 

"Suits me.." Sherlock said and grinned at John, "If you can beat me to it, that is." he said and chuckled, "And yeah.. with the internet.. someone would upload a photo of it somewhere and it would haunt us forever." he said and laughed.

"Even better; less work for me." John chuckled and glanced back at Sherlock. "It's strange, you know. Yesterday morning I thought our friendship was over and now we're here talking about marriage."

Sherlock said and chuckled, reaching out with one hand to take John's, "Glad it turned out like this though." 

John took Sherlock's hand and smiled. "Oh, I definitely agree. This is better." He looked over at the other man for a while and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "I love you." 

"I love you too." Sherlock said and smiled to himself, keeping his eyes on the road, better safe than sorry, right? "So.. I guess we'll go see Jane another day then? We've got enough to do finding an outfit that says 'I'm manly enough to be your son's boyfriend'." he said and chuckled as they entered London again. 

John looked at him apologetically, even though he couldn't see that right now. "Probably Better. Sorry about that by the way, I didn't mean for that to be a big deal. Oh and drive to your flat first, yeah?" 

"What, you think I don't own 'manly clothes'?" Sherlock asked and chuckled, glancing at John for a moment, "I've got all we need. I'm just not sure what to do with my hair, my curls don't exactly scream manly military kid." he said and laughed, shaking his head, "But... well you can only go so far, I'm not getting a new hair cut for your dad." he said jokingly, "And don't look like that.. I don't mind, I've grown up in a society where it was entirely impossible to even officially acknowledge your relationship when you were with a man as a man..." he said and smiled.

"Hey, it was your idea and for all I know you only own the style of clothes you're wearing right now, some period pieces and an old hoodie. And no, you're not going to the bloody barber's." 

John said and couldn't help to feel a bit bad about the whole thing. "I'm excited to see what else you've got in you're wardrobe though." 

"Oh admit it, you're more excited about seeing me change.." Sherlock teased, removing his hand from John's to change the gear, "You know what, we'll pick out the outfit and then cuddle up in bed and watch a film on my laptop?" he asked and chuckled, "It's only noon, but so what, a day in bed can't hurt." 

"That sounds just about perfect actually." John agreed, smiling at Sherlock a little. He could really do with a bit of a break; even if it was only noon. 

"By the way, though.. about.. my meals.. is it okay if I just use mouthwash after blood? I mean.. I can hardly go and brush my teeth when we're out.. mouthwash would make that way easier." he said and shrugged lightly, "There's no pressure though, if you want me to brush my teeth, I'll brush my teeth." 

"Hm? Oh yeah, I just don't want to get any blood into my mouth, you know. I'm still not up for bloody kisses, but sure, I'm completely fine with that." 

Sherlock ginned, "Well that certainly makes my life easier." he said as he pulled up in front of 221B, leaning over to steal himself a kiss, "Just to tide me over until I'm done with lunch." he said and smirked, pecking john's lips again.


	11. How To Cook An Affair

John smiled at him and unbuckled his seat belt, before getting out of the car. "Speaking of which, I haven't eaten anything at all yet; have you got something edible in your fridge?" He asked; As far as he could tell Sherlock's kitchen only contained mouldy fingers, blood and wine.

"Yes, I have John, you don't give me enough credit, really." Sherlock said and chuckled lightly, "I could cook for you, actually. Would be a shame if I hadn't learned to cook in 242 years." he said and rolled his eyes, "Or if you're really hungry, we could grab something from Speedy's, they have the best burgers in London." 

"I don't think I can say no to your cooking." John said with a smile. "And I do apologise for the quick assumption. I'm learning all kinds of new things about you today." He commented and walked over to Sherlock be next to him again. "So you did ballet, yeah?" 

"Well, I suppose I could make a quick lasagne.. I could brag now how it's a centuries old Italy I learned from Italian masters.. but truth is.. I convinced Angelo from the Italian restaurant around the corner to give it to me a couple of years ago." Sherlock said and chuckled lightly, "And yeah.. I did.. quite successful, actually." 

"Sounds just great to me." John said, with a chuckle, taking his boyfriend's hand. "And I'm curious now. Did you dance professionally?"

"Yeah... for a while. But that was long ago. I started a few years before the Titanic sank, actually.." Sherlock said and smiled, "It was fun.. but.. well then there was the war and then another.." Sherlock said and shrugged. 

"It's a true shame I didn't get to watch you." John said with a smile. "It doesn't come as that big a surprise though. You seem much more aware of your body when you move than most other people." He commented, really always having found Sherlock had something very graceful about himself that John had always loved about the other.

Sherlock smiled, stepping a bit away from John, looking around for a moment, before he pirouetted right in front of him, giving him a small grin.

John smiled right back at him, before going back to Sherlock's side and kissing his cheek. "Beautiful." It really was a shame cameras hadn't been invented yet at the time.

Sherlock smiled, blushing a little, "Let's go get you something to eat." he said sheepishly, taking John's hand and leading him into the house, "Do you mind if I drink while I cook?" he asked and frowned at how that sounded, "I mean.. blood.. not alcohol.." he said with a chuckle. 

John shook his head at that. "I know what you meant and it's no problem at all. I'm the last person that doesn't want you to drink after hours of nothing. Just make sure you don't spill it on my food." He said, following Sherlock into the house. It was a little unnerving to be frank, but he'd have to get used to it eventually; and keeping Sherlock from drinking around him wasn't exactly a long term option. 

Sherlock smiled, "I'll make sure not to get near your food with my glass." he said and chuckled, entering the flat, before pulling John into his arms and kissing him again. He honestly hated that he couldn't just kiss him whenever he wanted and had to go rinse his mouth if he had drunken something. He usually didn't stick that closely to a three meals a day schedule, he just had a glass whenever he felt like it. But going along the with the schedule did seem reasonable right now. 

John kissed him back passionately, eventually pulling back and staying close to him. "Thanks, love." He smiled up to him and pecked his lips. "So lasagne, yeah?" 

"Mhm... You'll love it." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Good thing we didn't drink all of the wine, I need a glass of it for the sauce." he said and smirked as he walked into the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of blood, taking a sip, before he started getting out all the ingridients he'd need, unwrapping some frozen mince meat and putting it in a bowl into the microwave to defrost it. 

John followed him into the kitchen and leaned against the fridge as he watched Sherlock. After a short while he stalked over to his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around him from the back. "Could you maybe use some unpaid help?" He asked with a chuckle, resting his chin on Sherlock's shoulder.

Sherlock smiled, leaning back against John for a moment, "Well, if you want, you can cube some tomatoes and mix them with cubed from the can, angelo called it his 'secret'." he said, imitating Angelo's accent for the last word. "Although I wouldn't mind if you'd just stay like that, while I chop the vegetables." he said and turned his head, giving John a small smile instead of a kiss, because.. well, blood. 

John smiled back at Sherlock and kissed his cheek. "Very tempting." He chuckled and stayed in the crook of his neck while he continued. "But I think I'm a bit too hungry to let you do all of the work by yourself." He chuckled and slowly untangled himself from his boyfriend to get himself a cutting board and gather the rest of the tomatoes. "You're way too comfortable, you know that?" "You mean in your arms?" Sherlock turned John's comment around with a smirk, "Yeah.. Yeah, I know that. /Way/ too comfortable." he said as he got a pan out and put in some butter, before taking to his glass again while he waited for the butter to heat up. 

"It's a serious problem, you know." John said, washing the tomatoes, before beginning to chop one up. "If I'm not careful I'll be keeping you in my arms for hours just because you're too comfortable lean into." He chuckled, looking up from his tomatoes. 

"Well.. I won't stop you." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "I'll be happy to serve your cuddle needs anytime." he said and - ridiculously - actually gave a long happy sigh. Before now, he hadn't thought people actually did that in real life. He nipped at his glass again, before he got the mince meat out of the microwave and put it into the pan, chopping it with the flipper. 

"Good." John grinned, when he heard Sherlock sigh, but didn't comment on it any further. He was incredibly happy too right now with them being all cosy and domestic. 

Frying the mince meat, he focussed a bit more on his liquid lunch in the meantime, "I could teach you to dance, you know.." Sherlock said after a moment of comfortable silence, glancing at John as he searched the cabinets for the lasagne sheets he know he had somewhere. "I mean, standard and latin, not ballet." he said and chuckled, grabbing for the pack with the lasagne sheet when he found it. "As a previous professional dancer, my wedding dance can't just be a bit of shuffling around." he said and chuckled. 

John chuckled at the last part. "In that case I'm in dire need of dancing lessons, because I'm not capable of more than that. I mean I do go to the club, but that's hardly wedding-appropriate, I guess." John said, reaching for a can of canned (who'd have guessed) tomatoes and opened one of the drawers in search of a can opener. "I'd really like that though; you teaching me to dance I mean."

"Well better start soon then, I have the feeling most of the lessons will end with make out sessions, so better make sure we have enough time to practice." Sherlock said and chuckled, taking the fresh tomatoes from John already to fry them along with the meat. 

John chuckled at that, since he thought Sherlock really had a good point there. "I'll leave it to you when we'll start then." He said and glanced at Sherlock, opening the tomatoes. Not paying attention properly, he reached into the sharp edge of the lid. Hissing in pain, he cradled it to his chest and cursed like a sailor.

“Oh come on.." Sherlock said and couldn't help but letting out a small chuckle as he reached for John's hand, looking at the cut, "You should be careful not to get copy right issues with Stephenie Meyer." he teased as turned the tap on and rinsed John's wound. "Although.. the fact that I didn't jump on you to have you for breakfast saves you there." 

"Arse." John muttered grumpily and reached for a kitchen towel to wrap around the cut. "After that it better tastes good." He said with a bit of a huff (mostly though, because he was quite embarrassed). 

"You know.... I could have it healed in a minute.." Sherlock said and smiled at John giving a small shrug, "I mean.. I don't even have to taste it, if you don't want to, I could just apply my saliva with a cotton bud, that would do the trick just as well." he offered, taking the towel from John and wrapping it tightly around the cut. "Although you'd get a faint impression what the high feels like, so.. probably better sit down for a moment then." 

"Thanks." John muttered, when Sherlock wrapped his cut. "After the food's in the oven, yeah?" He said, after hesitating for a moment. He'd just like to ignore it really, but at the very least not interrupt their cooking. 

"John, it'll be quick and not nearly enough to actually get you high.. but it might make you a bit dizzy for a second." Sherlock said, really hating the idea that John would be in pain for the rest of the time they were cooking. "You won't have to lay down or whatever." he said as he grabbed a plaster from his first aid kit, already knowing that this was the type of discussion he generally lost with John. 

"I'm fine, really." John said, not really up for experiments in that moment, as much as he trusted Sherlock. When he saw, his boyfriend was getting another plaster, he put the kitchen towel aside and thanked the other man. 

Sherlock smiled about how he was right predicting the outcome of this discussion, "You're so stubborn..." he said and chuckled, carefully wrapping the plaster around John's finger, before kissing the tip of it. "After cooking then.." he said and smiled at the other man. 

John smiled back at his boyfriend, his expression having softened now, and nodded. Sherlock was being so gentle with him that it was hard to stay grumpy for long. "Thanks, love." He said and leaned forwards to kiss his cheek, bringing his good hand up to run through the hair on Sherlock's nape. 

"You're not going to make a kiss exception, right?" Sherlock asked and rested his forehead against John's, chuckling a little, "You're really not making it easy to stick to that rule, you know." 

John pecked his lips to tease him a little. "I know, I'm a bastard, aren't I? And no I'm not; at least not today. But once you've drunk up, we can move on to snogging, hm?" 

Sherlock smiled, giving a sigh, "We should probably move on with cooking rather." he said and smirked, "This is by the way exactly what I thought would happen with the dancing lessons.. you know when there is no food that can burn on the stove." he chuckled, breaking their embrace to turn back to the stove, stirring the meat. 

John nodded and returned to watching Sherlock cook, since it didn't look like their were too many tasks left he could busy himself with. "Really can't wait for those dancing lessons then." He remarked. "Now, what else needs to read done?" He asked, having little to no idea how to cook a lasagne. 

"You can put the canned tomatoes into the pan and stir..." Sherlock said, smiling over at John, "I'll make the white sauce in the meantime and after seasoning the tomato sauce comes the fun part, stacking the lasagne," he said and frowned, "Oh! Wait, can you add a glass of wine to the sauce and then put tomato paste in until it's got a sauce consistency?"

"Sure, but I can't promise it'll turn out well." John said and gathered the ingredients Sherlock had just mentioned. "Are you just always prepared to make a lasagne or had you actually planned to cook?" He asked, pouring the tomatoes in the pan. 

"Well... I did plan to cook for you... I was planning to invite you for dinner after the museum, you know.. as the second date.. but.. that turned out quite different from what I expected.. I'd still like to punch Mycroft for ruining it." Sherlock said and shook his head as he got out a pot to make the roux. 

"At least we get to do it now; and Mycroft remains nowhere to be seen." John said with a bit of a smile, before returning back to the sauce. "And anyway, I was planning to take /you/ out for dinner, so we've still got to do that.” 

"Well, we've still got a whole lot of dinners to have together." Sherlock said and smiled as he added the flour to the roux, smiling to himself as he stirred it.

”Yeah, that's true." John said more to himself, making sure the tomato sauce didn't burn. After some comfortable silence had settled in the kitchen, John looked back to the taller student. "How have you come to know Angelo by the way?"

"Got him off a murder charge two years ago, I proved that he was on the other side of town housebreaking when the murder had happened." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Since then he's been overly thankful. He doesn't let me pay when I'm at his restaurant." he rolled his eyes. 

John chuckled at that the eye roll and nodded empathetically. "Yeah, what a sod. How dare he?" He poured some of the wine into the sauce. "And why did he ask you; Is that just a thing you do? Getting people off murder charges, I mean." 

"Read about his case in the papers.. even by the poor article, I could see the police was wrong about it.." Sherlock said and shrugged, "When I turned the page, there was an article about a break in and the description of the housebreaker fit the prime suspect from the murder.. I went to Angelo's restaurant, just simply asked him if he was the housebreaker, he naturally said he wasn't, it was obvious he was lying though, when he finally understood that a break in is hardly as bad as a triple murder, he confessed, I talked to the police and proved to them that his confession is true so Angelo was off the hook." he said setting the Bechamél sauce aside once it was ready, starting to chop onions and garlic, he just preferred to add them later so they wouldn't get too soft in the oven. "However, Angelo tells everyone who would listen that without me, he'd have gone to prison, when in fact, he did go to prison.." he chuckled. 

"Impressive." John remarked. "He sounds like an alright bloke though, your Angelo. We could go to his restaurant, if the recipe turns out to be decent." He said jokingly. "With our many dinners to come, we could spend a couple there." 

“Pff.. decent? It's amazing, simple, but great." Sherlock said and smiled, "Show some respect." he said and mixed poured the chopped garlic and onions into the tomato sauce. "Stir please." he said and rubbed his eyes to get rid off the effects of the onion's fumes. 

John did as he was told, really having to admit that the sauces smelled amazing. He frowned a little when Sherlock began to rub his eyes with his onion-and-garlicky hands. "You alright there?" 

"That moment when you wish you were a twilight vampire..." Sherlock said and laughed, walking over to the sink and washing his hands, before he grabbed a fresh kitchen towel, wetting it, before he dabbed his eyes with it.

John gave him a pained smile. "Come here, love. Let me just-" He said and walked over to Sherlock and cupped his cheek, before taking the kitchen towel from him and moving to dab his eyes for him. "You've got too pretty eyes to rub garlic into them." 

Sherlock hummed a small chuckle, "So much to invincible vampires.." he murmured and let John treat to his eyes, "And I suppose the onion was worse." he mumbled, this wasn't exactly pleasant, but he couldn't help liking it to have someone that cared about him. 

"Either way my point still stands." John said, before lifting the towel to have a look at the taller man's irritated eyes. "They could look worse, I guess. Are they a bit better?" He asked, returning to soothing Sherlock's eyes with the cloth. Sherlock could definitely do that by himself, but John couldn't help jumping at the next opportunity to fret about him a little. 

Sherlock smiled and nodded, "Yeah.. they are.." he said and reached for John's hand, taking his hands and the cloth away from from his eyes, "Guess it's really quite useful for me to have a doctor around." he said and chuckled softly, once again feeling the urge to kiss him. There was a real possibility John might cause him to develop an eating disorder. (

"Glad I could be of use." John said with a smile, before stroking Sherlock's cheek with his thumb and leaning in to give him an innocent kiss on his lips. 

"I wasn't the one, who came up with that rule. And no, it certainly doesn't. Though, if you decide to eat garlic everyday I'll call my veto on that." He said with a chuckle.

Sherlock chuckled, "Well you came up with the toothbrush rule, though.." he said and grinned at John, "But yeah I agree.. garlic isn't kiss compatible on a regular basis." he said and moved out of their embrace, to drink from his glass. "By the way, once.. or if you become a vampire, there are a lot recipes I'll have to show you.. I'm sure you've never had an actual bloody mary?" 

"I can't say I have. How about you try to drink some water before you kiss me?" He asked, since he could see that it could easily get awkward for Sherlock to use mouth wash all the time. If he didn't taste overwhelmingly like blood, John would be willing to compromise. 

Sherlock smirked, "Well.. at least the taste of water would be nicer than using mouthwash all the time." he said and smiled, "What really makes this difficult is the fact that I want to kiss you all the time." he said and chuckled again, "You're irresistible.." he murmured with a smile, pouring himself another glass, just so he would be able to go a bit longer without blood tonight. 

"I don't think you're the one in this relationship entitled to say that, handsome." John said with a smile and kissed Sherlock's cheek again, before turning back to the tomato sauce before it could burn completely. "I know the feeling though." 

Sherlock laughed, "Sounds like a good base for a relationship though, if both think the other is irresistible." he said and grabbed salt, pepper and chilli, starting to season the sauce while John was stirring. "You're more attractive though and you have the better character too." 

"Well, I suppose that's true." John commented at the first part with a laugh. "But don't even get me started on who's more attractive, love. You are incredibly handsome from top to bottom. Your hair, your eyes, your lips,..." He drifted off, regarding the other with a smile. "We'll save that for another time, I think. And I have told you that you are the most sincere boyfriend I've ever had. I kinda get the feeling you only said that to make me give you some more compliments." He said teasingly and took his hand to give it a squeeze, glad Sherlock was closer to him again. 

Sherlock chuckled, "No, I didn't, actually.. I really think it's important that your parents like me.. if I wouldn't think so, I probably wouldn't have told my parents about Victor and me back then. Not that it would have stopped me if they wouldn't have been fine with it, but I didn't want to draw conclusions and lose my family because I thought I could know how they'd react.. the thing is, you never do." 

"Let's just hope for the best." John said with a soft sigh. "But just for the record. My opinion of you or our relationship isn't going to change, no matter what they'll say or do. Truth be told I've Been quite nervous since we agreed to go there tomorrow, but yeah, I'm hoping for the best." 

"I could possibly fake my death and get myself a new identity as a woman if that helps.. maybe they'll accept that you're dating a very ugly and tall woman." Sherlock said and giggled lightly, remembering their black dress/tank joke. "But I was actually quite serious about the car question.. Mrs Hudson's got a few more.. and if a Jeep is better, I could ask Fatcroft if I can borrow one." 

"How about we park in the small parking lot 200m from their house and avoid the question altogether? I know a first impression is important, but this feels like over-thinking it a little. I sincerely hope it won't make that big a difference; even if it's only subconscious." John said, before pausing and adding with a smirk. "And you'd make a great woman. So if you still want to dress up and ask your moustache-loving brother for a tank, suit yourself."

Sherlock smiled and gave a small shrug, "Well, all I say is, it /will/ happen, but you won't expect it." he said and smirked mischievously to himself, already making plans for his boyfriend's birthday. 

"Seriously?? Well, I'm already looking forward to /that/ day." John said, giggling a little. "And I can usually expect the unexpected with you, can't I?" He asked looking at the sauce, that already looked pretty good to him. Then again he'd eaten mostly Ramen the past couple of days. 

Sherlock smiled, "Me.. not so much.. I need to organise a general camera ban wherever I do it." he said and laughed, shaking his head as he pulled out a baking dish and took the white sauce, pouring in a layer, before poured in a layer of tomato sauce and covered it with a layer of lasagne sheets, repeating the process without the white sauce until the tomato sauce was used up and last but not least topping it with a final layer of white sauce, before he put the cheese on top of it. "There we go." he said and smiled at John as he held the glass dish up, "Looks good, I think.." 

"Are you kidding? I could eat that right now and I'm not even joking." John said with a laugh; university really hadn't done his pallet any good. One party he'd shown up to had actually had only dry, uncooked pasta as food and at the end of the night the bowl had been empty. 

Sherlock chuckled, "Honestly, I think I'm gonna cook for you every day.." he said and smiled, "If you ever look like me like you look at this lasagne, I'll consider myself a lucky man.." he teased and put the lasagne into the oven, setting the timer on his phone. "Right.. so.. let's fix your finger now." he said and took a glass, filling it with water, before he rinsed his mouth, figuring John probably wouldn't like it much if he had blood left overs in his saliva when he'd treat his wound, even though his blood bags only contained clean blood. 

"Thanks, I appreciate it." John said, when Sherlock rinsed his mouth for him, and sat down on a kitchen chair. He didn't really know how to feel about this, but there definitely some curiosity and nervousness in the mix. Because really, this was a first, and even the huge amount of trust he placed in Sherlock didn't change that fact. 

"So.. how do you want to do it?" Sherlock asked and smiled at John, "Cotton bud or should I just .. well.. lick your finger.. that sounds naughtier than it is.." he said and laughed softly as he sat down next to John and carefully removed the plaster from John's finger. "Ah, it doesn't bleed any more.. I actually don't think you'll feel much of a high at this point.. it'll heal faster than it's got time to spread.." he said and gave a shrug, "I don't think you'll feel anything, actually. Perhaps a small itch.. like the normal itch you sometimes have when something heals." 

"Yeah, I don't think there's any need for that, you can just go ahead and lick my finger." John said, regarding his finger for a moment, before looking back at Sherlock. "Thank you by the way." 

"I'm not actually doing that much, John. No need to thank me." Sherlock said and brought John's hand up to his lips, just quickly brushing his tongue over John's wound, before bringing it down again, "And now.. watch.." he said and smiled as John's skin reacted instantly and the cut closed slowly, but still fast enough for the process to be visible. 

John watched quietly as the skin on his finger grew back, quite stunned for a good while. "That is incredible. And my cut's almost healed, so thank you for that." He said, glancing back at his finger incredulously. He'd expected this to happen, but it had still taking him by surprise apparently. 

Sherlock smiled, "Well, you're welcome.." he said and bit his lip, "You know, while the lasagne is in the oven, we could probably pop over to boots, it's just around the corner and the lasagne's got to bake for another 40 minutes anyway." he said and smirked at John. 

"Yeah? Why would we go to boots?" John asked, being a little at a loss there. 

"Well, why would we go to a drug store, John..." Sherlock murmured and smirked at John, "I seem to remember that we've been talking about doing some shopping, certain supplies? Does any of that ring a bell?" he asked and chuckled. 

"Right. Good that I have you to remember those things." John said with a light chuckle, running a hand through his his hair in slight embarrassment. "Well, let's go then. It's funny, you know. I'm not even hungry any more." He said, taking Sherlock's hand. 

"Really? You looked before like you wanted to do more to the lasagne than eating it.." Sherlock said and laughed shaking his head, "And now you tell me you're not hungry anymore." he said and rolled his eyes, still smiling. 

John chuckled at that. "I know. But since I've now got a good substitute for the lasagne..." He leaned forwards (and yeah, got on his tiptoes a little) to draw Sherlock into a proper kiss this time. Bringing a hand up to Sherlock's hair, John smiled a little against his lips. 

Sherlock hummed fondly into the kiss, his arms going around John's waist, pulling him closer, before breaking their kiss. "Okay.. boots. Now." he said and chuckled, "I've just realised how much it would annoy me to break something like this off at a later state just because we don't have supplies.." he said and chuckled lightly. 

John made a little disappointed noise, when Sherlock pulled away and nodded. "Yeah, I see your point. My jacket's over there then." He said, nodding towards the living room.


	12. Walking Down The Aisle

Sherlock smiled, holding his hand out for John, "Let's hope I still turn you on more than the lasagne when it's ready." he said and chuckled, "I wasn't kidding about cooking for you by the way, I will.. I don't have to do that much for uni anyway.." 

John smiled back and took Sherlock's hand, tugging him a little towards the living room. "You know, I'd actually take you up on that sometimes, if you're offering." John squeezed Sherlock's hand.

Sherlock chuckled, "Nope, no more ramen for you, Mr." he said and gave a small shrug, "I know all sorts of recipes and you'll get to taste each of them. Honestly, I have more money than I need, why not spend a bit of that on filling your fridge." 

John smiled at him a bit disbelievingly. "You're seriously offering to cook for me on a daily basis? And no way I'm letting you pay for all of that; half of the groceries are on me." 

"A quarter, tops." Sherlock said and smirked, "Hey.. you know, since we're already.." he trailed off, thinking of the correct term for that, "Pre-engaged..." he said and chuckled, "You could move in.. I mean.. that would make cooking for you much easier and it's only 20 minutes to uni with the tube." 

"Right. As your as-good-as-fiancée I should probably do that." John said with a smile, before putting his jacket on. "I'd really love to actually." He added and took Sherlock's hand once more. 

"Really? You're not scared off or anything?" Sherlock asked and chuckled, "I just feel.. I don't know.. I feel like I'm somewhat clingy.." he said and shrugged, "If.. if it's too much.. tell me, alright? Tell me and I'll back off a little." 

“If I thought you were too clingy, I would've already told you when you wanted to make a detailed plan for when I get send abroad in a few years." He said with a light chuckle. "I'm not scared off that easily. And I was going to move in with you anyway. But yeah, I'll tell you." 

Sherlock smiled a little, raising a brow, "You were?" he asked and laughed, "Were you going to tell me about that, or would you just have shown up with a few boxes?" he asked smiling brightly at John as he led him out the flat. 

"I meant eventually, you sod. I was not going to wait until marriage, you know, Mr. supplies." John laughed and nudged Sherlock's side. "And it obviously would've been a surprise, now that I know your birthday." He joked with a smirk, following Sherlock out the door. 

Sherlock grinned, "Well, it would have been a very good idea.." he said and smiled, really he felt like he had smiled more in the last two days than the last hundred years. "But I think it's a very good idea for you to move in right away so I get to spend more time with you either." 

"I agree. I'm glad you asked." John said with a smile and squeezed Sherlock's hand a bit. "If I do it next weekend, will you help me with the cardboard boxes?" 

"Sure, I can't wait, actually." Sherlock said and bit his lip, just to try to stifle his grin and not look too much like a happy fool, "But.. about the 'shopping'.. do you have any experience with this? I mean.. as for brands? I've never actually used lube, so I'm a bit clueless." he said as they walked out onto the side walk, locking the door. 

Sherlock smiled, "Okay.. I'll just rely on your expertise then." he said and chuckled, lacing their fingers, "Well, anyway, we should hurry up though, we're already down to 30 minutes." 

"I agree; I doubt Mrs H. would be too happy, if we were too late." John said with a chuckle. "You said it's down the road?" 

"Just around the corner there. Definitely doable in time." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "We should just probably cut back on the snog stops." he said and chuckled. 

"I think that's going to be a tough one." John said with a smile, before giving Sherlock a kiss on the cheek. "Would you say you're a good runner?" 

"Guess so." Sherlock said and smirked at John, "Are we going to make it a competition? Who gets there last pays the lube?" he asked with a grin. 

"Deal." John said with a grin. Thanks to the rugby practices, he really wasn't in bad shape." I hope you've brought your wallet." 

Sherlock smiled and leaned over to press a kiss to John's lips, "I'll check while I wait for you at the shop." he murmured and laughed as he pulled away and started to run. 

"You cheater!!" John called with a laugh and ran right after him, following close behind. 

Sherlock laughed as John caught up with him as he was a top speed, smiling at his soon to be fiancé and holding out his hand, figuring they both weren't going to become much faster and it somehow actually warmed his heart that they were literally equals. 

John grinned once he'd caught up with Sherlock and took his hand, once Sherlock held it out to him. Running down the street, he didn't let go of it, even after they arrived at the drug store. Panting and still with a grin on his face, he looked up at the taller man. 

Sherlock chuckled, trying to catch his breath (which didn't help), "Well, that.. was.. ridiculous." he said and giggled, looking at John, giving his hand a tug and pulling him into his arms. 

"And fun." John smiled and let himself gladly be pulled into the embrace. "Are you giggling, Sherlock Holmes?" He asked in between breaths, his head rested against his boyfriend's collar bone, before beginning to giggle as well. 

Sherlock grinned, burying his face in John's hair, "Well there you see what you do to me." he said and closed his eyes for a moment, waiting until his breathing calmed down. 

"What a terrible influence I am." John remarked with a smile, pulling back after a while to look up at Sherlock. "I think we've made up enough time for a snog stop, don't you agree?" 

Sherlock's lips curled up into a smile at that, "Yeah.. I suppose we have." he said and chuckled again, "We should run everywhere.. we could double the number of snog stops like that." he grinned, leaning in to capture John's lips with his own. 

John's hand quickly came up to settle in Sherlock's hair. He felt more alive than he had in months; and that on a trip to boot's to get lube.. Perfectly happy in that moment, he opened his mouth and kissed Sherlock passionately back. 

Sherlock pulled John even closer for a moment, before reluctantly pulling back, hating to have to be the responsible one. "We don't have that much time.." he breathed and looked regretfully at John, god how he was looking forward to spending the rest of their day in bed. 

"Shame that. But you're right." John said, Sherlock's statement being emphasised by a tell-tale grumble of his own stomach. With a bit of a sigh, he opened the shop door for the both of them. "Don't forget, you're paying half." He said with a smirk. 

Sherlock chuckled, "Okay... scratch races from our list of argument settling methods." he said and chuckled, "We'd never get anywhere like that." he said as they walked into the shop, "Although I did cheat, so I wouldn't mind paying all of it." 

"Since I'm such an amazing runner, you didn't even have time to check for your wallet though." John teased, as he walked with Sherlock down the aisle. 

"Don't have to, I know I've got it with me." Sherlock said and shook his head, scanning the shelves and frowning as he spotted the variety of 'supplies', "Do people really need all that?" he asked and rolled his eyes. His frown deepened as he glanced over the condoms, "Uhm.. do we need those? I mean.. well it's not like I even get serious STD's and.. I suppose if it's been more than a hundred years since you've been with someone you count as pretty much clean.." 

"Yeah, we're getting those. I haven't been tested since my last girlfriend and just because you won't get terrible one's..." John shrugged a little. "I just always use them; is that a problem for you?" He asked, finding it a little hard to imagine not to have had sex in a century... Had condoms even been invented back then? 

"Well there have been condoms, but Victor was a virgin before me and so was I, so we didn't need to worry about syphilis or anything and it's not like the quality was very well anyway, but what do you expect from linen or animal bladders and intestines.." he said with a shrug, "I don't imagine they were very comfortable either, still better than leather or horn, though.. but since we also didn't have to worry about birth control that was just not a subject we bothered with."

"I don't know if it's a problem for me.. I mean.. well there have been condoms, but Victor was a virgin before me and so was I, so we didn't need to worry about syphillis or anything and it's not like the quality was very well anyway, but what do you expect from linen or animal bladders and intestines.." he said with a shrug, "I don't imagine they were very comfortable either, still better than leather or horn, though.. but since we also didn't have to worry about birth control that was just not a subject we bothered with." 

"Well, I can tell you that I hardly feel them at all. How about we try them and you decide later on how you feel about them? I'd feel more comfortable to have protected sex until I've been tested." John said, though he wasn't exactly running out of them at the moment, since things hadn't been going all that well lately with Sarah. 

"Sure.." Sherlock said and shrugged, not sure what to think of condoms still. He did get the point of them, naturally, but he really couldn't even make an assumption about how he'd like them. "Right then.. which of them?" he asked, having no idea at all what brand or colour or shape to take. 

John took two relatively neutral packages in two different sizes that fit most men. "Those are the most common sizes." He commented non-judgemental, figuring it could potentially end very badly if he guessed Sherlock's size wrong. "You're not allergic to latex, are you?" 

"I don't have allergies, John." Sherlock said and shook his head with a smile, "Remember? Hyperactive immune system?" he asked and raised a brow at the packs John had taken. "You're very optimist for tonight huh, how many are that? 40?" he laughed, nudging John's shoulder with his own. Sherlock and we ignore that a hyperactive immune system technically makes allergies more likely... 

"Would you rather I bought single packaged ones?" John answered with a chuckle, before going a few steps down the aisle to get the lubricant he usually (well, he hadn't done it /that/ often) bought. 

Sherlock chuckled, "Just teasing..." he said and smirked at John, before remembering something, "Oh, hang on! I wanted to get something else." he said and quickly walked over to the dental hygiene section, grabbing a couple of small travel sized bottles of mouth wash, before returning to John. "Those could come in handy when we're out." he said and held them up for John to see. 

"Right, good idea." John said, refusing to feel guilty for being the reason for that; there really were worse things. "I don't think we need anything else, do we?" He asked, walking slowly towards the check out line. 

Sherlock grinned, "No, and we should get back home, we have fifteen minutes until the lasagne has to get out of the oven and it won't do it on it's own." he said and chuckled, pulling his wallet out of his pocket. 

As if one cue, John's stomach grumbles once more; he was already looking forward that. Without another word he pulled out a five pound mark (which was roughly a bit less than half of the total price) and handed it Sherlock; after all, he had a half-time job for a reason. 

Sherlock rolled his eyes and slipped the money into the back pocket of John's trousers, "My treat." he said and winked at John, handing the cashier a couple of bills from his wallet. Honestly, he didn't see any good reason why John should have to pay if he needed the money for other things and clearly barely had enough to get by while Sherlock had more than they'd ever need - even if they'd live eternally, he barely had expenses and had early invested in stocks of promising brands, early being when they had started out and stocks that had been worth pennies back then were now several hundred thousands, some even millions. 

John didn't look too happy at that, but decided it wasn't worth the fuss the first time they went shopping together; and Sherlock had cheated, so technically that's what they had agreed on. He knew he'd be uncomfortable living off of Sherlock, no matter if he had more money or not. It just wasn't something he'd been taught to do. But for now, he pushed that thought aside, since he knew that right now he would just be blowing things out of proportion; they could really talk about that at another time. Once their bag was filled, he took Sherlock's hand and went with him to the exit. "We might want to walk this time." 

"Yeah.. if we start running now, I can easily imagine the cashier would think we're in dire need of those supplies." Sherlock said and laughed, "While you are more in dire need of lasagne.. or food in general, I heard your stomach back there." he said and chuckled, "And that's no special vampire ability, I'm pretty sure the guy at the checkout heard it too." 

John shook his head at that, slightly embarrassed it had been that noticeable. "Yeah, I'm a little peckish, if you were able to tell." John said with a chuckle, though he really wanted to get back already and finally have something to eat.

Sherlock smiled, "Well let's get back then, I'm actually quite looking forward for the start of the day in bed part too." he said and chuckled, "Any idea for what film to watch?" 

"Mmh... how about a Bond movie?" John suggested with a smile. He'd almost forgotten their plans for today, the thought of which immediately lifted his mood immediately. 

"Hm.. so you can stare at whoever actor currently playing James Bond like you stared at the lasagne?" Sherlock asked teasingly and smirked. 

"Aha. So a movie without attractive actors. That nails our options down to documentaries about ants and staring at you for the rest of the day." John teased right back with a laugh. 

"Well we could try to find a film with very old actors." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Or... well.. there is one movie we could watch that has got an actor in it that would probably pass as attractive in your eyes, which I wouldn't mind so much." he said, a mischievous glint in his eyes. 

John furrowed his brow for a moment to look at Sherlock, trying to pin down that expression. "Has anyone ever told you you're a little jealous at times?" He asked with a light chuckle, before continuing. "Come on, you haven't actually starred in a movie though, have you?" 

Sherlock grinned, "Just one, it got released in 1926.. I just liked the theme and figured it wouldn't hurt to try." he said and laughed, pulling out his phone, looking up the original film poster, "That's it." he said, holding out the phone for John. 

Sherlock grinned, "Hey, I'm not jealous.. I'd just prefer that the first time you're in my bed, your attention is on me, rather than have you drooling over James Bond." he said and chuckled lightly, pulling out his phone and tapping on it, looking up the original film poster of the film he was referring to, holding the phone out for John to look at it, "It was just a small budget film, I had the looks the makers wanted and.. well, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it out." 

John grinned at his boyfriend. "Of course. So I actually do get to stare at your face today." He said with a warm chuckle. "Not that I'm complaining though, mind you. I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, I've got to give it to you; you really are a performer. So, violinist, dancer, actor,... anything that I forgot?" 

"Porn star." Sherlock dead-panned, despite the irresistible urge to laugh somehow managing to keep a straight face as he said that. 

John almost stopped walking and looked at his boyfriend, thrown off by that. The way Sherlock looked, he might have actually been telling the truth. "Wait, seriously?"

Sherlock couldn't hold it a moment longer and burst out laughing, just shaking his head, "You actually believed it for a second, didn't you?" he asked, still chuckling, "No. My sexual experience is pretty much limited to my time with Victor and well.." he cleared his throat, "There was one drunk make out session with Oscar Wilde, but that didn't get anywhere below the waistline, so it probably doesn't even count as 'sexual experience'." he said, drawing quotation marks into the air with his free hand. 

John began to laugh as well; he had actually almost bought that! "/The/ Oscar Wilde?" John said right after Sherlock was done talking. "Best friends with Jane Austen and has made out with Oscar wild; I get the feeling you really like writers." He said with a chuckle.

"Well.. I like extraordinary people..." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "And if you want a list of names you probably have heard of, I also knew Tesla, Poe, Doyle.. the list goes on and on..." he said and chuckled, "There were many people that never got enough credit, though.. and well.. I suppose I tend to inspire writers especially. Jane wasn't the only one basing a character on me. Oscar eventually picked up on the fact that I wasn't ageing.. Ever read the picture of Dorian Gray? I mean, he didn't exactly base him on me, but it was what gave him the idea."

"Wow, that's incredible. It sounds like you knew just about everyone important at the time." John said after a moment, looking a little incredulously at his boyfriend, before chuckling and kissing the back of his hand. "And of course he had you in mind writing Dorian Gray, beautiful. Mediocrity must be something different then, after all of that. " He remarked, wondering quietly why in the world Sherlock would have chosen him.

"I never settle for mediocrity." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "You underestimate yourself my love." he said, starting to walk again, still having the lasagne on his mind. "You're at least as extraordinary as them, maybe even more so." he said and pulled his keys out of his pocket as the flat was in sight. 

John smiled a bit at that, because that was quite something to say, though he didn't really believe it. "Well, right now I'm definitely extraordinarily hungry." He said to change the subject (and because he really was quite hungry), giving Sherlock's hand a squeeze. 

Sherlock sighed as he noticed John changing the subject, but let it slide, he had a lot of time ahead to prove to John that he was everything but ordinary. "Well good that we're just in time to get the lasagne out of the oven." he said and unlocked the door once they arrived at the flat, letting them in. 

John's smile widened once they were inside and he could smell the food in the oven. "Bloody hell, that smells delicious! Two days ago I wouldn't have thought, I'd be looking forward to pasta or noodles that much." 

"Well, get ready for alluring smells whenever you come home from uni then from next week on." Sherlock said and grinned remembering that John would move in with him next weekend. 

John grinned at that. Wow. I'm way too lucky for there not to be a catch.." John said and walked with Sherlock into the living room, neatly hanging his jacket. 

Sherlock chuckled, picking up his abandoned glass of blood after turning off the oven and opening the door, taking a sip of blood. "The catch is that I'm Dracula, thought you'd figured it." he said and chuckled lightly. 

"I've got no problem with you already knowing how to suck people." John said casually, doing his best best to act innocent, as he gathered two plates from the kitchen. J

Sherlock blushed a little bit at that comment, "Well that experience plays out to your advantage after all." he said and winked at John as he (with just the right timing for his comment) picked up the bag from boots, rummaging around in it and pulled out a bottle of mouth wash, quickly rinsing his mouth with it, getting kiss ready, before he grabbed the lasagne and set it down on the table. 

John smiled, when Sherlock returned and sat down at the table. He looked at the lasagne (Okay seriously; how could food look that good?), before returning his gaze to Sherlock. "You're going to eat as well, right?" 

"Sure.. I wouldn't have asked Angelo for the recipe if I wouldn't like it." Sherlock said and started to cut the lasagne and filling their plates, "Want some wine with it? Or rather juice or water?"


	13. "Yohooo!"

"I'll go with water; I might want to cut back on my alcohol intake a little." John said with a chuckle, before taking his plate. "Thank you, love."

Sherlock smiled, pouring them both a glass of water, before he set them both down on the table and sat down, "Let's just hope you don't leave me for the lasagne after you tasted it." he said with a smirk.

"Well, we'll have to see if you've done Angelo justice, I suppose." John teased lightly, before taking a hungry bite - it already took some self restraint not to stuff his face immediately. "Bloody hell, this tastes delicious."

Sherlock smiled, watching John as he took a bite himself, "Glad you like it." he said and chuckled, "Don't elope though." he said, taking another bite.

"If I weren't pre-engaged I might actually." John said with a chuckle, before eating some more of the lasagne. "So, what kind of movie did you play in or do you want to make it a surprise?"

"It's... well it's a pirate one." Sherlock said and chuckled, pulling his phone out of his pocket, googling the film and showing John the original film poster, which was drawn, but it nearly seemed like a photo. "It's a pirate film. Not quite pirates of the Caribbean, but it wasn't bad." he said and chuckled again.

John grinned, when he recognised the drawn face on the poster. "That sounds just great. And I can see why they found you look the part. You play the pirate captain, I take it?"

Sherlock's lips curled up into a smile at that, "Well, I was born in a time where piracy slowly lost it's glamour.. honestly, just a meagre 100 years earlier and I probably wouldn't have only played a pirate captain, but as it was, piracy was at an end in the late 1800's.." he said with a soft sigh, he really would have loved to be a pirate. A proper one, not the kind that called themselves pirates these days.

John chuckled fondly at that; Sherlock really had a thing for the dramatic, so at least that part fitted perfectly. " 'Sherlock Holmes, the immortal pirate' I mean, I can't say that it doesn't have a nice ring to it."

Sherlock grinned, "Only with you as my first mate, though." he said and took another bite, "Also, I'd need a better name, another reason I can't be a pirate, apart from the fact that everything but a wooden ship would look ridiculous, I mean, come on, pirates on a speedboat, or a yacht, that just doesn't have style. But it's also that the good names are all taken.. Captain Holmes isn't bad, but.. it's not even in the same league as Black Beard and so on."

"How about 'Black Curls'?" John suggested with a laugh, not really able to take the idea of Sherlock becoming a pirate into very serious consideration.

Sherlock rolled his eyes, "Ha ha." he said dryly and chuckled anyway, "Well at least I had the good fortune of meeting some of them when I was a child.. the real ones, I mean. Many of them were hung at the execution dock in London where my uncle was a lawyer.. he sometimes let me meet some of them, before they were meant to be executed, probably so they'd scare me off since he knew I was fascinated by their lifestyles.. in truth, when he left me outside their cells.. they told me amazing stories that only encouraged me.." he said with a laugh, "And while they told me their tales, I was busy trying to pick the locks... there were some escapees that go on my account." he said with a giggle.

John smiled at the story and took another portion of the lasagne. "That sounds oddly sweet, you know. I can really picture you as a child letting criminals out of their cells for a story in turn. Growing up my heroes were policemen, soldiers, fire-fighters, etc. every child is different, I suppose." He said with a chuckle.

"Well, I only saw that they hung great and funny people... They always were nice to me.." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Probably mostly because I was /outside/ and their cells and their only hope to get out of there, but I didn't really consider that when I was little." he said and chuckled a little, "One of them even had a gift for me after I let him out. I told him how I want to be a pirate, or a scientist when I grow up and he gave me a skull he had in his pouch... which was a little questionable on review.." he said and frowned, letting out a laugh, "But he told me, in either case, I could make use of it." he said and chuckled again, "It's on the mantel. He told me his name was Bootstrap Bill.."

John immediately turned around to look at the skull on the mantle; he'd always thought Sherlock had just named it after himself. With a bit of a disbelieving chuckle he looked back at Sherlock. "Jesus Christ... Wait, Isn't that the name of a bloke in pirates of the Caribbean?"

"And the name of dozens of other pirates in films and probably back then even in the real life?" Sherlock chuckled, "I guess Bootstrap Bill was the John Watson of the pirate era.. a not so rare combination of names." he said and smirked at John, "We could watch that too, if you like though..." he said and laughed again, "The way they portrait them is not so far from the truth, you know. At least some of them. They weren't all murderous monsters. Some of them were just funny blokes who loved their lives and their freedom."

"Yeah, we could do that. And I even though I knew you were a funny bloke who loves his freedom, I had no idea you're into piracy that much." John said with a smile.

Sherlock chuckled, "Well.. It's a nice concept.." he said and took a sip of water, "Your affair is getting cold." he said and pointed with his fork at John's lasagne, giving a small laugh.

John didn't agree entirely, but chuckled warmly and went back to eating his food. So as not to upset his new boyfriend with a joke on being unfaithful, he bit back a comment on how he best liked those hot. "I really like this, you know. Us two cooking and eating together, I mean." He said commented after a while.

"That.. would actually be part of our lives no matter what you decide, you know." Sherlock said and smiled, "As I told you before.. there are recipes with blood. I mean, you don't find them online or anything, but simply drinking it is more or less just more convenient. But.. there would be cooking with blood and without as well. Mrs Hudson even worked out some Christmas dinner recipes with blood. If you cook with blood it gives you the same sated feeling a meal gives you, depending on how much blood is in it, without blood, it's really just for the taste and naturally it fills your stomach too, it's weird if you've eaten too much normal food and had no blood, you feel very full, but.. you're still hungry."

John nodded at that. "Really? That's very good to know. And I hadn't actually thought about that part; I just meant it's nice spending quality time together with you, love."

"I know." Sherlock said and shrugged, "I just figured it's good for you to know every last detail about it since you're going to need all the information to make a decision. If you decide to become like me, it's best if you know exactly what you get yourself into." he said and took another bite of his lasagne.

"Yeah, and thank you for that. I really appreciate it." John said and went for a third (though in fairness considerably smaller) helping of lasagne.

"So after this we'll spend the day in bed, hm?" He asked with a bit of a smirk.

"Hm, hope there's enough space for you in coffin." Sherlock said and bit his lip to stop himself from grinning and spoil his joke.

"You utter prick. "John said began to laugh, almost getting some lasagne in his throat. That joke was too ridiculous, which thankfully spared him from realising a little late his boyfriend was taking the piss a bit out of him a bit.

"Right, so let me get this straight.. you almost /believed/ I used to be a porn star, but you don't believe for a second I sleep in a coffin?" Sherlock asked with a laugh, "For the record, though... I'd choose to sleep in a coffin over being a porn star all the time." he chuckled.

"Well, I have seen your bed for one thing and as far as I can tell you don't really sleep anyway." John said with a chuckle, taking a sip of water. "And good, because I don't like sharing my favourite things."

Sherlock smiled, "I do sleep, actually. It just takes a while longer for me to be so exhausted that I actually need a full nights sleep, mostly I get by with a few hours." he said and smiled at John, "And.. neither do I.. so if you're ready to separate from the lasagne..." he said, trailing off as he pointed with his head towards his bedroom.

John smirked at that and nodded. "I think I might be actually." With that he leaned towards Sherlock and covered Sherlock's lips with his own. Parting them slowly he cupped Sherlock's cheek and caressed his with his thumb.

Sherlock hummed into the kiss, moving his chair closer to John's without breaking the kiss, moving his arms around John's middle as he was close enough, "You know.. this would be way more comfortable in bed.." he said and broke the kiss just long enough to stand and pull John up from his chair and right back into his arms, where he brought their lips back together.

John kissed him back without hesitation, before reluctantly breaking their kiss once again. "I think you might be right with that." He said, taking one hand (very reluctantly) off Sherlock's waist to reach for the small shopping bag. "So bed it is?"

Sherlock just chuckled instead of an answer as he started to walk them back wards, knowing this flat inside and out, he had no problems walking backwards through it without running against something. "Should we take something to drink with us?" he asked and chuckled, "Water, I mean.. I don't really intend to leave the bedroom any time soon." he said with a smirk, stopping at the fridge.

John grinned at the prospect and opened the fridge to retrieve a big large sized bottle of water. "That sounds like a very good plan indeed." He said before returning his lips to sucking on Sherlock's, his other hand still on Sherlock's cheek.

Sherlock chuckled, "Should I carry something?" he asked, glancing down at John's hand where he held the water and the bag, before he continued to kiss John, starting to walk them towards the bedroom again.

John had no problem carrying both items the short way to their bedroom, partly because that meant only one of both of their hands was otherwise engaged. Trying to keep from smiling into Sherlock's mouth, he walked with him back into the bedroom.

Sherlock might knew his flat in and out, but after a minute of blindly fumbling for the door handle of his bedroom, he sighed, breaking the kiss reluctantly to open the door, taking John's free hand and pulling him into the room, "Are we going to go outside again at all today?" he asked, "Because if we're aren't I see no reason why we shouldn't change into something more comfortable.”

"Well, I haven't exactly brought anything comfy to change into, but then again I suppose I really could change out of yesterday's clothes sometime." John said with a chuckle, brushing his lips against Sherlock's once more.

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah, don't worry about that." Sherlock said and broke away from John to dig through his closet, pulling out a large T-shirt and some wider sweatpants, "That should work." he said and dropped the clothes on the bed, before he to out a black T-shirt for himself and some dark purple silk pyjama pants.

"Thanks, love."John smiled and returned to Sherlock's side to begin and open his shirt's buttons, already drawing him into another kiss; he'd had some practice undoing buttons and kissing at the same time, just that it usually had been blouses.

Sherlock smiled against John's lips, starting to unbutton his shirt from the bottom to meet John in the middle, "That's not fair.." he murmured into the kiss once his shirt was open, "You're wearing a jumper.. there's no way I get that off while you're hands are on me.." he said and chuckled a little.

With a bit of a smile John let go of Sherlock's shirt once it was off him, before admiring his boyfriend. It came to his mind that he'd really never seen Sherlock without clothes before. "It's very hard to keep my hands off you, when you're absolutely beautiful."

"You're the one to talk." Sherlock said with a smile, tugging at the hem of John's jumper, pulling it up and over John's head along with the vest, tossing it to the floor. "Now we're even.." he said with a grin, hooking his pointer under John's belt buckle, tugging him back against him.

John grinned back and ran one hand up Sherlock's back and the other down to unbuckle the other's belt, all the while humming into their kiss.

Sherlock sighed fondly, undoing John's belt and wasting no time to undo John's his fly as well, before he moved his arms around John's waist, walking John over to the bed and trailing his kisses along his jaw and down his neck.

John lowered himself down on the bed, propping himself up on an his forearm, and pulled Sherlock gently with him as well. To give his boyfriend better access he instinctively put his head in his neck and put one hand back into the other's curls.

Sherlock smiled, settling on top of John, feeling warmth of another kind than the obvious one run through him at realising that John really trusted him with his mouth near a major artery - the most clichéd spot a vampire could drink from too. "You didn't smack me yet.." he murmured against John's skin, before he raised his head, to look at John.

"Course not. I do want you here. And it's not like you're about to just bite me without permission." John said with a smile, looking a bit disappointed at first at not having Sherlock kiss him anymore, before his look softened the way the chemistry student looked at him. "You're okay?"

"Yeah.. just.. madly in love with you." Sherlock said with a gentle laugh, before he lowered his head again and captured John's lips with his own.

John grinned at that and kissed him back passionately, pulling lightly at the dark strands of hair. "So am I." He said in between kisses, moving one hand down Sherlock's hip.

Sherlock hummed in reply, rolling them on their sides and hooking one leg around John's hips without breaking the kiss, only now really realising how starved of physical contact he had actually been as he cupped John's cheek with his hand.

John kept his hand on Sherlock's back and leaned into a little his touch. He hummed into the kiss and just thought how right this felt. Being that close to Sherlock, he felt himself slowly hardening.

Sherlock could feel his body react to John, tightening his leg around John's hips to roll on his back and pull John on top of him, but the door flew open before he could, "Yohooo! Sherlock, I think you have my car k..." Mrs Hudson trailed off, realising what she had stumbled into there, "Oh dear, I'm sorry, I didn't know you had a visitor." she said and smiled broadly, not even blushing. "I'm Martha Hudson, dear, Sherlock's landlady." she went on and Sherlock cleared his throat, "Actually.. we're kind of busy.." he said and Mrs Hudson chuckled, "Yes, yes, but Sherlock if you have 'friends' over.." she began, clearly meaning humans, by friends, "Then really do your /dishes/.." she scolded and Sherlock rolled his eyes, "It's fine, he knows." Sherlock said and now really got a bit impatient for her to leave, feeling like his mother had just walked in on them and well in a way, Mrs Hudson was something like that to him. "Oh.. well that makes things easier. Is he..." she asked and Sherlock sighed, "No, he's not, your car keys are in the kitchen on the counter and now if you don't mind, we'd really appreciate some privacy.."

Mildly horrified (though mostly because of the suddenness of it all) John watched the scene unfold. Even though he was slightly less thrown off at the end of their exchange, he wasn't any less uncomfortable and still couldn't bring himself to say something. If he hadn't known better, he'd have thought this was him getting caught by his boyfriend's grandmother judging by the looks of everything. He'd genuinely thought he was over that one.

"Oh dear, don't look so mortified, I've seen things you wouldn't dream of, this is like walking into a nun conference." Mrs Hudson babbled happily and Sherlock chuckled a little, "Yes, wonderful story, can you.. you know.. leave now?" he asked and Mrs Hudson snickered lightly, "Oh of course, don't worry. You can be as loud as you want, I've got a date tonight, won't be back until tomorrow morning." she said and grinned as she walked out of the room and Sherlock fell back on his back, laughing.

John just stared at him for a moment, before beginning to laugh a little as well. "What in the-How glad I am we didn't get started earlier on." He said, shaking his head. "So that's normal, yeah?"

"I suppose she'd have held back a little if she hadn't known you're in on our little secret." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Normally she just behaves like you'd expect from a woman her age.. or what she thinks is how a woman her age behaves." he said and rolled on his side again, wrapping his arm around John's middle.

"Well, she seems lovely." John said, before going back to where they'd stopped, figuring Sherlock probably didn't want to dwell on that subject right now either. With a smile, he kissed Sherlock, once more rolling the two them so he was on top this time.

Sherlock smiled against John's lips, wrapping his arms around John's neck and his legs around his hips, trapping him in place. "It's also very lovely that she's going to be out until tomorrow." he said with a grin, leaning up and pulling the stack of clothes he had laid out for John before out from under his back, smirking lightly as he nudged the clothes off the bed, "We don't need those right now, do we?

John chuckled into Sherlock's ear. "No, I doubt it. You okay with love bites?" He asked, sucking a little on Sherlock's neck, careful not to leave a mark yet, and ran his hand down his boyfriend's thigh to his arse. He then paused a moment and reached for the bag so that it was in closer proximity.

"Was that pun intentional or...?" Sherlock asked and couldn't help but laugh, "I am, yeah.. I actually quite like them.. unfortunately they only last a couple of hours."

"What a shame. And what else am I supposed to call them?" John said, chuckling a bit as well, before beginning to work on one and pressing his body a bit closer to Sherlock.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "Hickey.." he suggested with a smile, tilting his head a little to give John more room to work on his neck, "What I'd do, if you'd let me, is more of a love bite.." he said and smirked, dropping his legs and wiggling a little as he moved to get his own trousers off.

Sherlock smiled up at John once he had kicked his trousers off the bed (carefully avoiding to nudge his knee into something he needed for other purposes as he did so), "Well, I just have to dazzle you like that then.." he said and leant up to capture John's lips with his own once again.

John chuckled at that and kissed Sherlock back, caressing his cheek with his thumb. "So beautiful" He said in between breaths, glowing with anticipation.

Sherlock smiled, "So are you.." he murmured and brought his legs back up to wrap around John, "At some point I'll get you to finally believe it." he said softly, gently exploring his back with his hands.

John couldn't help arching his back into Sherlock's touches. He knew he had relatively good looks for a guy his build, but that didn't mean he didn't think Sherlock was the extraordinary looking one. Returning his lips to his boyfriend's neck, he let out a hot breath against the other's skin.

Sherlock let out a soft sigh, rolling them both on their sides and trailing his fingertips over John's spine, down to the waistband of his pants, just dipping his hand underneath and resting it there, while he trailed the fingers of his other hand over his chest. 

John covered the hand on his hips with his own, brushing his thumb over the back of it. With a smile he brought the fingers on his chest up to his lips, before laying his own hand on his boyfriend's back.  
Sherlock smiled, "Is it just me, or do you think there's still too much fabric on this bed?" he asked and frowned, apart from realising how much he'd been drained from physical contact also noticing that he was absolutely out of practice and well.. not exactly as smooth and alluring as he'd like to be.

"I was actually fine with the pillows." John teased with a smirk, before running his hand down from Sherlock's back to his waist. Gently tugging his waistband down, he brushed Sherlock's lips with his own.

"I was actually talking about our pa.." Sherlock cut off, blushing a bit at not getting the joke right away, "Right.." he mumbled against John's lips, starting to pull John's pants down his hips.

John rolled off of Sherlock feeling spent and positively exhausted. With a tired smile he wrapped an arm around Sherlock and pulled his sweaty form closer to himself. "I really loved that." He muttered into Sherlock's ear.

Sherlock gave a breathless laugh, clearing his throat, smiling stupidly, "Me too.." he said as he cuddled up to John, feeling a little cold with the sudden lack of John's body warmth. "By the way.. lubricant is a very.. very.. /very/ good invention." he said and laughed again.

"Yeah, I agree." John said and began to laugh a bit as well, with Sherlock's laugh being that infectious. Because Sherlock seemed to be cold, he propped himself up on his arm for a moment to reach down and cover them both with the duvet. Stroking his boyfriend's back lazily, he smiled a bit to himself, utterly content right now. "So no lube and leather condoms, yeah? Jesus."

"Well.. we had olive oil." Sherlock said and gave a shrug, "But that was hard to get your hands on, so it was mostly saliva or fats and oils.." he said and sighed, "But nothing even close to that quality." he said and smiled, giving another laugh as he noticed something. "Speaking of condoms, though, we should probably take those off..." he said and glanced down at their bodies

"Right, I almost forgot." John chuckled and took the empty plastic bag, tossing his condom in it, gesturing for Sherlock to do the same. Since he was already in some sort of routine with this, he got up, taking a moment to remember Mrs Hudson was out, before moving towards the door and saying. "I'll just go get some flannels, yeah? Stay where you are, handsome."

Sherlock raised a brow as he took off the condom and disposed of it, still finding it a bit strange, but he didn't mind it. Leaning back onto the bed, he pulled the covers over himself with John's warmth being gone once again, which left him pouting a little, although that was hard to do with the smile that was glued to his face.

John returned about two minutes later with two wet flannels, a banana and a glass of blood (he'd double checked it wasn't wine) that he'd poured Sherlock, figuring he was going to get hungry in a while as well. Putting the food on the night stand, he crawled back under the covers and wiped Sherlock's brow carefully.

Sherlock smiled at the glass of blood, "That's.. unexpected.." he said and raised a brow at John, "Also unexpected that you didn't bring the mouth wash, so leave me a bite of the banana, with the water that should do to get rid off the taste." he said and leant over to kiss John again.

John leaned into Sherlock a bit and kissed him back, eventually pulling a bit reluctantly away again. "I'm full of surprises, haven't you noticed?" He said with a chuckle. "Now, we're both sweaty and sticky; how about we clean ourselves up a bit?”

"Hm.. we could take a shower.." Sherlock said and smirked at John, "Sounds quite good to me, actually. A hot shower, getting comfortably dressed and snuggling up in bed with tea and a film?" he asked with a smile shuffling closer to John again, not really minding the state they were in. He was more concerned with staying close to John.

John grinned and rested his chin on Sherlock's shoulder the way they were lying, closing his eyes and breathing his boyfriend in. "Sounds perfect to me."

Sherlock smiled, now letting go of John himself, "Alright then.." he said and stood up, holding out his hand for John, "Come on, lets get it over with.. the sooner we get into the shower, the sooner we're back in bed again."

John took his hand and got up, a little less enthusiastic now that he wasn't initiating it; he was already craving Sherlock's body warmth after a whopping eight seconds. "Yeah, I can't wait for that part." He said with a chuckle.

Sherlock smiled, "You know.. For a moment just now, I thought I was stupid to deprive myself of this for more than a century.." he said, entwining his fingers with John's, "But.. actually, it was worth the wait.." he said and pulled John closer up against himself, "You were..." he murmured and frowned, "God I sound like a fool." he said and chuckled lightly.

John looked up at Sherlock with a smile and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "No, just like a romantic." He chuckled fondly before adding. "And yes, there is a difference."

"Not really." Sherlock said and chuckled, starting to pull John through the small door next to his bedroom door and into the bathroom, turning on the shower, before he moved his arms back around John as he waited for the water to warm up. "But I'm glad to be a fool if that means I get to be with you."

"Well, so am I then." John replied with a smile and leaned into Sherlock a little more. Tilting his head upwards, he drew Sherlock into a kiss, humming a little as he opened his mouth.


	14. The Cabbie

Sherlock couldn't have been any more content as he woke up curled around John, once more approving last night's idea of not getting dressed again after the shower as he snuggled closer up against John's naked form. He was actually quite hungry since he hadn't had dinner, but he just didn't want to leave their embrace just yet, simply closing his eyes again and hoping to fall asleep again, even though he was wide awake, but John would be out for a few more hours, it wasn't even five yet.

John woke up around eight in the morning, letting out a happy sigh once he realised he was still in Sherlock's arms. After a while of just enjoying the peacefulness before the the day, he opened his eyes and peered at Sherlock (who appeared to be still asleep) and then back at the clock. "Good morning, sleeping beauty." John said with a warm chuckle; he wouldn't have thought he was going to sleep longer than him, but it was time to get up now anyway.

"Scratch sleeping.." Sherlock murmured and opened his eyes to look at John, giving him a smile, "I've been up since about 4.." he said and chuckled as he leant over to press a kiss to John's cheek, "You were just way too comfortable to leave you here." he said and grinned, trailing his hand down John's side, before resting it on his hip.

"I can only return the compliment, love." John said with a drowsy smile. "I'd have nothing against waking up every morning like this." He traced a finger lazily up Sherlock's arm., before it struck him. Right; they had somewhere to be today. The med student sighed at that a little, before looking at Sherlock again. "Four you say? You must be hungry by now."

"Never mind.." Sherlock said and pulled John just a little closer to himself, wrapping his leg around him, "I wouldn't go on a diet for many things.. but there is one.." he said and chuckled, really more interested in John than in blood, he couldn't help it, really.

"I really love you." John said with a smile into Sherlock's neck and relaxed back into him; it's really hard to stay anxious snuggled up against your boyfriend like that, never mind getting out of bed on your own. "Which is exactly why I want neither of us to starve. Come on, love, let's get up."

Sherlock pouted a little at that, but nodded, letting go of John and sitting up, shuffling a little, he wasn't going to admit it, but he was feeling a bit sore from the night before. "Okay.. let's get breakfast then.." he said and chuckled, "Want me to lend you some pants?"

“That would be lovely." John said with a nod and sighed a bot as he got up, ruffling a hand through his own mussed hair. "We still have some leftover lasagne, don't we?" He asked, already hungry again.

Sherlock smirked as he watched John from the bed, "You know I might take the offer of lending you pants back.." he said and grinned at John, "Pants would really spoil the great view I have right now." he chuckled.

John chuckled at that, before teasing. "Well, I suppose now that your landlady has already seen me anyway, it wouldn't make that big a difference." He turned around to look back at his lover. "I'll have to get back to my flat to change before noon though."

"Mhm.. I know.. You're still okay with me coming along?" Sherlock asked and bit his lip, starting to feel nervous about it. He hadn't actually had the kind of boyfriend meets parents stuff yet. This was a first for him.

"Truth be told, I'm a bit nervous, but I do want to introduce you to my family." John said after a moment of thought. "And they were going to meet my future husband eventually, just... if it won't go well, I don't want you to feel too bad about it, okay?" John had no idea how he'd take it himself if that should happen, but Sherlock, having had nothing to do with that, shouldn't feel any different about them; them as in him John, obviously. Jesus, family could be difficult.

Sherlock smiled, "Well.. let's hope it does go well.." he said and stood up from the bed, stumbling slightly as he felt the faint soreness again, yeah, he really wasn't used to it anymore, although he sure intended to be. "And let's hope I can sit properly again until we get there..." he said and chuckled again as he walked over to the wardrobe, grabbing some pants for him and John.

John grinned as he watched Sherlock stumble out of bed and went over to his boyfriend with a chuckle. "I really don't mind to be the one responsibly for making you squirm on your seat." He leaned in to casually run a hand through his dark, dishevelled curls. "Sex hair suits you, handsome." John said with a fond smile.

Sherlock chuckled lightly, using the moment to pull John against him again, "Yeah, well, I suppose it doesn't exactly increase our chances with your dad if we tip him off that you've been the one responsible for making me squirm on my seat.." he said and slid one of his hands down John's back, resting it on the small of John's back.

“What a shame. It's up there with the things I'm quite proud of, you know." John said, leaning into Sherlock more as he relaxed into his touch, pushing his father actively out of his mind right now. "The pants are a shame too, I suppose."

"Hm.. probably my biggest regret today.. you getting dressed." Sherlock said with a laugh, resting his head on top of John's for a moment, before pressing a kiss to his hair. "But.. needs must.. lets get breakfast then.." he said and smirked, "Does your mother like any particular flowers?"

John smiled and considered this for a moment. "Mum's always really liked violets. My dad used to sometimes get her those and roses and come up with bad poems." He said, taking one pair of Sherlock's pants from him.

“Well.. sounds like deep down inside he is a romantic.." Sherlock said and smiled slipping his own pants on. "Perhaps he'll be somewhat more positive about this if he notices what we feel for each other." he said with a smile, not quite believing that someone who managed to have his son turn out so well could be a complete arse hole.

"Yeah, hopefully." He stifled a sigh and put on the underwear. "If that's another reason for you to squirm on a seat very close to mine then I'm a happy man." John chuckled, not wanting to dwell on the subject. "By the way

By the way, we haven't picked out what you're going to wear today." John said, mildly excited to see Sherlock in something different.

Sherlock grinned, "Well.. lets do that first then." he said and opened his wardrobe again, picking a white tshirt, a black blazer-ish but still casual hoodie and simple darkish blue jeans after a bit of rummaging around, quickly getting dressed and turning around to John, presenting his outfit, "That okay?" he asked with a smile, "I should probably do something about the sex hair, though.." he said and chuckled, running his hand through his hair as he looked into the mirror attached to his wardrobe.

John grinned at him. "Now you combing your hair; that's my biggest regret of the day right there." John joked as Sherlock fixed his hair a little, picking up his worn shirt from the ground to put it back on. "And your looks pretty great. I almost want to undress you again."

Sherlock smirked, "Oh, you'll get to do that.." he said and grinned as he walked over to his night stand, taking out a jewellery box that contained both sets of tags, the ones from the first and the ones from the second world war, "I don't suppose he's got a favourite war?" he asked and chuckled, not sure which to put on.

"I haven't asked him to be completely honest." John said with a bit of a chuckle, even though he really didn't like the idea of Sherlock being in either of those - and he obviously didn't even acknowledge (nor care for that matter) that he was being a hypocrite. Glancing back at Sherlock, he got into yesterday's clothing. "Wearing those you'll look all edgy and ironic, ironically enough."

"Well.. it's only edgy and ironic if they're just jewellery, if you wear your 'grandfather's' it shows some respect." Sherlock said and shrugged, "I can easily make up a story about how I've never met him, only heard of him in stories so those tags are my only tangible connection to him.." he said and gave a smile, "Not even a lie.. My actual grandfather did serve.."

"My dad'll like that. He's one of those people who didn't join the military, but would've liked to have served his country. My grandfather did actually fight in the second one too; not on voluntary grounds though." John would be the first in a while in his family to do that.

"Yeah... most of us didn't do it voluntarily.." Sherlock said and sighed a little, picking the tags from the second world war, slinging them around his neck and slipping the tags under his shirt, not wanting to be too obvious about it, he'd probably have them 'accidentally' slip out from under his shirt at some point. "It actually feels weird wearing those again.." he mumbled with a frown as he turned to John. 

"Then don't wear them, love. You being comfortable is more important than maybe impressing my dad with those." John turned around to face his boyfriend and glanced at the tags under his shirt.

Sherlock smiled again, "Don't worry.. It's fine.. it's just.. strange." he said and shrugged, "So.. why didn't your dad join if he would have liked to do so?" he asked, finding some story about how he'd himself would like to serve, but didn't get to for a similar reason would be something they could bond with. But at the same time he was kind of hoping John's dad hadn't served because his wife would have been too worried about him. That would actually be a good argument for John not joining.

"My mum didn't want him to." John said after a moment. "They'd been together since secondary school and when the time came to decide she made sure he chose a civilian career. She might've told him that she'd leave him otherwise, but I'm not sure; they don't talk about it very much." John said with a shrug. 

“Well.." Sherlock said and was about to form some sort of argument about him staying because Sherlock might not leave him, but he still didn't want him to go, but then decided against it, "Maybe he'll be proud of you for going through with it.." he said and sighed, scrunching up his nose a little at his own words. But he just really wanted John to be happy and if possible without compromises. The chance of John getting the respect and pride of his father he deserved kind of trumped his own fear.

John nodded a bit at that. "Yeah, he's said something like that. You know, since the army's financing my medical training I've technically already had to join; at least on paper." John said with a shrug. "Mum wasn't too thrilled unsurprisingly." He pulled the jumper over his head and took Sherlock's hand. "So, lasagne for breakfast?"

"Well.. that'll make it easy to bond with your mother for me.." Sherlock mumbled and gave John's hand a squeeze, "And.. well, I think I'll stick with liquid breakfast today." he said and smiled, "Means I'll be done faster than you and can drop by at a flower shop to pick up some violets." he said and gave John a smile.

John gave Sherlock a warm smile. "Yeah, I've got a feeling mum will definitely love you after today. Sign my card, so we can give her the gift I got her together, yeah?" John said, moving to walk towards the kitchen and pulling Sherlock with him.

"Well.. at if she does, half the battle is won." Sherlock said and smirked, "He obviously loves your mum.. so she might have some influence on him and she sounds stubborn enough to keep nagging him about accepting you and your sister." he said and let go of John's hand to grab a bottle of blood from the fridge and getting a glass.

"That's true though; you should've seen her the weeks after Harry had left. Sounds like you already know her as good as i do." John said with a chuckle, putting a portion of yesterday's lunch on a plate and into the microwave. Regarding the blood for a moment, he pulled the chemistry student close to him, before he had a chance to drink. "I need something to get me through your breakfast." John said with a chuckle, drawing him into a soft kiss.

Sherlock hummed into the kiss, blindly setting his glass down on the counter and moving his arms loosely around John's neck, thinking for a moment after they broke the kiss, "We could.. you know.. tell them.. at some point." he mumbled and cleared his throat, "About.. me, I mean.. if you decide to become like me.. we could let them know and give them that option as well.." he said and shrugged, "I don't really see the problem with that, just that I lost my family doesn't mean you have to."

John's look became more tired at that. "Mmh, and you've let me in on that a whole one and a half days ago." He gave Sherlock's hand a squeeze. "One battle at a time, alright love? I doubt I'm in the position to seriously think about those choices right now. But yes, if all goes well I think we should eventually tell them."

Sherlock sighed, "I'm sorry, I keep mentioning these things.. I just.. well.. it's kind of constantly on my mind." he mumbled and pressed a soft kiss against John's lips again, before he pulled back a bit and took his glass, looking down at himself, "Do I really look okay?" he asked, it's just been a while since he had last worn just a tshirt.

John's features quickly morphed into a soft smile. "Yes, you really look more than okay. I frankly cant recall the last time that that hasn't been the case." John replied, before taking out his hearty breakfast out of the microwave. "And I can understand that; we'll I'm trying to, but i know how important this is to you."

"You're important to me.." Sherlock said and sighed, "But since my only option to stay with you actually for the rest of my life would be that you become like me, so yeah.. it's a big thing for me. I'd do it in a heartbeat the other way around if it was possible.. if I could.. you know.. turn back into a human." he said, chewing on his lips, "Anyway, I'll try to stop talking about it so much." he promised.

"If i could tell you my answer right now, i would. You'll have to make do with the fact I want to spend the rest of my life with you, for now." John said, shortly glancing at the ground. "And maybe try not to talk about it too much just this afternoon."

Sherlock nodded, "Although.. well. I kind of want to bring one thing up right now.." he said and bit his lip, "I want another compromise if you decide not to do it." he said and thought for a moment how to say this best. "I'm not proposing to you right now, but.. I kind of want to limit the time frame the proposal may happen... if your answer to the one thing we're not talking about anymore until you bring it up, I want you to marry me before you leave."

Sherlock smiled, "No, the black dress is for the proposal. Obviously I'd go with white for the wedding." he said and chuckled again, "Wouldn't want to mess around with the tradition." he said with a bright grin. Knowing that John would have been ready to marry him then and there felt just really, really good.

“Yeah, and speaking of tradition; I insist on the proposal happening before the actual wedding." John says with a bit of a laugh, not actually thinking anything about the proposal (except for the fact that it would happen) was more than a joke.

“What happened to 'what if I want to be the one to propose to you'?" Sherlock asked mockingly imitating John's voice, "I wouldn't mind that to be honest." he said with a smile, the tank and dress plan was for John's birthday rather than the proposal anyway.

"It's still the same; the early bird gets the worm." John said with a laugh. "But either way I want the actual wedding to happen after the proposal. But yeah, since I've already explicitly given you my answer you being the one might be a bit boring." He chuckled a little before adding, "It's good to know that you "wouldn't mind that" though" now imitating Sherlock.

"Well I wouldn't.. I mean you going down on your knees in front of me sounds good in almost every context." Sherlock said and nonchalantly took a sip of blood.

"Well, I'm not going to buff the floor for you, if that's what you mean." John teased casually, deliberately not taking the bait, but having a hard time keeping the grin off his 

"Scrubbing the floor is definitely a synonym.." Sherlock mused, nipping at his glass again, before he realised something, "Should we have breakfast on the sofa?" he asked and frowned lightly, "I mean.. I know we can't kiss when I'm drinking blood.. but cuddling seems fine..." he said and smiled happily.

"I had no idea you were that cuddly a partner." John smiled brightly at him and took his plate, holding Sherlock's hand with his free one. "Not that I'm complaining though. Not at all."

Sherlock smiled, "I just like to be close to you." he said and smiled as he sat down on the sofa, stretching his legs out on it and and spreading them a little, making space for John to sit between them.

Careful not to spill his lasagne all over the sofa, John sat down in front of Sherlock, easing backwards until he lay against his boyfriend's chest. He turned his head to place a kiss on Sherlock's jaw. "So do I."

Sherlock smiled as he wrapped his arm around John's waist, "Are we going to tell your parents about the whole wedding thing? Might not go down so well with your dad, but I'm pretty sure your mum would like it..." He said and chuckled a bit, taking another long sip from his glass.

"Yeah, I think it might still be a little too early for that." John said with a chuckle, before taking a bite of his lasagne and leaning back into his boyfriend. "Mum would actually love to hear it though."

"Maybe I could hint at it in private when your dad is out of earshot." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "Can't hurt to have a good relationship with your mother in law.. and well, if she knows we're serious.. maybe she'll put some more effort into changing your dad's mind."

"Mmh, sounds good." John hummed with a smile, though he couldn't really shake his nervousness off. Nevertheless it was a very nice to know his boyfriend cared that much. "I'm sure she'll love you. According to Harry she cried when she told her about her engagement a few months ago."

“It's good to have at least two people of your family on our side." Sherlock said and pressed a kiss into John's hair, "And I'm sure your dad will come round eventually, if not today. I'll try to be the best possible partner he could get for you if it has to be a guy." he said and chuckled, emptying his glass, before he set it down on the table, wrapping his now free arm around John as well.

John smiled and put his plate next to him for now in favour of covering Sherlock's arms with his own. Sprawled out against his boyfriend like that he sighed a little; he actually felt much better now. "Have I already told you today that I love you?"

"You told me you'd marry me right away.. I guess that counts." Sherlock said and chuckled softly, gently kissing John's neck, "Your blood rule is a bit annoying, you know.." he murmured, teasingly nipping at John's skin, but nowhere near hard enough to break the skin.

John closed his eyes, unconsciously tilting his head to bare more skin for his lover. "Well, we all have our annoying habits and odd rules, I suppose." John said with a bit of a shrug (at least he would have in a different position), though he didn't think it was all that unreasonable. "I sincerely hope this won't be a reason for you to develop an eating disorder.

Sherlock smiled against John's skin, "Well, I guess I'll just have to find more creative spots to kiss.." he said and moved his lips down John's neck, tugging the collar of John's jumper a bit to the side to kiss at his shoulder.

"In that case we're so keeping that rule", John said with a smile as he put his head into his neck, leaning back into his boyfriend's tall frame.

Sherlock smirked, "Well, I've got to postpone that exploration, though. Is there a flower shop around your flat? We could share a cab and you go change while I get the flowers." he said and reluctantly removed his arms, before he climbed off the sofa to go refill his glass. "You want some more lasagne?" He asked, picking up his glass.

"Yeah, there's one two streets away." John sighed, not bothering to stifle the disappointed sigh as Sherlock stood up, before taking his plate and following suit. "Nah, I'm good. I'm not /always/ hungry, you know." 

"I do hope you're always hungry for me, though.." Sherlock said with a smirk, pouring another half glass, downing it in one go, just to speed things up a bit, before he grabbed the mouthwash, rinsing his mouth.

"Of course. Always for you." John said with a grin and put his empty plate into the sink, before leaning into Sherlock once he'd washed his mouth to kiss him on the mouth.

Sherlock smiled into the kiss, before deepening it, moving them to pin John against the counter. He knew that they probably wouldn't get anywhere today if they kept going at this pace with their snog stops, but he just couldn't help it.

John kissed Sherlock for another while, caressing his cheek with his thumb, before eventually pulling away and breaming their kiss. "As much as I hate to say it, love, I think we should get going,"

"You being responsible is equalling annoying as it is attractive." Sherlock said and chuckled, stepping back a little, clearing his throat and fighting down the urge to drag John right back into the bedroom. "Alright then," he said, holding out his hand, "Let's go."

John took his hand with a smile and walked with Sherlock out of the flat, grabbing his key and phone as they went past the counter. After stepping outside into the cold, he hailed a cab for the both of them with his free hand.

"Are you going to tell them you're moving in with me?" Sherlock asked as a cab stopped in front of them. He could easily see that John's dad probably wouldn't like it, but not telling them his address has changed was probably unnecessarily rude either.

John opened the door and went inside the cab, talking to Sherlock as he did so. "I thought I'd wait for their reactions first, but- No I suppose I should tell them either way." If they took it well, then perfect; if not, the moving in part probably wouldn't make that big a difference anyway. "Yeah, I'm gonna tell them."

Sherlock smiled, "Well even if the worst case scenario happens and they kick us out, you still have me and possibly Harry.. I suppose she'll rather like the fact that you're with a man.." he said and chuckled again.

“Yeah, that's true." John said with a bit of a smile, though once more he was grateful he was financially independent from them. After that he told the cabbie the address of his flat and leaned back.

Sherlock grinned, "And you'll have me for the rest of your life.. " he said and cleared his throat, "Either way." he said, referencing to the still pending decision he had to make.

John nodded at that. "Yes, I'll always have you." He said with a smile, finding that he should probably feel suffocated rather than oddly comforted by that thought. "If I don't make you run away that is." He didn't comment on the underlying message; they were goong to talk about that, but right now was not the time and certainly not the place for that.

Sherlock smiled and shuffled a bit closer up to John, wrapping his arm around his middle, "You won't." he said and smirked as he leant over to kiss John's cheek.

"I want that on paper." John said, leaning into the touch and resting his head on Sherlock's shoulder. "I do have my understandable moments sometimes." He said, with a bit of a smile.

"Well.. I'm all up for making it official whenever you want." Sherlock said and smiled, "It's kind of what this marriage thing is about." he said happily.

John grinned at that. "Yeah, I suppose so. I'm already looking forward to seeing you in a suit." He chuckled. "That'll almost be the best part., well except for the tax cuts." John said teasingly giving Sherlock's hand a squeeze.

Sherlock smiled, "Actually... I think the best part will be getting out of the suits in the evening.." he said and chuckled a little, pressing another kiss to John's cheek.

John grinned at him. "If I try to take you in the cab, stop me." He shuffled a bit closer to Sherlock, already recognising the street.

Sherlock smirked, "I think the cabbie will have a bigger problem with that than I would." he said and placed a hand at John's chin and turning his face around to him, before he leant in to kiss him.

John kissed him back and smiled a bit, before parting his lips and bringing a hand up into Sherlock's hair. The cabbie's disruptive presence was quickly forgotten by John's mind.

Sherlock was lost in their embrace until the cabbie suddenly brought the car to a halt and looked at them, "Thank god we're there, I thought you gonna start making out right in front of me." the woman said and turned around to look at him and John, "Sorry.." Sherlock said with a smirk and wasn't really sorry. "So.. Johnny.. are you going to introduce your practically fiancé to me or what?" she asked and Sherlock frowned, completely lost again, this time to what was going on though, just looking back and forth between John and her.

John outright stared at her for a few seconds, before getting a hold of himself. "That's Sherlock. We're going to uni together." He said, still in shock and in lack of anything else to say, before turning to Sherlock. "Sherlock, that's Harry, my sister."


	15. Cab Ride To A Decrepit Couch

"Ah.." Sherlock said and laughed, shaking Harry's hand, "You mean our sister.." he said and smirked at John, "I mean.. at least soon to be." he chuckled again. "Honestly, Johnny.. how did you pull /that/ off?" she asked and gestured up and down Sherlock's body, "I mean for a guy.. he's hot." she said and grinned happily at John.

John chuckled at that and shook his head a little at the how unlikely the two of them meeting like that was. "That he sure is. And you'll have to ask that Sherlock, not me. What are you doing here by the way?"

"Clara got me the job." Harry said and gave a shrug, "It's better than serving coffee to stuck up, rude rich guys.." she said and Sherlock raised a brow, "You've been serving coffee to my brother?" he asked and chuckled a little, "He fits that description perfectly." he said and Harry smiled, "Anyway, you're going to home tonight?" she asked and gave a half smile, "Want me to keep your cute little secret entertained as long as you're there, wouldn't mind some company." she said.

"I'm introducing Sherlock to mum and dad today, so it would be better if he were actually there." John said, giving Sherlock's hand a squeeze. "I''m glad you got to meet him beforehand though. How are things going with Clara then?" He asked in an attempt to move the conversation into a different direction. Being reminded of them did nothing for his nervousness that he'd mostly managed to forget.

"Hang on wait what are you going to do? Repeat that?" Harry asked wide eyed and Sherlock couldn't help but laugh at her shocked expression, "Well.. he's going to introduce me to your parents.. obviously we're going to lay low about the whole.. marrying at some point thing.. but we'll try it." Sherlock said and smiled at John, before looking back to Harry, "You know.. maybe you and Clara.. could come too? The more the merrier? At least your dad would be outnumbered. How I understood it, he's the only one actually having a problem with it..."

John shifted uncomfortably; he was fine with maybe telling their mum about that, but he didn't think dad needed to know today. Harry huffed a little and shook her head with a wry smile. "I'd surely not bring my wife to another family gathering. Hasn't Johnny here not told you why I'm leaving the sibling duty to him today? I wouldn't call anyone in the family a liberal, that's all i can say to that."

"I'm pretty optimistic about it." Sherlock said and shrugged a little. "Your parents have to understand it at some point. And.. well.. let's say I've got sort of... erm.." he paused and smirked at John, "/Oldschool/ views on the whole thing. I'd just feel better if they would at the very least accept it. I don't even want them to accept me, but.. I don't want them to treat John differently." he said and took John's hand, lacing their fingers, "Not that I'd give him up for anything your parents could say. Not happening."

"Mmh, Yeah I figure. I wish you good luck. And you'd better not; he's under my protection, so be careful." She said with a smirk, before turning to John. "Say mum hi from me and that I love her, yeah? I mean I sent her a text, but" Harry gave a shrug. "Anyway, if this doesn't work out perfectly you can still spend the day here next year. No one can say I don't take care of family."

Sherlock smiled, "Actually.. given that by next year, John and I will be living together, you can spend the day at our place." he said and chuckled, "Well.. actually.. we'll be already living together by next week. And I will be careful, because the real question should be how did /I/ pull /that/ off.." he added with a grin, imitating Harry's gesture from before, now gesturing up and down John's body, before he pulled his wallet out of his pocket, "What do we owe you?"

"Five pounds for you two darlings, because I'm feeling generous today. And because I know that /that/ is always broke nowadays." Harry said with a bit of a laugh. Meanwhile John rolled his eyes a bit at all of the wild gesticulations from the two.

Sherlock grinned, "Hm, well that's gonna change once we're married, one account and all.." he said and laughed, "Which also explains how I pulled it off." he teased and grinned at Harry, pulling his phone out and handing it to her along with the money, "Type in your number?" he asked and smiled at her, "I mean we're practically family now."

"Sure, same goes for you, obviously." Harry grinned back at him and handed Sherlock her own phone, typing in her number on his. 

Harry Watson  
0151 4873542  
Note: Johnny's big bad sister

"John Hamish Watson. If you were looking for baby names." John replied with a bit of a sigh.

Sherlock chuckled, leaning over to John, "Don't worry, the only person I'd look for baby names with, is you." he said and pecked John's lips, before giving him a chance to react. Pulling back he tapped his number into Harry's phone and handed it back to her with a grin.

The kiss consoled him a little, though he wouldn't have thought that his sister and boyfriend would bond that quickly. Harry swapped phones with Sherlock, still smiling. "Take care of that one, Sherlock. Call me any time, if you need some tips on how to annoy him." Harry chuckled and put the money away. "And don't let dad intimidate you."

Sherlock chuckled, "Hm, I think I know how to annoy him quite well already." he said and smiled as he got out of the car, "And don't worry, I won't. If he can't deal with it.. it's his loss. He'd have to be very stupid to abandon great kids like both of you are though.."

"That's the right attitude, you charmer." Harry said with a laugh and then turned to her brother. "I'm impressed, he sounds like a keeper." She restarted the engine. "Bye Sherlock, love you Johnny!" She called, once John was standing on the pavement as well. "Love you too. Say hi to Clara for me." He said with a smile, before closing the cab door.

Sherlock smiled as he watched Harry drive off, "I like her." he said and grinned at John, taking John's hand again, "I'm sure couple evenings would be very interesting." he teased, already anticipating what John would think about couple evenings and double dates with his sister.

"Yeah, I could see that. I'm really glad you two get along by the way. And about the couple evening" He started, not looking like he was going to dismiss the idea, before teasing. "I think that would only be complete with Mycroft and whoever he is seeing, don't you think?"

"Ha! Nice try my handsome friend." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Unfortunately for you, he isn't seeing anyone. Never seemed interesting in it, except for his wild fling with Frank the pet mustache, of course." he said and laughed, "But I take it you're up for the couple evening then. Let me text Harry, we could make it some sort of moving in celebration next week." he said pulling his phone out with a smirk on his lips.

"Alright, alright. Don't get clever with Sherlock Holmes." John said and laughed, though he couldn't help glancing at his phone for a split second. "I should've known better than to let the two of you exchange numbers. By the way, will I get to meet your infamous brother some time in the future as well? From what I can tell based on your description we'd be best pals." John joked leaning into his boyfriend a little.

Sherlock grinned, stuffing his phone back into his pocket without texting Harry, "Yeah.. I doubt that." he said and sighed, "And yeah, it's very likely you'll meet him soon. He'll make sure of that. But now lets focus on something more interesting. Your flat." he said and realised he had actually never seen it. Somehow they always went to his own flat before.

"Yeah, don't expect too much, there's a reason we've always gone to your flat." John said and turned the key and went up the staircase with Sherlock. He lived in the third storey, so once they were there, he took out his second key. "And you're still helping me move, yeah?"

“Yes?" Sherlock asked, getting suspicious, "What do you have an elephant in the room or anything?" he asked with a laugh, pulling John into his arms to kiss him again, before he could open the door.

"I was rather talking about the stairs actually.' John said, before leaning forwards and kissing him, trying hard not to smile into the others mouth; snog stops probably weren't all that efficient, but damn, they made walking much more attractive.

Sherlock chuckled as the kiss broke, "Mhm.. I just realised I probably won't get to kiss you all afternoon..." he mumbled and rested his forehead against John's, pouting a little. "But as much as I dislike that, it probably also won't be good to do more than hand-holding in front of your parents."

John sighed a little. "Yeah, probably not. I'd almost want to take a cab there, just so we can continue this a bit longer." He chuckled and pulled away. "So, drum roll" After reaching into his pocket, he got out a silver key and opened the door to his cosy one-room flat. Luckily he was someone to keep his flat tidy, even though he didn't have people over that often. The wall his bed was standing next to was the only one of the white walls that was covered in a few Modern bands' posters. Next to it stood his desk, which was completely littered with stray papers, worksheets and uni books that he'd taken from his black bookshelf. Near the window was his wardrobe, on its handles hanging the new trainers he'd just got. In an otherwise empty corner sat a worn out leather couch he'd convinced a friend to give to him after moving out himself. There were two doors leading out of the main room, though they were both closed at the moment. Putting the key away again he walked towards the wardrobe to get dome fresh clothes.

Sherlock smiled as he looked around, "Well.. it's not much we have to bring over to my place anyway.. I mean.. we have a bed already, my wardrobe's also large enough for both of us, we have a sofa.. seems like it'll just be boxes. Unless you want to keep your furniture, there's a spare room upstairs in 221B where we could store all of it, but.. no offence.. that sofa seems like it deserves to rest in peace." he chuckled, walking over to John and wrapping his arms around him from behind, resting his chin on John's shoulder.

John smiled at that and put the fresh shirt back inside the wardrobe in favour of covering Sherlock's arms on his middle with his own. "Yeah, I don't have too many secular possessions I guess. And I do prefer the sofa in our flat too, all things considered, but that doesn't mean that it's already shabby." John defended with a chuckle. "Anyway, as much as I love you draped over me, I need to pick something to wear."

Sherlock let out an unhappy sigh at having to let go of John. "/Our flat/..." he repeated and smiled, "That sounds really, really good." he said and had to hold himself back to not just grab John again and kiss him.

John grinned back at him over his shoulder, unbuttoning his shirt. "I agree, it does have a very nice ring to it." He opened his wardrobe and got out a plain blue button-up. "What's your opinion on that one?"

"Hm.. Looks great." Sherlock said and let his gaze wander over John's chest appreciatively, "Oh and the shirt is nice too." he added with a chuckle.

John smirked a bit at that. "Thanks, you charmer. So, blue it is." He said and put on the new shirt, tossing the old one into a hamper under his bed. Once that was done he got out some underwear and a pair of jeans.

Sherlock smirked as he sat down on John's back and watching John cheekily, "I will get to watch you change, right? I mean.. after all I have to spend the day with people that don't really want me there, so I deserve some sort of treat before." he chuckled and leant back against the pillows.

Stepping out of his shoes, John chuckled a little and looked over to his boyfriend. "You're impossible, you know that? I'm not gonna throw you out now though, so enjoy the view." John said, pulling down of his trousers a little more slowly than strictly necessary. "And you get to spend the majority of the time next to me and I very much want you there."

"I still don't mind the treat.." Sherlock said and chuckled, enjoying to watch his boyfriend. "But.. let's be serious for a moment. How are we going to do it? Are you going to introduce me? Or should I tell them I'm your boyfriend? Or should we walk in holding hands? Also.. do you want to call your mum beforehand to warn her?"

"I was planning to do it exactly like I did with my girlfriends. I want to walk in there with you, hold your hand and introduce you as my boyfriend." John said with a shrug. "I can't think of anything that could sugar-coat the fact I'm going to marry you. Doesn't mean I'm not nerve-racked, but yeah." He shrugged a little.

"Yeah.. let's spare the marriage part out." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "Don't think that'd go so well.." he said and licked his lips, "Although.. honestly, I think it would have been a good idea to bring Harry after all. I don't think she'll accomplish anything by avoiding your parents."

"No, me neither. "John looked at him and sighed a little. "I don't know, Sherlock. I mean, mean you've got her number if you think you can convince her. Just, having been there, I can understand why she tries to avoid it altogether.

Sherlock sighed, "I don't know.. probably a big confrontation on your mum's birthday isn't that much of a good idea to get into her good graces." he said and shrugged, "Now.. go on with my treat, will you, not also would I like to be reminded of what you look naked, it also wouldn't be good if we're late on her birthday." he said and smiled.

"No, probably not." John said and doffed the rest of his clothes. "I know you're enjoying yourself right now, but mum's card is over there. Make sure to sign it before we leave yeah? I'll say the present is from the three of us."

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah, probably a good idea, I'm very close to pull you into this bed actually..." he said and glanced over John's naked body again, before dragging his gaze away and standing up, walking over to the desk to sign the card.

John quickly reached for the rest of his clothes and redressed himself, before he gave in himself; that probably wasn't the best reason to be late to mum's birthday. "I know what you mean, love. I was really holding myself back not to make this even."

Sherlock smiled, "While I really don't think your parents would know why exactly we're late, I still think we shouldn't be late." he chuckled, signing the card, before handing John the pen. "We have to drop by at a flower store on the way there, too. So we should probably get going.." he said and smiled.

John signed the card himself and put it together with the small present into his jacket's pocket. "You're right. Let's go then." He said and slid his hand into Sherlock's, before remembering something. "Have you brought some blood by the way? We might not be back until the late evening."

"Oh damn, no, I haven't." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes about himself, "Well, we'll definitely be late if we go back home now..." he said and sighed, running a hand through his hair, "Although I guess it wouldn't be good if I sit there with a growling stomach despite getting enough to eat.. because I still get that too.."

"Then I'll tell them I've forgotten something at the lab and you were nice enough to drive me there." John replied. "I don't want you feeling like you have to spend the rest of the day with people who don't want you there /and/ be hungry."

"Not happening, I'm not going to let you deal with the first wave of anger alone." Sherlock said and shook his head, giving a small sigh, "Well.. for various reasons I can't ask you... I mean, first of all, you seemed pretty opposed to it the last time I suggested it and second, you really shouldn't be high when you get there. The high will fade off quickly, but you'd still be somewhat bleary eyed and tired, so not the best impression. I suppose I could ask Mycroft.. he has a couple of people he pays every now and then.. he keeps saying it's like a bottle of red wine.. special occasions and such.. it's kind of icky.. but well, I can't think of anything else." he said and scrunched up his nose, "I'm just really not eager to be the first person I drink from since more than a hundred years to be some random junkie."

"Don't you have some back at your flat? I'm fine with being late for once and we can figure out a nice cover up story on the way. And I'm certainly not letting you drink off some likely-infected-with-god-knows-what stranger's arm. Great immune system or not. Come on, let's be quick." John said and tugged on Sherlock's hand a bit.

Sherlock smiled, "Admit it, you'd be jealous if I'd had my lips on someone else's body." he chuckled and kissed John's cheek, "I'm sorry, though, I should have thought of it." he said and sighed softly, "In my defence, though, it's because my mind is fairly preoccupied with thinking about my amazing boyfriend all day."

John chuckled and shook his head. "You're way too good at this. Anyway, yeah, you should've thought of it. But if I'm the reason anyway, it's only fair if I have the decency to remind you then, I guess." He said with a bit of a smile. "And better now than there."

Sherlock smiled, "That's true.." he said and smiled, "Let's go then before we lose any more time." he said and still disliked that he hadn't thought about it when they left. Honestly, he was the vampire, it was his obligation to worry about blood. But it wasn't just an excuse. John really was what occupied his thoughts most.

John nodded and tugged on Sherlock's arm once more, pulling the taller man outside, before locking the door behind them. He didn't really have that big a problem with Sherlock having forgotten that; it already felt natural to think of those things for the both of them. "Didn't you have flowers in your flat? We could take those and save some time, if they're only decoration."

Sherlock bit his lip at that, "I.. yeah.. I have." he said and cleared his throat, "They're not exactly decoration, though. They're from my mother. She had planted violets in our garden.. took one with me when I left with Victor and just kept replanting the seeds whenever I had to.. so basically they're still the same.." he mumbled and shrugged, "It's probably stupid.." he mumbled.

John gave him a soft smile at that. "No, it's not stupid at all. It's quite touching though." Be said and pecked his cheek. "I really wish I could've met her." He wouldn't have guessed Sherlock would do something that sentimental. And the story actually further encouraged him to introduce Sherlock to his own parents.

"You know.. perhaps you could go to the flower shop around the corner while I go upstairs to have lunch? I don't think taking something with me would be a good idea. I mean.. it would be hard to explain why I'm bringing my own drink..." he said and squeezed John's hand, glad that he was so understanding about this.

"Sure, love. That's a good idea." John said with a nod and began to walk with him downstairs. "And yeah, let's save that conversation for another time." He replied.

Sherlock chuckled, "I don't know.. perhaps the fact that I'm a vampire would distract them successfully from the fact that their son is in a homosexual relationship." he said with another laugh. "You could start the conversation off like, hey mum, dad, this is my boyfriend, he's a vampire." he said jokingly as they walked down the stairs and left the building.

John laughed a little, as he hailed a cab. "Right. If I'm going to come clean, I should do it properly. But I'm sure, they'd stop listening after the first part."

"Then make it, Mom, dad, this is my vampire boyfriend." Sherlock suggested and grinned at John, pulling his hand out of his boyfriend's and instead wrapping his arm around him.

"There we go then, now we do have a plan." John said and leaned into his boyfriend, before adding with a laugh. "It was right in front of us the whole time."

"What fools we have been not to see it." Sherlock said with a chuckle, opening the door for John as a cab pulled up in front of them. "Took you long enough, I've been driving up and down the street the whole time, what were you doing in there?" Harry asked, chuckling, "Actually, no, I don't really wanna know. Off to Mum and dad's then?" she asked, "Uh.. thanks for waiting around for us.." Sherlock said with a laugh.

John chuckled to himself and got inside the cab. "Thanks, Harry. And we're actually going back to Sherlock's place first to pick up his medicine. If you still want to drive us to mum and dad's afterwards that is."

"Medicine?" Harry asked and turned around to Sherlock, "You're ill?" she asked worriedly and Sherlock shook his head, "No. Not really, it's just a migraine, happens now and then. And I suppose some pills for headaches aren't the worst idea considering our plans for day..." he said and chuckled a little, "Oh, good thing you know our address already, I was wondering if you and Clara want to come over on Sunday? Some sort of moving in party or couple night, whatever you want to call it." he said and smiled at Harry's expression, "Sure thing! I'll let Clara know, we'll definitely be there."

"Great, it'll be nice seeing the two of you together again." John said with a smile, though he could've imagined a nicer get-together than one with his boyfriend, sister and her wife. "By the way, we haven't got mum flowers yet, could you maybe stop by a shop, while Sherlock goes inside?"

"Alrighty. And John, is that reversed psychology? Pretending you actually want us over, so we decide not to come? Because.. it doesn't work." Harry laughed, starting the car, "Well.. it's actually more for me.. I'd kind of like to spend time with some part of his family that doesn't hate me." he said and smirked at John.

"Come on, of course I want my big sister over. You two can plot against me via texts now anyway, so you might as well come over." John teased a little. "And mum certainly doesn't hate you. She's pretty much always asking about you one way or another when I'm there."

Sherlock smiled, "Well.. I'd actually enjoy some time with the side of my boyfriends family that actually entirely accepts that we're together as well." he said and kissed John's cheek, "Anyway we should stick together anyway, we're kind of in the same boat." he added and Harry chuckled, "That's true. But John, you could have let me know that you're in that particular boat a little earlier.."

"Well, I've only had girlfriends up until this point, so," John shrugged a little "there never really was the right occasion I guess." He said, well aware that Harry's last visit at home would have probably been a good one.

"The coming out of your sister and maybe easing her by taking half of her parents fury might have been a suitable occasion." Harry grumbled and sighed, turning to John as they stopped at a red light, "But no hard feelings, Johnny, I don't blame you, after all there was a reason I only came out to them right before the wedding.. I understand that you didn't want to deal with that, especially since you didn't have anyone to turn to, like.. a real partner not just some throwaway girlfriend."

All of a sudden he really wished Sherlock wasn't sitting right next to him. "No, I know I shouldn't have chickened out and just stood by. I think I was under the impression that I might never have to face this at all. And the way they reacted-" John sighed. Especially their father had been so angry... and disappointed. John looked at the back of her seat. "I'm sorry."

Harry gave him a half smile, "Don't worry, I'd have probably chickened out the other way around as well.. he's just so... demanding.. dad." she said and shrugged lightly, shaking her head, "I don't really blame you, honestly. What I am a little pissed about is that you didn't let /me/ in on it. I wouldn't have judged you, obviously and there are one or two friends I'd sure have introduced you to if you had, you might have liked them.. they surely would have liked you.." she went on until Sherlock interrupted her, "You do realise you're saying this while his fiancé is sitting right next to him?" he asked with a playfully raised brow, wrapping an arm around him, not even noticing that he had called himself just fiance, rather than soon to be, or almost fiancé.

John chuckled a little at that and kissed his cheek consolingly. "No, I obviously can't have any regrets when it comes to my boyfriends." He then leaned in, smirking a little, and asked quietly enough for Harry not to understand him. "And was that a proposal, love?"

Sherlock smirked at that, but didn't reply other than stealing himself a kiss as Harry drove on, "Guys not in my car, please." Harry said, glancing at the two of them in the rear view mirror. "It's just a snog stop, don't worry." Sherlock replied, not bothering to break the kiss. "A what?" John's sister asked with a chuckle.

John chuckled a little into the kiss, struggling not to chuckle and keep a straight face when he eventually pulled back from his lover. "Yes, it's completely different." He responded, smiling at his soon to-be-fiancé. "Gotta get through the day somehow."

"Understandable." Harry said, snorting a laugh, "Building up stamina like that can't hurt." she said and stopped the car, turning around to look at Sherlock, "Alright we're there, you're coming to the flower shop, or should we pick you up?" she asked, "Well, I was actually planning to sit down for a second and used that time to relax a little and massage away the headaches.." he said, while actually he was more planning on drinking as much as he could stomach so he wouldn't get hungry so quickly tonight. "Better pick me up."


	16. 3/4 Litres Of Blood

"Alright, we should be back in about ten minutes, love. See you then." John pressed a soft kiss on his cheek, running a gentle hand up the nape of his neck. Brushing his fingertips lightly against his scalp, he sighed a little. "I'd much rather help you with that headache."

"It's fine.." Sherlock said and nearly purred at the fingers in his hair. "Not like you could do much but maybe pouring me a glass of... water.." he said and smirked at John, leaning in for another kiss, not too eager to leave him even just for a few minutes.

John kissed him back only too gladly, closing his eyes and continuing to brush his fingers through his hair. "Erm, sorry boys to interrupt your snogstop," Harry said with a bit of a laugh, looking at them through the rear view mirror. "But I think you two might be a little late for the party."

"Yeah, yeah.." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I can't help it, though.. your brother is just irresistible.." he said and Harry laughed, "God you're even worse than Clara and me." she said and shook her head, "Out now. Dad dislikes unpunctuality.. and there already is enough he can dislike about the situation, no need to add that." she said and Sherlock sighed, pecking John's lips again, before he got out of the car.

John looked after his boyfriend and sighed a little when he saw him entering the flat. Looking back at Harry through the mirror when the car started, he smiled a little. "You look just like when I saw you last. How have you been in the meantime?"

Sherlock sighed as he walked into the flat, he really started to get annoyed by having to drink blood. It just kind of bothered him that he missed out on John-time for that. Walking into the flat, he headed straight for the kitchen, not bothering to take a glass as he just grabbed the bottle and drank from it. He only had a few minutes and he still had to use mouthwash after it.

A smirk flickered across Harry's face, before she glanced back to her brother. "I've been alright. I like this job for one thing. I mean, I didn't really hear much from home, but you know how family is." She said and gave him a bit of a look. "Clara and I have been having lots of sex" She prompted after a moment as lightly as before. "Yeah, you don't have to into detail." John said and scrunched his face, making Harry laugh.

Sherlock was feeling a little nauseous as he walked out of the flat, he had drunken a solid 3/4 litre of blood in just ten minutes. That didn't exactly feel good right now, but it would make him feel better later on. Feeling like he had swalloed a balloon filled with water, he walked out of the house and looked around for John and Harry.

Another minute later the cab pulled over next to Sherlock and John opened the door from the inside, before scooting over to make room. He had a pot with violets on his lap, wrapped up nicely in a bow. "There was an young couple who just couldn't settle on the right bouquet..." He explained the delay. "Anyway, feeling any better?" Harry asked from the front.

Sherlock smiled at Harry, nodding, "Yeah.. much better." he said and gave John a look. "Did you brush your teeth? You're smelling like mint." Harry said and raised a brow and Sherlock couldn't help but chuckle, "Well.. your brother has a thing for mint breath... if that's all the most of a kink he has I can live with that." he said and chuckled.

"Is that so? I'll tell Clara not to chew gum then next week, just to be sure." She teased her brother, who rolled his eyes in turn and gave her a look.  
John leaned towards Sherlock a little him. "You sure you're alright? you look sick to your stomach." He commented a bit more quietly.

"Don't worry.. he's head over heels for me.." Sherlock said and chuckled, turning to John, leaning in to press a kiss to his cheek, "I'm fine.. just drank a bit too much." he murmured quietly and smiled as he pulled back.

John nodded at that and relaxed back into his seat, wrapping an arm around his boyfriend's waist and drawing him gently a little closer. "Yeah don't worry, love, I'm all yours." He said with a smirk and put the violets down in the place in front of him.

Sherlock smiled, resting his hand on John's knee, "I love you." he murmured and leant against John, trying to block out his nausea, knowing it'd pass soon. "Oh you two are so sugary sweet it makes me want to brush my teeth too." Harry laughed as she started the car again.

John chuckled a bit at that as and kissed Sherlock's head. "I love you too." He murmered against his curls, before saying a bit more audibly towards Harry. "Well, as long as you don't have to get out your insulin."

Harry laughed, shaking her head, "I'm happy for you, Johnny, you know that, right?" she asked a bit more seriously and glanced at John in the rear view, "Was about time you find someone that makes you look so happy." she said and Sherlock just smiled to himself at that, kind of proud to be that certain someone.

"Yeah, thank you, Harry." John said with a smile, looking back at her and giving Sherlock a careful squeeze (he didn't want to make him sick even more). " It really was."

Sherlock smiled, "Glad to be of use." he said and chuckled, sitting up a bit more, "The violets are nice.." he said and reached out to touch the petals, "They're nearly the same shade as the ones I have upstairs.. was that intentional?"

"Yeah, they just were the most beautiful." John said with a smile. "And he liked the idea their mothers had similar violets at home. "I'm only giving then to her though if that's alright with you."

"I don't have a copyright on the colour." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "And.. I like the idea your mother has similar violets at home.." he said, leaning against John again.

John smiled at that. "My thoughts exactly." He looked outide the window and wished they could just keep driving.

Sherlock smiled happily, really hoping the rest of the day would be as nice as it had been so far. "By the way Lockie, you look like this poster boy son in law dead would have wanted for me. So maybe that's gonna help." Harry said and shrugged lightly, "Lockie?" Sherlock asked with a raised brow, a bit too surprised about the nickname to acknowledge the rest of what she had said.

John looked at the both and began to chuckle at the nickname (and especially Sherlock's reaction). "Yeah, Lockie, I agree. The outfit's really great for the occasion." He said with a smile.

"Don't start, John-boy." Sherlock said and nudged John's shoulder with his own, "We've had that conversation already." he said and chuckled, "So, dirty Harry... you sure you want to play this game?" he asked with a laugh.

Harry grinned at him. "Don't get me started, Sherly." She replied with a chuckle. "This is exactly what you two are going to be doing Sunday night, isn't it?" John asked after a moment, beginning to chuckle a little as well; at least those two were getting along.

"We could be playing cluedo on Sunday, actually." Sherlock said and smirked at John, "Ignore what he says." he said, pointing at John, knowing his opinion about that. "Sure, that sounds fun." Harry said and chuckled a little, "Been ages since I've played any board game, really."

"/No/ way, Sherlock. I meant it when I said that we were never playing that again. The board is where it is because of a reason, you know." John said, shaking his head. "That one time was more than enough."

"Wow.. John, you never seemed that opposed to it when we were playing it with mum and dad.." Harry said and chuckled, "Also, just out of curiousity... where is that board now?" she asked and Sherlock pouted, "I stabbed it against the wall because your brother wasn't accepting that I won."

"Yeah, he still doesn't and that's why it stays where it is." John said with a little huff. "And you didn't win, Sherlock, the victim can't have done it."

Sherlock sighed, "But they did it! It was the only possible conclusion from all the evidence if they are to stupid to write rules for their own game, that's not my fault." he said and rolled his eyes. "Oh god stop it, my teeth!" Harry exclaimed jokingly and laughed, "Even your bickering is sweet.." she chuckled.

John rolled his eyes as well, but couldn't help smiling just a little bit. "Yeah, we don't have to grow old first to check that off the couple's to do list." He said, before adding "And cluedo is out of the question."

Sherlock pouted again, "Fine. But no Bond either then." he said and Harry laughed, "Oh my god, does he torture you with those films as well?" and Sherlock giggled, "Oh yes. Before him I didn't know any, now I know almost all of them." he said and laughed along with Harry.

"Okay, just for the record, we've watched an entirety of four Bond films.And those are classics ." John said and it was now his time to pout. "But fine, none of those either. I'd be also up for a pirate film."

Sherlock glanced at John with a raised brow, smirking at him, "Any particular one you have in mind?" he asked and chuckled, having an idea what John was thinking of.

"I do actually." John said, smirking right back at him. "I have to admit though that I'd only watch it for the actor of the handsome pirate captain anyway, so..."

Sherlock smiled, leaning in to kiss John again, "Boys, sorry to interrupt your snogstop, but we're there." Harry said and sighed a little, "I'm almost tempted to come in with you, you know, if only just to see dad's reaction.." she mused.

"I think if you came in with us like that, he'd be even more shocked to learn who Sherlock actually is." John said unhappily, a mentionable portion of that unhappiness also stemming from the fact their kiss had been interrupted. The other reason for this was what it had been interrupted for. "I mean you're obviously welcome to come nevertheless. Anyway, thanks for the lift, Harry. What do we owe you for that?"

Sherlock pulled out a one hundred pound note, handing it to Harry before she could reply, "Keep the rest. It's for all three rides plus tip." he said and chuckled a little at Harry's expression, "Oh god you're just like Clara, waving money around like you've just had it piling up for centuries." she said and smirked to herself like it was an insider joke only she understood.

John looked a bit taken aback by the accuracy of that statement, but caught himself quickly. There was no need to further indulge this topic. "True, I don't know how to react to that sometimes. Anyway, it was good to see you again."

"Yeah, you too. See you two on Sunday." Harry said with a smile while Sherlock got out of the car, "Oh and tell mum I would have come if I didn't have to work.. and let her know that I'm not drinking anymore, yeah? I know she's worried." Harry said and gave a shrug, "It's true this time by the way, don't start. I know I've said it often enough.." she added quickly.

"Congratulations by the way. And I know it's true, you look better than you have in years. She'll be very happy to hear that." John said with a smile. "I'm seriously glad you've got Clara to help you with that." He said, getting out of the car himself, but staying next to to the open door.

"She helped a lot more with that than you can imagine." Harry said and smiled, "Anyway, I gotta go and you should go in anyway." she said and Sherlock smiled, "See you sunday." Sherlock said and closed the door, so Harry could drive off, figuring she wouldn't want her parents to see her. "Okay... into battle then." Sherlock said, suddenly starting to feel nervous after all. Really nervous.

John sighed and nodded, reaching out for Sherlock's hand. "Into battle then." He said and tugged on it encouragingly, noticing the way Sherlock looked. "You look like your about to throw up all of the blood, love. Even though that would be quite an ice breaker and end this visit quite quickly, maybe try not to." He said with a bit of a smile.

"Shut up." Sherlock said and chuckled nervously, "I swear I'm more nervous than when I came out to my own parents.. and you know about those circumstances.. it was kind of unlikely they'd be okay with it." he said and took a deep breath, "But I think I can safely promise I won't throw up."

"Good." John chuckled as well and brought their hands up to brush his lips against Sherlock's. At least Sherlock's nervousness distracted him from his own a bit, even if that didn't make much sense. "No matter what happens, I'll still love you. Even if you throw up blood on mum's favourite carpet." He chuckled and tugged lightly on his arm once more to signal him he wanted to start going to the house. "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll get." Sherlock said and started to walk towards the house, lacing his fingers with John's. It was ridiculous that he was the one needing support, honestly. He wasn't event he one that would get in trouble, but still he felt some sort of pressure about making a good impression on John's dad despite the fact that he was 'the boyfriend'.

John held Sherlock's hand firmly as they walked onto the premise. It really hadn't been very long since his last visit or even since he'd still lived there, so he opened the rusty garden door himself and let them both into the garden. It was a small family event, but since they were pretty much the last to arrive it was relatively crowded compared to its normal empty state. Holding the present and card in his other hand, he gave them to Sherlock. "Here, you give it to her."

"Okay..." Sherlock said and took a breath as he held the flowers, "How many other family members do I have to prepare for? There are a lot of cars outside." he said with a frown only now linking the cars to the fact that there was a birthday celebration going on here.

"There aren't too many people. There should be maybe twenty of them at the most; and usually not everyone invited shows even up." He said, rimging the doorbell and keeping himself from becoming nervous again.

"Twenty?" Sherlock asked with a laugh, "Right... good at least I'll be executed in public." he said with a nervous chuckle, he was admittedly talking himself into being even more nervous now since he had noticed the more nervous he got the calmer John became, so he actually tried to stay nervous.

"If so, you won't have to see them again, alright?" He said and gave Sherlock's hand a squeeze, glad he didn't get a chance to panic himself. Not long after, you could already hear footsteps approaching the door. When it opened John's mum smiled warmly at her son. She had shoulder-long brown hair and was wearing a green dress with matching shoes and a brown cardigan. "Hello sweetheart" She said, before looking over at Sherlock and looking surprised only for a split second. "Oh, you've brought a friend? Hi dear, I'm Emma." She said, smiling again. "I'm glad you've managed to come."


	17. In The Lion's Den - Pt. 1

"Sherlock Holmes, nice to meet you." Sherlock said with a smile, switching instantly from being a nervous mess to being charming and in his role. That was the advantage of having to hide who you really are most of the time, it was easy cover yourself up with whatever role you're playing.

She smiled back at him. "Very nice to meet you too, Sherlock." John smiled and pulled his mother in a short hug, giving her a kiss. "Hi mum, Happy Birthday. I've brought my boyfriend if that's alright. I've been very excited for you to meet him."

"Yes well that would be me." Sherlock said and chuckled softly, "I hope it's alright he brought me, John was a little hesitant, but I insisted. I'm a bit old school on that matter, it's really important to me to meet my partner's family." he said and cleared his throat, "Oh, and John told me you like violets. Very good taste, I might add. They're my favourites too." he said and held out the flowers for John's mother to take them.

"They were my mother's favourites too. Her name was actually Violet too. I always have some at home since she passed away." Sherlock sighed, but brightened again after a moment, "Oh god, I'm sorry. Happy birthday. You could have let me know I'm being rude, John." he said with a chuckle, looking at John.

 

She chuckled and smiled at Sherlock. "Thank you, Sherlock, that's so sweet of you. Come here, no need for formalities." She said and pulled him into a hug as well, noticing how nervous he was, before then turning to her son. "What a nice young man you've brought. Come inside, you two."

Sherlock smiled at John, giving him a look that said 'well that worked better than expected' as he followed John's mother inside, bracing himself inwardly to meet the rest of John's family, especially the father. He doubted it, but honestly hoped it would go just as smoothly as it was with his mother. Not that he really thought they'd be that lucky.

John took Sherlock's hand firmly and went with him down the hallway into the living room, where his family was already talking to each other. Immediately they were approached by his cousin, who had just escaped from a conversation with their aunt. "Hey John, how's it going?" He asked with a smile, pulled him close and knocked on his back with his flat hand. John smiled and did the same. "I can't complain, thanks. Yourself?" He pulled back and shrugged. "Yeah, alright, I suppose. Don't you want to introduce me to your..?" -"Boyfriend Sherlock. Sherlock, this is Mark, my cousin."

“Well.. hi Mark..." Sherlock said and wasn't entirely sure what to make of the guy in front of him. He was almost hoping he was opposed to the idea of another gay family just to avoid the bone crashing hug. But then, he didn't seem like the kind of person who would mind. "Nice to meet you." he said and smiled, watching John's mother from the corner of his eye who seemed to be busy talking to another man. His guess was she was trying to prepare her husband for the news. He did look a lot like John. But then, a few of the other males did too. So he wasn't sure who was uncle and who was father.

"Ah, hi Sherlock" Mark said and pulled him into another hearty hug, chuckling a little when he was a bit hesitant. He pulled back and told John with a bit of a laugh that he and Harry were more alike than he'd have thought. The volume with which he spoke, making John laugh just slightly nervously. "Nice dog tag. Did Johnny here tell you about uncle David's thing with the military?" He said looking at John knowingly.

Sherlock smiled, rolling his shoulders a bit after that fierce hug, "Yeah, he did. They're real though. My grandfather's.." he said, practicing his story already. "He served in the second world war.. been a while since I had an occasion to wear them." he said and chuckled lightly. "So.. which of them is 'uncle David' then?" he asked and swallowed as he looked around, "Does it happen to be the guy who's shooting daggers at me with his stare." he asked quietly, still looking at the man and his wife who had her hand on his shoulder from the corner of his eyes.

Mark looked around to find the man Sherlock was referring to and nodded. "Yup, that's old Dave. Jesus," He shook his head. "it's really been a while since we've had a pair like you over here." He frowned slightly and looked at John for help, who in turn was tense as anything after looking over at his father. He was however careful not to make it noticeable and only grabbed Sherlock's hand a little harder than before. He cleared his throat and nodded. "Yes, since Harry and Clara. And no, she's at work." His cousin huffed a little. "Well, we all know how that went... Anyway, best avoid my mum. Are you joining the forces too?" He asked Sherlock, oblivious to the slight change in John's demeanour.

"No. The whole battle stuff isn't really my thing. And John would probably murder me if I did... hypocrite..." Sherlock said and chuckled, nudging John's shoulder with his own, "I have a good deal of respect for everyone who does though." he said and shrugged, "Speaking of battles though... let's say hi to your dad? He won't like it anyway, we don't have to add rudeness to the list by standing here and ignoring him."

John nodded and said Mark by for now who wished them good luck and walked off to talk to his brother. Going up to his father, John felt himself growing properly, properly nervous. Once they stood in front of him John swallowed and cleared his throat. "Hello Dad, this is Sherlock, my boyfriend." David Watson was a man of small but strong stature, whose entire demeanour demanded respect. Right now, however, he mainly gave off a sense of suppressed anger, a feeling underlined by his clenched jaw. "Hello, son." He said, still glaring at Sherlock, though it wasn't too far a stretch to say he wasn't addressing Sherlock.

"Hello." Sherlock said and took a breath, "It's nice to meet you, sir." he said and hesitated for a second before holding out his hand for John's father in hopes he'd shake it rather than using it to drag him out of the house. "David.." John's mother urged in a quiet somewhat scolding tone and squeezed her husband's shoulder with her hand.

Mainly because it was Emma's birthday and this guy didn't look like a complete disgrace, he demeaned himself to shake his hand firmly and briskly after a few seconds. "Hello, Sherlock."

Sherlock gave a careful smile as he shook the man's hand, returning the pressure in the same manner, giving him the best, manliest handshake he could muster, but staying quiet. "Well, you two, sit down with us. John I've made your favourite cake." she said, obviously trying break the tension a little.

John smiled a little to his mother. "Thanks mum" And led Sherlock wordlessly to the table and sat down next to him so that he and Sherlock sat opposite of his parents. No one had yelled yet nor had anyone exhibited hemorrhaegic emesis. So far so good. His father continued to wear bitter displeasure on his face, but controlled himself for the sake of his family right now. He looked at John. "Is this supposed to be some kind of protest for your sister? Or a 'rebellious phase' ?" John was grateful for the table that covered his miserable attempt not to squeeze Sherlock's hand painfully hard. "No, dad it's nothing like that." He replied calmly but firmly, not wanting to give his father the impression he was intimidated. Figuring there was no point in dragging it on, he replied. "I love him and he makes me very happy."

Sherlock looked at John with a half smile at his words, before taking a breath and looking back at John's father. "Sir, with all due respect, I love your son. And I will continue to do so no matter if you accept it. I am not asking for your blessing. But if nothing else, we both have in common that we love John, so I'm hoping we can build on that. But start treating your son badly and we'll walk right out of here." he said and bit his lip, he had gotten a bit carried away, he was dearly hoping now that John's father would appreciate him having a bit of spine and wouldn't just kick both of them out.

John smiled a little at that. Having Sherlock say that straight to his dad's face meant a lot to him (much more than he'd have thought a mere two hours ago). However, it didn't do much for his stress levels in that moment to watch his father react to that. His father still looked like he was about to to throw them out, while his mother shot her husband a stern look. After what felt like hours (a clock would've told you roughly five seconds) Mr Watson cleared his throat and glanced to his wife before looking back at his son and his son's partner. "Well, at least this one's got some backbone."

Inwardly Sherlock sagged with relief, but he'd be damned if he'd show it, giving John's father a genuine smile, he sat back a little leaning against his chair, which was a very welcome support. Now that the stress wore off a little, he did feel how John was nearly crushing his hand, so he decided to be somewhat more bold and pulled his hand out of John's stretching it a bit under the table, before he wrapped his arm around John's middle. "So Sherlock.." John's mother began just to fill the silence, "Those military tags you're wearing, is that just a fashion thing?" she asked and Sherlock smiled, shaking his head, "No, Mrs Watson.." he began and Johns mum interrupted him, "Emma." she corrected him and Sherlock chuckled lightly, "Emma. They were my grandfather's. Sherlock Holmes. I'm named after him. But I never met him, he died before my birth. But my father used to tell me stories about him. I wear the tags sometimes as a sort of tangible connection." he said and Emma smiled, "That's sweet. You really are a family person, aren't you?" she asked and Sherlock smiled, "Well... I suppose. But apart from my brother, I don't have any family left." he said, playing absently with the tags around his neck.

To say John was relieved would've been a complete understatement; especially considering where this conversation was going. He then allowed himself to lean a little into his boyfriend's arm. John's father became more engaged in the conversation at the mention of that name. It was the first time he'd heard his full name and even though 'Sherlock' was an uncommon name... He frowned slightly as he looked at the accessory in question and asked. " 'Sherlock Holmes' you say? May I see?" He held out his hand with a raised eyebrow.

Sherlock was a little surprised when John's father spoke to him - very politely at that. "Of course, sir." he said and pulled the tags over his head with his free hand, handing them over to John's father. "He served in world war II." he said, wondering why Mr Watson was suddenly so interested in his "grandfather" as he looked questioningly at John.

John shrugged and shook his head a little, no proper idea what his father was on about. "Yes, so did John's grandfather." Mr Watson took them and eyed them closely, shaking his head a little. "He used to tell me storied about it... Emma, be a dear and get my father's album, will you?"

"Of course, dear." Emma said and stood up, walking over to the cabinet and pulling out a photo album before returning to the table handing it to her husband. "Here you are." she said and smiled at him, obviously glad that he hadn't freaked out about the other thing.

"Thanks, love." David said absently and opened the album looking for one picture in particular. "My father, Richard Watson, served in the second world war, was even stationed in Dunkirk." He said and looked back up at Sherlock, though not challengingly or to make a point. "As I've said he told me about it in great detail, mentioning names and such. Here's a picture of him and his comrades." He said and looked at it again, shaking his head and showing it to his wife. "Remarkable." The picture showed a group of six young men looking straight into the camera, behind them a devastated piece of land. The second from the right showed some striking similarity with John; the one to his right looked exactly like Sherlock. John could only take an educated guess what they were talking about, but that was enough to look at his boyfriend slightly alarmed.

Sherlock leaned over a bit, figuring some increased interest here as legitimate since they were discussing "his grandfather". "Oh.. I guess you're talking about my resemblance to him? Yeah, I know. There's a strong family resemblance in my family. If you take a photo of me, my father and grandfather from the same age, you could pass us off as triplets." he said with a small laugh, trying not to let on that the name did in fact ring a bell. Richard had been a very good friend back then. They had saved each others' lives more often than he could count.

"Well, I've heard the name before, I never figured there was a connection to John, though. I mean, not to be rude, but Watson is a very common name." Sherlock said more to explain it to John, rather than talking to his parents. He smiled lightly at the photo, he really had to talk to John about this tonight. He could hardly keep the fact that John's grandfather was still alive to himself, really. "What a coincidence." Emma whispered and smiled at her husband.

David looked at her and nodded, before turning back to the two young men, now finding the fact Sherlock had his arm around his son's waist not that big a problem. "It's strange, really." At first glance he was admittedly not what he would have expected and he did want it to stay that way, which was why his question was directed at the grandson of his father's friend. "So, how did you two meet?"

Sherlock was visibly startled at that question. The subject of John's grandfather was neutral territory, but this? This was showing interest in them as a couple, which was possibly what he had expected from Emma at some point, but certainly not from David. Emma was a bit perplexed too, but she didn't say anything. "Well.. we were in the same chemistry course in uni and were thrown together as lab partners and well... obviously we got along rather well." he said and smiled tentatively.

David nodded, but didn't say anything, causing an uncomfortable silence to settle that was eventually broken by Mark's mother, who had, just like the rest of the family, sat down at the table and listened to the conversation unfold. "Are you serious? Really, because I can see that no one has addressed the elephant in the room yet." She turned to John, who was unconsciously leaning more into Sherlock's arm, and ignored Sherlock completely. "How could you do this to your family on your mother's /birthday/?! Have they not raised you better than to bring a teenage boy who could pass as a girl with hair like that to a family event, claiming he's your-" She cut herself off, glaring at him. "It's an absolute embarrassment and shame to the family name. How /dare/ you? An absolute disgrace!" She said, making John absolutely paralysed, only able to grip Sherlock's hand again. "Just like his his sister." She spat, before scoffing at her son. "Don't you look at me like that, young man, I'm just saying what everybody is thinking." She said, before finally turning to Sherlock "And /you/ won't get the chance to ruin one of my children, you filthy- David, do something!"

Sherlock sat up straighter at that, glaring at her, "Listen to me lady," he began with not even the pretence of respect, glaring at the woman that just spoke. "If I'm not mistaken you don't own the place. But going by your archaic views on the world, you will understand that your insults roll off of me like nothing. I am in Mr Watson's house, he's a sensible man, if he wants me to leave, he'll say so." he said, not minding that he didn't know if he was just going at the man of the house's sister or not. "And frankly the only disgrace here..." he went on but was cut off by John's mother, "/The only disgrace here/.." Emma said sternly, standing up, "Is /you/ turning against your own family, you own /nephew/ for being more honest and true to himself than you, dear sister, will ever be." she said and pointed at the door, "You are in no position to judge him, now leave this house before I, like you, forget the good manners our parents taught us." she said and Sherlock really wouldn't have expected a gentle woman like that to be able to appear so fierce and warrior like. "Mark, naturally, you can stay if you like." she said in a much softer tone, smiling at her nephew.

"You cannot do this!" She said angrily, causing David to rise to his feet now as well, looking more angry than when Sherlock had first arrived. "You will find that we very well can. I will not tolerate this kind of disrespect towards my family nor to my guests. I would normally ask you to leave if you have got a problem with my son, but because of this, this outburst, I won't give you that choice. Now, leave Beth." She looked quite dumbfounded at that kind of reaction, but regained her composure quickly. "Goodbye then, /dear sister/." She hissed and pulled her husband to his feet, who had gone relatively unnoticed until now. "Come on, Gareth! Mark, stand up!" She ordered, already beginning to pull her husband outside. Her son however was still seated next to Emma and just looked straight back at her. "Mark, come here at once!" She bellowed and exhaled angrily when he just shook his head. Muttering something about family, she stormed outside, marking sure to throw the door hard enough closed to risk permanent damage.

Sherlock blinked at John's parents, rather dumbfounded at especially David's reaction, while Emma, sweet and charming as ever, turned to the two of them, "I'm sorry about that, Sherlock, gosh, what kind of impression you must have of our family now.." she said, seeming genuinely concerned and Sherlock gave her a warm smile, "So far... I have a very good impression of this family. Thanks for standing up for John... and well.. me to some extent. It means a lot." he said truthfully and looked over at John, along with Emma, "Oh darling, are you alright?" Emma asked and smiled at John.

"Yes, I'm okay. Thanks mum." John said and gave her a bit of a smile. He was quite shaken by that, though mostly because he had expected his parents to go along with that. In retrospect that assumption made him feel really bad. "I'm sorry about that." He said quietly to Sherlock, not only referring to his aunt, but the fact that he hadn't said anything. His father, who, just like the rest, hadn't heard that shook his head a little and told Sherlock. "Of course. That was outrageous."

"I might go for a short walk. Get some fresh air. I had some flukes of migraine this morning and well, 'aunt beth' didn't make it better." Sherlock and bit his lip, "I'll be back in half an hour at most, I just want to take a pill and wind down a little." he said apologetically, secretly hoping John would offer to join him, since that was the whole point of that scheme.

"I think I'll join you in case they get worse." John said, figuring that migraine had now become a code word of theirs - But even if they were real he wouldn't think twice about joining him. His father nodded. "Yes, of course. And thank you John.”

Sherlock smiled, "Thank you.." he said, biting his tongue to not add 'love' at the end of that sentence, not wanting to risk the truce that was apparently going on with David concerning the fact that he was in a relationship with his son. "Well, lets go then." he said and stood up, rubbing his temple a bit for effect.

Sherlock smiled, "Thank you.." he said, biting his tongue to not add 'love' at the end of that sentence, not wanting to risk the truce that was apparently going on with David concerning the fact that he was in a relationship with his son. "Well, lets go then." he said and stood up, rubbing his temple a bit for effect.

"Course." John said and stood up, noticing how difficult it was to drop the pet names. He went with Sherlock to the front door, wrapping his arm around his boyfriend's waist once the people in the living room couldn't see them anymore and opened the door for them.

Sherlock took a deep breath once they were outside with the closed door behind them, "Well.. that went.. surprisingly well." he said and smiled, moving his arm around John as well. "No offence, though, but ... your aunt is a bitch. And I don't use that word lightly." he said and sighed a little. "I honestly like your dad though." he said with a smile, "And well, no need to mention that your mother is amazing."

John nodded and let out a long sigh. "Yeah, it seems I don't give them enough credit. And you're right about aunt Beth." He said with a wry smile. "I'm sorry about that again. I didn't expect it to go that ugly and I should've said something in your defence... But yeah, we know where my parents stand now." He commented with a wry smile.

Sherlock nodded, leaning in to kiss John hungrily, it really was hard to go even an hour without at least kissing his boyfriend, but he pulled back sooner than he'd have liked, not wanting John's dad to walk out the door and stumble in on that and he also felt the need to tell John about his grandfather. "I really didn't know Richard was your grandfather, by the way. That was a surprise for me too."

"That's crazy, Sherlock. I think I might've even read your name on the back of a photograph, but if so that had been ages ago." John said with a bit of a laugh. "Did you know each other well? If dad recognised your name that has to mean something."

"Well.. I suppose we were best friends..." Sherlock said and cleared his throat a little, "Uhm.. about that though.. he.. I don't even know how to tell you that.. " he said and laughed nervously. "He's not.. dead." he said and bit his lip. "Richard, I mean.. he's still alive as far as I know.. and .. well he's still 20..." he mumbled, not really sure how John would react to that.

"Wait, /what/? My granddad's still alive?" John stared at him with wide eyes and took a moment to comprehend what he'd just heard. "You turned my grandfather in the Second World War?" He asked, probably a bit more loudly than strictly necessary.

"Shush!" Sherlock said and shook his head, "Yeah I did.. he had been near a bomb and had his torso full of fragments, internal bleeding.. it really didn't look good, so.. I just.. acted on impulse." he said and shrugged, "I would have told you if I had known you're related.." 

John nodded slowly at that, letting it sink in for a moment, before then asking Sherlock. "Are you still in contact with him like with Jane?" He had still known his gran and she had sometimes talked about him. If there was a chance for John to find him, he needed to know.

Sherlock smiled, "More or less.. we email each other sometimes.. before that we sent letters, obviously.. he was mad at me for turning him at first. He had wanted children so badly and thought he couldn't anymore. I mean, I didn't know any better myself. But apparently.. vampires can still have biological children that's news for me too." he said and smirked at John, "Not entirely unwelcome news." he said and cleared his throat, "Anyway, after his son was born, he sent a letter. But we hadn't gotten as close friends again as we used to be. And yes. I can certainly find him. The problem is.. how are we going to tell your father that I'm a vampire and his father is still alive?"

"And that he's also a vampire thanks to you seventy years ago." John added and shrugged. "I have no sodding clue, Sher. I hadn't expected any kind of conversation with him to go further than. 'Hi, this is my handsome boyfriend and yes, I know where the door is.' I don't even know how to react to this kind of information... And I'd like to meet him before we tell dad, if that makes makes sense. Oh, and Sherlock?"

Sherlock smiled lightly, understanding that this would be very confusing for him, honestly, Sherlock wasn't any less confused, he had never guessed that John and Richard would be in any way related, but now, thinking about it, he could see the resemblance. "Yeah?" he asked.

"Thanks for my bloody existence." He said after a moment, looking at him with a bit of a grin and shaking his head. "You've been waiting for a while for me, hm?"

"Obviously... It all worked out according to my master plan of creating the perfect partner for me." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, pulling John into his arms, "You think the fact that he wouldn't have been born without me will score me some more points with your father?" he asked and smiled, wrapping his arms loosely around John's neck.

John let himself gladly be pulled into his arms and smiled back at him. "I think it might actually be better than your ballet career." He said with a grin and leaned forwards to kiss him, stopping right before Sherlock's mouth teasingly. "Are you sure your migraine isn't too bad right now?"

Sherlock hummed a chuckle, "Just shut up and kiss me." he said with a roll of his eyes, smirking at John.

John happily obliged and kissed Sherlock, bringing a gentle hand up into his curls, since he didn't care too much in that moment that Sherlock needed to face his family like that in a few minutes.

Sherlock hummed into the kiss, before breaking it reluctantly, "Okay.. I don't think we should go back in there with swollen lips from snogging." he said and laughed, taking John's hand and leading him over to a bench standing in the garden. "Honestly, though.. I think your dad actually likes me.. he obviously tries to ignore that I'm your boyfriend, but as a person.. I think he does."

John nodded and walked with Sherlock over there. Yeah, I think you're right with that. And you have no idea how fucking relieved I am." John said with a laugh. "But then again how could he not? You're lovely" He said, quoting yesterday's bickering in the car with a warm and genuine smile.

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah.. if you had been so sure about that all along, you probably wouldn't have almost broken my hand. You squeezed it so hard, I thought you were trying to make a smoothie out of it." he said teasingly, sitting down on the bench.

"Shut it, you, I've already said I don't give you lot enough credit. And I didn't bring a stress ball, alright? Let's only hope everyone continues to like each other now that Beth's gone." He said with a sigh. "And in case they don't, you may want to know dad keeps a gun in his night stand." He added in good humour.

"Well... that would be one way to explain that I'm a vampire.. if I just walk away from a shot into the chest or something." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Although I really would prefer to tell him without suffering severe injuries." he said and laughed again, "Why do I have the feeling he'd be more relaxed finding out I'm a vampire than he was when we walked in together?"

"Just to be clear: I'll come after anyone who so much as tries to shoot you. Family or not." John commented, before sighing a little. "Genuinely? Because you're good at assessing people and he actually might. But maybe that's a good thing, now that the big coming-out part is over." He said with a chuckle.

"We should tell Harry it went well.. I mean.. he doesn't seem so much of a hypocrite to keep you in his good graces, but still be mad at Harry." Sherlock said and shrugged, "He seems fair, at least. I mean, the way he kicked out your aunt, even though he obviously isn't too comfortable about us? That shows character."

"Mmh, you're right. I had almost forgotten how he can be when it comes to morals. Same goes for mum apparently. And yeah, we should definitely tell her. The fact she's off the liquor might help her case as well. Oh, I hadn't told you about that, had I?"

"Yeah.. and for the record, I told you it would work out well." Sherlock said, feeling a little smug, if he was honest, "You turned out so well, there was really no way your father is a total arsehole." he said and leant over to peck John's lips again.

John smiled and had to keep him himself from kissing Sherlock all over again; swollen lips really wasn't the look they should be going for. "Really, love? I remember me being the one to talk you down when we stood in front of that doorstep. It did help with my own nerves though in all fairness."

"Well.. I may or may not have a bit exaggerated there and worked myself up more than necessary because I realised you were getting calmer the more I got nervous." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Worked out well though." he said and smiled, taking a breath, "Well, I suppose we should go back.." he mumbled with a sigh.

"Yes, we probably should. It shouldn't be hard not to call you 'love' and not do more than hold hands under the table for a few hours, you know, but it bloody is." John said with a sigh and kissed his cheek again, before getting to his feet and holding out a hand for his boyfriend. "Come on, let's go, handsome."

"Maybe 'love' is okay.." Sherlock said after a moment, standing up and taking John's hand, "I mean. we shouldn't end every sentence with that, but every now and then it should be alright, we want to be accepted as a proper couple with your family, so why not act like one." he said and pecked John's cheek.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm apparently still not all that relaxed after all." He remarked. "I'd still prefer just snogging you on the couch though for the rest of the afternoon." He added with a smirk, before beginning to walk back to the door.

"Well, I avoided it too, so I'm not much less tense." Sherlock said and smirked as they entered the house. "Let's hope your dad's gun is still in his night stand." he said quietly, giving a quiet laugh.

John chuckled a little at that and closed the door behind them. "Best behave ourselves in case it's not." With that he walked with him into the living room, still holding his hand; only really though because he hadn't even thought about letting it go.

"Oh there you are again, are you feeling better, dear?" Emma said, looking worriedly at Sherlock, "I can make you a cup of tea." she said and Sherlock smiled, shaking his head, "I'm fine, the fresh air did the trick."

John smiled at her and led Sherlock back to the table, sitting back down opposite of his father. He went on to busy himself with pouring Sherlock and himself some water, since they had both forgotten about that the first time they had sat down. "Hey, Sherlock, innit? Did Johnny boy here give you that love bite? Is that from now or yesterday?" He said with a laugh loudly enough for everyone at the table to understand him. John's dad didn't look quite as happy for them. John bit his lip at that, almost spilling his water, and quietly swore to murder his cousin.

Sherlock surprisingly kept cool at that, though he was inwardly cursing John's cousin, "It's not a love bite, actually. We were practising some self defence moves since John is adamant about me learning some self defence, since I want to become a police man, or a freelance detective after uni and I moved wrong while I tried to block a punch. Was a week ago, it looked much worse then." he said with a chuckle.

John was quite impressed with that nice a save. Thankfully everyone (well, almost) got the hint and the bit of tension this had caused was easing away. "Really? Wow, you could've really hurt him there, John." Mark said with raised eyebrows, before turning back to Sherlock. "Why are you going to uni then, if you want to go to the police?" He asked, making John wish his his cousin was homophobic and had just left twenty minutes ago.

"Well education is a necessity especially when you're solving crimes, and advanced knowledge on forensics, biology and chemistry can work out in your favour." Sherlock said and smiled, "Also, I might not actually join the police, I do favour becoming a freelance detective if I'm honest, I'm just not that much of a fan of bureaucracy and having my actions dictated by suit and tie people that feel more important than they actually are." he said, adding the last comment mainly because he had just remembered how John had said his father disliked that kind of people as well.

John smiled a bit to himself at the fact Sherlock had remembered the last part. Luckily his father seemed to like that answer. "So, Sherlock how are your studies going?" David inquired in a stern and no-nonsense tone of voice, looking straight into the young man's eye. John actually recognised this from his previous relationships, only that it had always been him on the receiving end of the line of questions. Good, that was normal dad-behaviour apparently.

Sherlock smiled somewhat sheepishly, "Well.. I'm topping my year in all my courses, in fact." he said and wasn't sure how much John's dad would like that. "But well, it's not quite fair either, I've already had an advanced knowledge in those areas before I started uni. I'm very interested in those subjects." he said and smiled, "Especially chemistry."

David nodded at that, looking somewhat happy with that kind of an answer. "And how are you earning money beside university?" He asked, proud of the fact that John was independent from them and had got where he was through hard work alone. Meanwhile the rest of the family had begun to talk to each other again, though most of them were still listening in.

Sherlock cleared his throat, "Well.. I'm living on family funds at the moment. Our family always had money and my ancestors invested it wisely and early in the right ways. So luckily that enables me to to focus entirely on my education. I honestly don't need much, though. I have a cosy small flat in the centre of the town, which makes my way to uni shorter. I have a spare bedroom too," he said and took a deep breath again, "John and I decided to erm.. make it a flat share." he said and hoped that flat share was a better word than we're moving in together. And maybe thinking of Sherlock and John as flatmates was easier for him for a while anyway.

David glanced at his son, who in turn was glad his boyfriend had mentioned the second bedroom, before looking back at Sherlock. It was quite clear that he was still figuring out where to put him exactly. "Your family then, what are they doing for a living?"

"Well as I said, my brother and I are the only ones left." Sherlock said and scrunched up his nose as he continued, "He occupies a minor position in the government' as he'd put it, actually he's one of those suit and tie people that feel more important than they are." he said with a laugh. "For someone like that... He's alright, I guess." he said with a chuckle. "He did work his way up though. I have to give him that. He started as a secretary, so he didn't pay his way in."

David looked satisfied with that and you could see the corner of his mouth twitching at the comment about suit and tie people. For John this was a dead give-away he liked Sherlock, which hadn't ceased to make him feel relieved. David seemed to be done with his line of questioning and turned to his nephew after a while. "So Mark, your mother has told me your apprenticeship is going well?..."

Sherlock used the rare moment where the attention wasn't on them to take John's hand and smile at him, "We should invite your parents over.." he murmured quietly so only John could hear. "And we also have to make that spare bedroom look like it's actually used." he added even more quietly, chuckling a little.

John chuckled and nodded. "That's probably a good idea. And we might want to put the Cluedo board from the living room wall." He said just as quietly. "This is going better than I've thought, you know. I mean he's ignoring our relationship but I'm not going to complain."

"Well.. let's see how well it goes on a certain event in the near future when no one attending can ignore our relationship." Sherlock murmured and chuckled, not daring to say the word wedding in this house when it concerned the two of them. "Didn't you want to tell them about Harry?"

"Right. I almost forgot with everything else going on." Once David wasn't talking to Mark anymore, John addressed his parents. "Mum, Dad I've actually seen Harry today. She's sobered up and looking better than in years. Clara even helped her to get a job as a cab driver, so that's why she isn't here."

"Oh that's wonderful news!" Emma said and smiled widely at John, "Please tell her she's always welcome and that your father and I would love be to have her and her.. her wife over." she said, the small hitch in the sentence barely noticeable as she turned to her husband and gave him a look that dared him to disagree with it. She knew very well that they were already at a point, where it would be laughable if he'd keep being as angry as he used to be at his daughter.

John smiled back at her, though there definitely was some surprise in his look as well. "I'll tell her. I'm sure she'll be thrilled to hear that." John said and glanced at his boyfriend that was meant to convey something along the lines of 'Jesus I'm so glad you've come with me today'.

Sherlock smiled widely at John, he had honestly not expected it to go that smoothly (apart from aunt Beth, that was). He hadn't thought there would be a major fall out, but he certainly didn't expect that John's dad liked him and that he was basically why John's sister would be welcome in the family again.

As the afternoon went on Mark and a few other relatives slowly left, so when Emma was talking to her niece in the kitchen, David turned to Sherlock again. "Would you come for a word over there? I'd like to talk to you in private." He said, the last part being directed at his son. John, who had thought this was going well, didn't look too happy at the prospect to say the least. He should've bloody known there was a catch to this. "John, go help your mother in the kitchen." David said in a tome that brooked no argument when John was still right next to Sherlock.

Sherlock was a bit taken aback at that, but he hoped this was just another father boyfriend routine. He really, really hoped John's father wouldn't try to scare him away. Apart from the fact that it wasn't going to work, it would ruin all the progress he'd had seemingly made accepting his children's choices. Nodding eventually at John, he nudged his shoulder with his own, "You heard your dad." he said and smirked lightly at him.

John obliged reluctantly, though not before giving a 'yell, if he tries to murder you'-look that he meant half-seriously. Once John was going into the kitchen, David expected Sherlock to follow and walked out of the living room to their bedroom so that they could talk without anyone interrupting them.


	18. In The Lion's Den - Pt. 2

Sherlock followed quietly, wondering where they were going, but having a distinct feeling they were moving closer to the gun. "You are not planning to murder me, are you? Sir?" Sherlock asked only half joking and giving a nervous chuckle, chewing on his lips. He was praying to anyone who'd listen that Mr Watson would be ruining the whatever changes John had made about his opinion on his father.

David raised an eyebrow at that and opened the bedroom door, before looking at Sherlock. "No, right here would be much too obvious." He dead-panned to ease the tension a little, because John's flat mate did seem disproportionately nervous. He liked to have other people to have respect for and maybe a little fear of him, but you didn't have to overdo it.

Sherlock smirked a little at that and did actually relax, nodding. "Right then... What did you want to talk about, sir?" he asked curiously, but still showing respect, but he didn't make promises about losing it if he'd try anything to get them apart.

"As you know, I would much rather like my son to have a girlfriend." David started, seeing no point in a preamble. "And even though I thought he'd turned out normal, apparently he's changed his mind for whatever reason. Now, in this family we have values and be assured I won't tolerate anyone disrespecting them. I will also not let just anyone into this family either, understood? If I didn't know about your... predilections I would not worry about you living together with my son. I would have expected him to make a much worse choice in terms of a male... partner." He said, obviously reluctant about the last word. "I take our values seriously, which is probably why John has turned out so commendably in other fields. Any girl would be more than lucky to start a family with him, which is exactly why I won't allow him to choose someone who can't give him a good life." He said, pausing to look at Sherlock dead-seriously. "Can you?"

Sherlock smiled, "Well... firstly, he is normal. And well, he isn't gay, if that makes it any better, he's bisexual. He didn't choose it, he just fell in love with me and I'm very grateful he did. But yes, I think I can give him a good life. I don't know how you feel about that, but.. you might even get grandchildren, blood related ones, because personally I would prefer to get a surrogate rather than adoption." he said and smiled lightly, "Sir, I love your son with every fibre of my whole being, that's why I came here. To be frank, John was terrified to come here with me, he wouldn't even have told me where he was going if I hadn't explicitly asked about it. But I want him to have everything. He loves you and your wife very much and he loves me, it would break my heart if he had to choose one over the other. That's why I urged him to come here. He shouldn't have to hide who he is, or who he loves because he fears to lose someone else he loves just as much. I told you, I won't let him go unless he wishes me to go, no matter what you say, Sir. But I do hope we can find a way to genuinely get along and that you and your wife can accept that he and his sister chose partners they love and who love them."

David didn't say anything for a long while and just looked at him, thinking about what he'd just heard. Sherlock looked like he had meant what he'd said and he already knew what Emma would say in response to him. "You came here and stood your ground in front of me today. That's something I respect. I want to ask you one last question and then I'll tell you what I think."

"You got over yourself because you love for your son was stronger than your dislike of his choice of partner. /That/ is something /I/ respect." Sherlock said and smiled, nodding, "But yes, of course, go ahead." he said.

"What is something about yourself that you think might make me tell John to stop talking to you if I knew it? In other words what would I dislike most about you?" He said, still looking straight into Sherlock's eye. "And don't you lie to me."

"Perhaps the fact that I wouldn't tolerate anyone treating him with any less respect than he deserves. Even you or your wife. John is the best man I've ever had the good fortune to meet. I was serious when I said, I'd walk right out of here with him if you treat him badly and I meant it. I'm the first to encourage him to turn his back on his family and never look back if that family doesn't treat him right." Sherlock said and smiled, "I think that may be what you would dislike most about me. That I won't sit and watch you patronising him for being brave enough to be true to himself."

David nodded at that, still wearing that poker-face. "Good answer." He said and stepped closer towards Sherlock, completely ignoring their height difference. This young man was smiling a bit too much for his liking and David wanted to make sure he wouldn't forget their conversation any time soon. His voice dripping with authority, he spoke again." And same goes for me. If I hear you aren't doing what you've just so passionately said or treat him badly in any way, I'll come after you myself. Understood?"

Sherlock nodded, "Understood." he said and cleared his throat, "But since we're talking openly, it's probably best to tell you something else, John and I have been sort of dreading to bring it up and it's not yet official, but we have been talking about getting married. As I said, nothing official yet, we're not engaged, but I figured it would just be fair to give you a warning, so you are prepared once we are and come around letting you know, rather than just dropping that bomb on you out of the blue." he said and knew it was still a bombshell, but given that he couldn't prepare Mr Watson for the fact that he'd soon be reunited with his own father, he figured it was just fair to prepare him for this at least. And it would also make actually telling them about the engagement easier too.

David didn't look too happy and sighed; he'd held on to the hope of this only being a phase. "I appreciate the warning then. At least your man enough not to keep things from me because you're scared." He said eventually.

"I like and respect you, I really do. And I'm thankful that you're at least trying to find a way to deal with it." Sherlock said, holding out his hand in a sort of diplomatic gesture, hoping Mr Watson would recognise it as such.

David looked at the outstretched hand for a moment, before he took it and gave him a good and proper handshake, appreciating the fact the lad at least had manners.

Sherlock gave a half-smile as he pulled his hand back, "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about or should we just go back downstairs?" he asked, biting his lip to contain a chuckle that wanted to bubble out of him as he thought about John's mental state right now.

Meanwhile John was all but panicking through the living room, unnerved by the fact he hadn't even heard shouting yet and only really consoled by the fact he neither had he heard a gunshot yet. Dad wouldn't smother his bloody boyfriend, would he? He looked up the staircase and went back to pacing. Jesus, what the fuck where they doing up there? // David shook his head. "No, that's all, unless you've something you'd like to tell me?"

Sherlock shook his head, "No, right now, I don't have anything else to tell you." he said and stepped out of the way, for David to leave first, respectfully letting him lead the way, it was his house after all.

"Although, one more thing actually. How does John think of me nowadays? You said he was terrified to come." David asked after a moment. The two of them didn't really have a relationship where they talked much, so another angle would be interesting.

"Well, he was a little scared of you, I think. Especially after he and I met. But that didn't change that he has a lot of love and respect for you. And after today, I think his view of you righted itself again. He was very happy and proud that you reacted the way you did, sir." Sherlock said and smiled lightly. "I think he feels less like he has to meet your expectations to be loved and more like you're going have his back no matter what."

David nodded at that and give him a bit of a smile. "Good thank y-" He was cut off by a knock on the door. "Yes, who's there?" The door opened and John stepped inside. He looked immediately much less stressed once he saw Sherlock. "Oh good your still-" He cut himself off and felt immediately stupid for coming up in the first place.

"Still alive, don't worry." Sherlock said and laughed, shaking his head and taking John's hand to support him a little, John seemed to feel incredibly embarrassed about bursting in. "We were about to come back downstairs again, actually."

John let out a nervous laugh. "Good. Sorry, I was just wondering if you two were fine up here." David shook his head and chuckled. "Sherlock was also afraid of me killing him when we got up here. And he was smart enough not to give me a reason to do so in the future." He said, before stepping outside the room and heading downstairs.

Sherlock smirked at John, "I'm surprised he said that after I've just told him I'm most likely going to marry you." he said and chuckled a little, running a hand through his hair.

John's eyes went wide and all he could do for a solid five seconds was stare at him. He was too shocked to even think about his father's reaction. "You're bloody joking, aren't you?"

Sherlock chuckled, "I'm serious, I told him that we've talked about it and that I just think it's fair to give him time to get used to the idea instead of springing it as a surprise on him. He appreciated that. I mean.. he wasn't exactly happy about the whole thing, but he didn't shoot me, so I suppose that's as much of a blessing we can expect from him at this point."

"/What?/" John asked incredulously, before adding. "What did he want from you in the first place?" He was still unconvinced that he wouldn't have to smuggle his boyfriend out of the window after that kind of a bombshell.

"He asked if I'm able to give you the good life you deserve." Sherlock said and smiled at him, "And he also told me that basically he's gonna make me miserable should I ever treat you wrong. You know.. the typical boyfriend father routine." he chuckled.

"And I was expecting you to be maimed." John muttered and leaned into his boyfriend, wrapping an arm loosely around his middle. This wasn't just about his dad not hurting his boyfriend, but the fact he had apparently accepted this part of him. Falling out of his father's grace because of this was something he'd been terrified of since his teenage years. And now he was actually fine with marriage?

Sherlock laughed, "I was kind of nervous either, but I like him." he said and smiled at John, "And I think he'll actually treat me as part of the family once he gets over the fact that you're with a guy. He also asked what you think of him, you know." he said and moved his arm around John's middle.

"He did?" John asked with raised eyebrows even though Sherlock couldn't see that. "What did you tell him?"

"Yeah.. I told him that you were kind of scared of him before, but that you were very pleasantly surprised about his behaviour today. And well that you feel less pressure about having to catch up with his high expectations for him to keep accepting you." Sherlock said and leant over to kiss John's cheek. "I hope that was okay.. It really seems that he mainly appreciated that I was honest about all of this, so I figured being honest there can't hurt either."

John nodded at that and moved to wrap his other arm around him as well; a nice side benefit of this position was that Sherlock couldn't see his face like that. "Yeah, that was more than okay."

"I'm really looking forward to see Harry's face when we tell her how the evening went, actually. You think you can text her to come here in about an hour? I'm slowly starting to get somewhat hungry." he said and smiled, "Pretty sure your mum would offer to make something if she'd hear that.. she was really sweet when she thought I'd be having a migraine."

"Yeah I could text her. She should be off duty by then." John commented before adding. "And I doubt mum's gonna make something with blood though, however nicely you ask."

Sherlock chuckled, "Well, yeah well maybe in time, if they decide to... well.. you know.. turn. I mean, I'd certainly give them the option, I'm pretty sure Richard will offer that anyway." he said and smirked, "Bet Mrs Hudson could show her some recipes if it comes to that."

John chuckled a little and nodded. "Yeah, if we all decide to become vampires, we'll do that. But for now; are you really hungry? Mum's definitely making sandwiches, but yeah." He shrugged, before smiling again. "Yeah, I really can't wait to tell Harry."

"Yeah, I am kind of hungry, it's not bad though. And I wouldn't mind a sandwich." Sherlock said and chuckled lightly, "But before that..." he said and gently lifted John's head, "Snogstop?" he asked with a smirk

John chuckled and smiled back at him. "You have to ask?" With that he leaned into Sherlock again and kissed him, not caring about the state of either of their lips

Sherlock chuckled into the kiss, "Just wasn't sure how comfortable you are about snogging in your parents bedroom." he murmured into the kiss.

"Don't worry. I'm a tough cookie." John replied with a smirk and continued to kiss him, more worried about the open bedroom door really.

"Almost right.." Sherlock hummed, wrapping his arms a little tighter around him, "You're my tough cookie." he chuckled.

"That I am." John said with a smile, before chuckling as well and shaking his head a little. "I love you ridiculously much, you know that?"

"I hope so, I've more or less just told your father that." Sherlock said with a giggle, "He'd think I'm an idiot if you'd just drop me." he said and leant back in to capture John's lips with his own again, not hearing how the door opened. "Oh dear, I'm sorry you two, I just wanted to see what was keeping you so long up here..." she said and giggled a little, looking behind herself, "I think you two are a sweet couple you know. And I think your dad does too.. at least for .. that kind of couple." she said and smiled at John, "Being in love suits you, darling." she added with a smile.

John smiled at that, having turned around when she'd begun to talk. "Thank you mum. I'm so glad this is alright with you all. Save aunt Beth, but you know." He glanced at Sherlock. "We'll be downstairs in just a moment."

"Aunt Beth is an old hag." Emma said and sighed, "I'm sorry she made such a fuss.. It was awful how she lashed out at you. And at you, Sherlock, I'm really sorry." she said and Sherlock smiled, "Don't worry about it. There have and will always be people like that. But since you're here, I've already told your husband, so I might as well warn you too.. if only for his reaction when we've left.. John and I.. we've talked about marriage... we're not engaged or anything, but we're fairly sure we will be sooner rather than later.." he said and Emma frowned for a second, before pushing past her doubts once more, resolved to be happy for them, even if it still seemed a little strange. "Really? Oh dear, that's.. wonderful." she said and smiled, "Anyway, I'll leave you alone then." she said and walked out of the room, closing the door behind herself.

John smiled at him and chuckled a little. "I can't believe this. I'm half expecting to wake up next to you every second now."

"Well I can assure you, you're awake." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Come on, let's go back, we don’t 

John pecked his lips and nodded. "Yeah, I don't feel like testing him today either." Taking his hand he pulled away. "Let's go downstairs, love."

Sherlock smiled, following John out the room (finally, really it did feel somewhat awkward to be in John's parents' bedroom if he was honest). "Hmm, do you mind if we skip the sandwiches after all? I'd really favour something more.. liquid." he said as they walked down the stairs, his stomach growling in response. For some reason the his hunger had grown much worse in the few minutes since he had mentioned it. Perhaps his stomach was just a bit upset from drinking so much in so little time before.

"Sure, you're migraine's are acting up a bit, yeah?" He asked with a bit of a smile, in case his parents could already them. The excuse had worked well enough the first time and was only plausible if Sherlock migraines were chronic anyway. Once they were back in the living room, he went to his mum. "Mum, I think we're also going back soon. Sherlock's headache's not getting better, so it's probably best if he lie down.

"Oh, of course dear. Sherlock, you might want to try a cup of black coffee with lemon juice. It works great against headaches. Maybe it helps, it's better than having to take pills all the time." Emma said and smiled at Sherlock, clearly wishing she could do more. "How are you getting home then?" Emma asked and looked at her husband, "Can't you drive them home, David?" she asked and Sherlock shook his head, "It's alright, we'll text Harry, he shift is still going so she can come around to pick us up."

David nodded at that. "That's good, she's a good driver. Goodbye, John. It was good to have you back at home again. " He said and pulled John into a hearty one armed hug, patting his back three time with John doing the same, before pulling away again. "Bye, dad. It was great to be here again." John said, smiling at his father, who gave him a small smile in return. After hesitating for a moment he went over to do the same with Sherlock. It was something he reserved for good friends and family and, well, he seemed to count as that now.

Sherlock was a little startled at first, but then just did what he had seen John do before, three claps on the back. When John's dad let go Sherlock really tried not to show how stunned he really was about this. John's dad had been civil all night, nice even sometimes, but he had not expected him to hug him. That hadn't even been a possibility he had thought about. "Goodbye, Sir." Sherlock said with a - genuinely this time - sheepish smile.

"Goodbye, Sherlock." He said with a nod, before John gave Sherlock meaningful look, before turning to his mother and hugging her. "Bye, mum. I hope you've enjoyed your birthday." He said and kissed her cheek.

"Oh I did, I finally got to tell aunt Beth off, so that was a special bonus. The last time I did that I got grounded by my own father." Emma said with a laugh, pulling Sherlock into a hug after letting go of her son, "You two take care of yourselves, alright?" she asked and Sherlock smiled at her, this hug, he had expected, "Of course. Bye Emma." he said as he let go.

John walked with Sherlock out of the house and turned one last time to wave them a short goodbye. Stepping onto the street and taking Sherlock's hand again, he said. "Okay, so I texted Harry while you two were upstairs, so she'll hopefully turn up soon.."

"Am I hallucinating or did your dad just hug me?" Sherlock asked, looking over at John and completely ignoring what John had said, shaking his head. He was still stunned, he couldn't help it.

John looked back at him and shrugged, shaking his head. "You know, he could've flown away on a broomstick for all I care at this point. He didn't seem like mum had put something in his coffee, did he? Or one of us two is high, who knows?"

Sherlock chuckled, "I just really can't believe this would work out like that, I mean, I'd have been happy with not hostile behaviour from your father, please, /please/ let me be the one to tell Harry he hugged me even though I told him I'm intending to marry you." Sherlock said and grinned, "But.. perhaps lets not tell her that while she's driving."

John chuckled at that. "No, perhaps not. By the way, perhaps not tell Clara when you see her. Believe it or not, but she was pretty hurt when Mum and Dad wouldn't even see her after they got engaged, even more so when only Mum and I from our side of the family showed up to their wedding." John sighed. "You'll like her. She is such a kind person."

"Well.. perhaps that's gonna change now. I think your father will probably apologise to her. I mean.. he actually, if reluctantly /accepted/ me. The least he can do is apologising to your sister and her wife for treating them the way he did and I think he knows that." Sherlock said and shrugged, "And even if he doesn't know that, you mum will let him know." he said and chuckled.

"Yes, I think so too, but I don't think the fact he accepted you as my boyfriend before her as Harry's fiancée, is hard enough to take as it is., you know." John said with a shrug. "We don't have to say he hugged you and gave us his explicit blessings the first time you met him, that's all I'm saying"

"Lying to her about it won't make it any better though, and I think Harry will tell her anyway." Sherlock said and smiled, "You know.. perhaps what really brought the change was the fact that he realised he doesn't want to lose his kids love and trust over this. And I really wouldn't say he gave us his blessings. He really didn't look happy about it when I told him. It was more light... grudgingly accepting it as something he can't change."

"Ah, alright, that sounds more him. Let's let Harry break the news though." John said with a nod, before chuckling and saying. "I really can't wait to see Harry hearing about this."

"Me neither.." Sherlock said and chuckled, "But I think she'll be happy your parents are slowly coming around.." he said and smiled as he saw the cab appear at the corner of the street, knowing it was Harry's because he had memorised the licence plate.

John looked at him and raised an eyebrow at Sherlock’s reaction. "That's her then?" Once the cab pulled over John went inside and of course it was Harry inside. "Hey Harry" He said with a smile, buckling his seatbelt.

"So how did the manslaughter go..." Harry said with a laugh, "How bad was it, I want all the dirty details, boys. Oh and.. just for the record. I. Told. You. So." she said, turning around to face the two of them, while Sherlock got into the car, "Why are you looking so happy? Is that some sort of psychotic breakdown reaction?" she asked incredulously.


	19. In Which Sherlock Is Driving A Cab After Shocking The Cabbie

"It went... surprisingly well actually." He said, now realising how weird that sounded spoken out loud. "I mean it ended with aunt Beth telling us what she thinks and being thrown out afterwards. By mum, if you can believe it. And I thought for a few minutes dad was murdering Sherlock, when he told him about our marriage plans in private. But he didn't. And then he hugged Sherlock." He said, before frowning and looking at Sherlock. "I didn't drink some hallucinogen, did I?"

"No you didn't.." Sherlock said and pouted, lightly boxing John's shoulder, "And I wanted to tell her about the hug, remember?" he asked with a chuckle, not really mad about it. "Hang on, repeat that. Dad did what? He /hugged/ Sherlock after Sherlock told him he wants to marry you? Are you sure it was a hug? I mean.. maybe you've mistaken it for an attempt to suffocate you." she said and Sherlock shook his head, "No, definitely a hug. But honestly, it seemed like your mum had been talking at him for a while already. Also we're supposed to tell you that they'd love to have you and your wife over."

"Wait, what the hell?. They did /what/?" She asked and quickly pulled the cab over so she could turn around and look at them. "Johnny, you wouldn't lie to your sister. Do they really want to see Clara?" She asked, looking at her brother a little accusatory. John nodded at that and smiled at her, looking quite surprised by that as well. "Yeah, they do."

Sherlock smiled, "They're not super thrilled about any of this still, but... I think they're starting to accept it. And well.. after that talk with your father, I'm pretty sure he's realised that his main concern is the happiness of his children and that they're having a good life, rather than what gender their partner has." he said and smiled at Harry who was a bit too stunned to speak right now. "He hasn't announced it exactly, but I'm pretty sure he'll apologise to you /and/ Clara." Sherlock continued and Harry huffed a laugh, feeling a bit dizzy about all of that, "Can.. one of you two drive perhaps?" Harry asked after a moment, "I've got to process that first." she said with a laugh. "Oh sure, I can." Sherlock said, getting out of the car and switching places with Harry, who sat down next to John. "You think he will apologise to Clara?" she asked, looking at John.

“I mean, I wasn't in that conversation Sherlock had with dad, but... over the course of the night he began to behave so differently. I'd really almost say decently. Remember that thing about our aunt? He stood up for Sherlock without batting an eye and you know how the two of them are." He huffed a little and shook his head. "Yeah, I think he might actually apologise to her."

Sherlock chuckled, starting the car, "I loved how you mum kicked her out, really. She seemed so sweet and kind and then suddenly went berserk." he said and chuckled, that actually reminded him of his own mother, if someone had dared to talk like that to her kids, she'd have probably reacted the same way. "But honestly, is your cousin always like that? Did he really have to point out the love bite?" he asked with a roll of his eyes, "For a split second, I thought there would be at least one murder there, which would have been me and your brother lynching your cousin."

John chuckled a little and shook his head. "Mark is such an absolute clot. I don't even think he did that with the intention to be a complete arse... Anyway, it was hard not to give in to the impulse of jumping up lynching him.” He sighed. “Jesus, family..."

“Pretty sure no one but him bought the excuse about self defence training." Sherlock said and snickered, "I'm glad it turned out like that, though. For both of you." he said and smiled, "Where are we even going, your flat or mine?" he asked, turning around to John and Harry after he stopped at a red light.

"Let's go back to our place. I mean I've still got classes tomorrow, but I'll just drop by the other flat extra early in the morning to get changed." He sighed a little "This is getting a bit annoying actually. I'll come home with a box of clothes and books tomorrow, if that's already alright, love."

"Everything that means more time with you is alright with me." Sherlock said and smiled at John, for a moment just getting lost in the moment before a honk from behind the car sounded, probably to let him know it was green already. "You guys are like a bloody Disney movie.. no wonder not even dad could resist that." Harry mumbled and chuckled a little, slowly recovering a little.

John chuckled a little at the way Sherlock had looked at him and how accurately Harry's description was (for that moment). "We actually did have Italian pasta yesterday. Sherlock learned how to make it from a housebreaking restaurant owner." John said with a grin, finding that story just perfect.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "Being a housebreaker doesn't mean your food is bad." he said and Harry chuckled to himself, starting the car again. "I really can't believe this, you know.." Harry said with a smile, turning to her brother again, "I mean.. dad didn't seem like he'd ever come around and now.. it's nice to think my family doesn't actually hate me as much as I believed." she said quietly.

John could've said that they'd never hated her at all and that certain family members were merely disappointed and acting out of frustration. He didn't though, because he found that having people just hate you was better than disappointing them. Instead he went for a more comforting but still honest approach. "I think he's just getting his priorities straight. And for him you are obviously far up there."

Harry smiled, nodding, "So are you." she said and hummed a chuckle, "I didn't think I'd ever say that, but I kind of regret that I didn't come." she said and Sherlock smiled, "No, don't. Perhaps it was good. I mean.. well, maybe for a while overcharging him with all four of us isn't that much of a good idea." he said as he pulled up in front of 221B. "Yeah.. I guess so." Harry said, getting out of the car along with Sherlock. "Man I'm hungry." she said and chuckled a little, "We still have some of that lasagna, if you want.." Sherlock said and Harry shook her head quickly. "No.. no I have a... erm.. smoothie in the glove compartment. That'll tide me over until my shift ends."

John got out as well and shrugged at that a little, figuring this was about some diet thing. Standing in front of her, he pulled his sister into a short but warm and firm hug. "See you next week then. Look after yourself, Harry."

"I will..." Harry said and smiled at him, "You too. And you Sherlock." she said and pulled him into a hug as well. This family really had a thing for hugs it seemed. "See you next week." Sherlock said and watched with a smile as she got into the car and drove off.

Yesterday morning he hadn't even thought he'd be introducing Sherlock to a single family member and yet here they were. John smiled and took his boyfriend's hand. "Go inside?"  
Sherlock chuckled, "I half expect Mark to stand in the living room waiting for us because he remembered he didn't hug me." he said and turned to look at John. "Your family sure is a fan of hugs." he chuckled.

John shrugged a bit. "Yeah, I suppose so. But judging from the way you looked when he did that the first time, it's good he didn't. Hey, maybe he was afraid you'd try out your freshly acquired self-defence techniques."

"Oh yeah I thought your dad was gonna strangle me right then and there." Sherlock laughed, "Has he seriously always been immune to social cues? He's worse than me."  
“Yeah, kind of. But as his cousin I can tell you he's a good guy." John said with a shrug. "I don't exactly love his parents if you could tell, but he's alright really."

"Yeah, I figured that. Still though.. after his aunt lashed out like that, he should have realised that pointing out that love bite isn't that much of a good idea." Sherlock chuckled, pulling his keys out of his pocket and frowning for a second, taking the spare key off and holding it out for John, "I suppose you'll need that." he said and smiled at John.

John took the key with a smile and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose I will." He said, taking out his key ring and adding the new one right there. "It's one too many, but luckily I won't have that problem in a week."

Sherlock smiled at that, kissing John's cheek, "You wanna let us in then?" he asked, stuffing his own key back into his pocket, waiting for John to lead the way into /their/ flat.

"My pleasure." John replied with a grin and opened the door to let the both of them inside, before putting the key away again... This felt so much like home already. "You sure we don't wanna bring my couch?" He asked teasingly.

Sherlock smiled, following John inside, "I don't know.. my sofa is larger so it's much more make out appropriate, but if you want a sofa that's too small for us to make out every night on.. go ahead." he said in the same teasing tone.

John raised an eyebrow in mock doubt. "You'd have to prove that to me, before I can believe claims like that. I haven't once seen if your couch is big enough for that, my dear boyfriend."

Sherlock chuckled, "Of course I will." he said and smirked, "But before that, I need to eat." he said and frowned, "Or.. drink.. you know what I mean." he said and grinned at John.

"Course. Your head must feel like it's about to burst after going this long without drinking fluids." He commented with a smirk. "Don't make yourself sick again though."

Sherlock raised a brow at John, "You do actually realise I don't have a headache though, right?" he asked and chuckled a little, "That was just an excuse."

"It was? We'll have to use simpler code then. How about 'Code red', so not even I can miss it." John teased with a chuckle. "Or 'Code Red-Green' when you've had enough to make yourself sick."

"Oh shut up." Sherlock laughed and rolled his eyes, "I just wanted to drink enough so I won't get hungry too soon." he said with a slight pout, "Although I admit, I might have overdone it." he said and chuckled, "Next time I'll just take a bottle with me and tell them it's a tomato smoothie." he said with a smirk.

"Yeah, just don't let Harry take a sip then. She likes those too and I don't want to have to make up some rubbish about your anaemia." John said with a chuckle, before shaking his head and smiling. "She'll come with us next time. Anyway, yeah, go ahead, love."

Sherlock chuckled, "No, don't worry, I'll just tell them I've got a gastritis and have to go on a special diet for a while.." he said and frowned, "No wait hang on, your parents will know soon enough then there's no reason to lie to them, I'll just excuse myself along with Richard whenever we have to so we can have a sip in the kitchen." he said and chucked a little, "Do you want me to put some of the left over lasagna into the microwave for you?"

"That would be lovely." John said with a smile and kissed Sherlock's cheek; he couldn't wait to try out the couch. Going with him into the kitchen, he asked. "So it's one litre daily, love, yeah?"

Sherlock smiled, putting a piece of lasagna onto a plate and putting it into a microwave, before he got out a glass and poured himself some blood, "More or less, yeah. It's just like it is with normal food for you, it varies, but with much less than a litre I don't really feel well." he said and nipped at his glass.

John nodded at that. "Shame I can't give more than a litre at a time. And it takes months to recover from that much." John commented, wondering what they'd do if Sherlock's supply was cut off unlikely as it was.

"You aren't food." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, "If I ever bite you it'll be for pleasure and not for nutrition John." he said and smirked at him. "That'll make you understand why I say there's a difference between a love bite and a hickey."

John chuckled at that. "Yes, I remember the simile.." He said and took his dinner out of the microwave. "By the way, your blood type's AB+, right? Just for future reference."  
"You mean /my/ blood type, or my preferred blood type?" Sherlock asked and raised a brow at John, not quite sure where that increased interest in his eating habit came from all of a sudden.

"No, your blood type as in, 'if you're in hospital and need a blood transfusion does it matter which kind of blood you're receiving?'." He clarified. The more time he got to get used to Sherlock's... condition? The more he wondered in which scenarios he'd have no idea how to help him. And that's something he really wanted to avoid, if he was already studying medicine.

"Well for a start, if I'd go to a hospital, I'd end up in quarantine and they'd run tests on me..." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes, "Anyway, I'm AB positive, so I'm a universal receiver.. I don't know if I was all along or if that's got something to do with being a vampire though..."

"I've had about a day to think about this." John said a little defensively. "But either way that's good to know, I figure." He said and sighed. "Yeah, I haven't gotten used to this yet."

"You're welcome to ask everything you want, you know. I was just sort of surprised..." Sherlock said and sat down next to John at the table after pouring himself another glass. "With most injuries, the best you can do for me is get me home and convince people I do not need to go to a hospital since you're a doctor.." he said and shrugged.

"Yeah, I can do that, I figure." John said and sighed. He'd have to ask Sherlock at one point what those other kinds of injuries were... But not right now over dinner. "And it's soon-to-be doctor for now. Scratch that; hopefully-soon-to-be doctor."

"You will be a doctor.." Sherlock said and frowned, only now realising that's what turning would also mean for John, he was 20. Who would take him seriously as a doctor when he was forever 20. Was he ruining his boyfriend's dream here by wanting him to become like he was? "We should wait longer.. with the whole turning thing.. /if/ you decide to turn. At least until you're 25.." he said and bit his lip. "If you're looking too young, you'll have a hard time convincing people you're competent."

"I doubt I'll change that much the next few years. Besides, if you look at pictures from my granddad, you can see that at my age he hardly-" John broke off and shook his head. "Right. Scratch that. What I mean is that I already look older than I am. And at least my dad didn't change all that much from his twenties onwards. I'd say I look a good five years older than you at this point anyway." John said, because Sherlock was undeniably stuck with a baby-face. Nevertheless, Sherlock did have a point and John knew that could become a problem. Twenty five would be exactly when he'd go abroad, wouldn't it?. "You know what, yes, I'll have decided by then."

"I didn't say decide then." Sherlock said and raised his brows. "Honestly waiting five years for a decision will be torture.." he said and huffed a laugh, "Maybe don't take /that/ much time, yeah?" he asked with smile.

"Fine, I'll tell you in three years tops." John teased and took a bite from his lasagne, ready to talk about something else. "So, next Sunday... we only have things we've agreed not to do so far."

"We could still agree on playing Cluedo." Sherlock said and smirked at John, getting himself a fork before he sat back down at the table, stealing himself a bite from John's lasagne.  
"We could, if you spent the time we others play Cluedo, in the kitchen and cook some food." John said with a chuckle and kissed Sherlock's cheek. "I love you, so don't give me a reason to murder you."

"Pff... In that case, I'd still say the victim did it.." Sherlock said with a laugh, "Or at least the victim provoked it.." he smirked, taking another bite of lasagna, chewing thoroughly before swallowing, "Is eating lasagna enough to get another kiss?" he asked.

"In that case the victim most certainly provoked it." He retorted with a chuckle, before leaning in closely and smirking a little. "Mmh, no Cluedo on Sunday and I'd say you're good."

"Mhm.. that I can agree with." Sherlock said and leant in to kiss John, smiling against his lips.

John smiled and kissed Sherlock gently back, bringing a hand up to run it through his hair. "I like this compromise." He uttered in between kisses.

"So do I..." Sherlock murmured as he broke the kiss, leaning his head against John's, "God I've really missed to be able to do that." he said and smiled, "Can we limit going somewhere where I can't kiss you whenever I want?" he asked with a chuckle

"Yes, definitely." John chuckled and pecked his cheek. "I'm happy to just spend a day trying out the couch with you." He said, smirking a bit at him  
Sherlock smiled, "Well.. if we keep packing your stuff and drive some over during the week.. we could spend Saturday doing just that." he said and chuckled a little, pecking John's lips again, before he pulled back to take another sip of blood.

"I think that's a very good idea." John smiled. "I already wanted to bring some clothes and books tomorrow anyway; This commuting is getting annoying."  
"Speaking of that.. we could have dropped by at your place on the way back home to grab some clothes for you.. or grabbed some clothes for you when we knew we dropped by here so I could drink before we went to your parents." Sherlock said and chuckled.

"Yeah, but I think my parents would've probably thought I wanted to move back in, if I had turned up on their doorstep with a bunch of my stuff. And I hadn't actually planned to tell them I'm moving in with you straight away either." John shrugged. "But yeah, retrospectively we could've still thought of that." He said with a chuckle, hoping Sherlock would take a bite so he could kiss him again.

Sherlock chuckled taking another sip, "Well.. no use to complain about it now.. and I do like you wearing my underwear... it does have some sort of marking my territory feeling." he laughed.

"Well, it's understandable you think that way with you being the one of us who's wearing dog tags." He retorted with a chuckle.

Sherlock chuckled, "Oh yeah, I'm a real macho, haven't you noticed?" he asked and took a bite of John's lasagna again, chewing thoughtfully, "By that logic.. you're the one that should put on a dress, though." he said with a smirk.

"I think I'd rather play Cluedo with you again." John said, shaking his head and eating some of his food before Sherlock had the chance to eat it all himself.

Sherlock chuckled, "So.. if I wear a dress, you'll play Cluedo with me?" he asked and cringed at the logic but kind of hoped John wouldn't notice it didn't make any sense. "Deal." he said with a laugh.

John began to laugh at that. "I didn't know that that's how it worked, but fine. What is it with you and Cluedo?"

"I just like it.. Mycroft and I played something similar when we were kids.. we didn't have a board and figures.. but one of us thought of a murder or another crime, gave some hints and the other had to find out what happened." Sherlock said and chuckled, "But.. about the dress.. I think I'll skip uni tomorrow and go shopping..." he smirked.

John listened to the story and nodded, before shaking his head at the last part. No way, love. I want to come with you when you pick that out." John said with a chuckle. "It's not like you're getting a wedding dress."

"Oh, but wouldn't you like it to be a surprise?" Sherlock asked with a laugh, taking another bite of lasagna, "Oh.. but.. since we're talking about weddings..." he began, picking up his glass again as he chewed on the lasagna, "We could make it a double wedding.. with Clara and Harry? I mean, I know the two of them are already married but.. if your dad would come this time.. it would be a nice gesture if he comes for both of you."

"That sounds nice actually. And I wonder how he'll react to his children marrying. Yeah, we could ask them next Sunday what they think of that." John said with a smile. "I need to show you the pictures of their wedding sometime. They looked so happy despite the few guests and everything."

Sherlock smiled, "You think we'd get him to walk Harry and Clara in and then stand up with you?" he asked, imagining the scene. "Maybe that'll console them a bit for his behaviour the first time." the first time..." he said and frowned, "Or will Clara's dad will want to walk her in? I mean.. he could still walk with Harry.."

John smiled a little, since he could envision that very well, before sighing. "I do hope so, but I don't want to get anybody's hopes up; including myself. I'm only kind of sure that he'll apologise to Clara and this is a whole different story." He gave him a wry smile. "And as for Clara, she doesn't have much of a family at all according to Harry. So yeah, with mum and myself being the only family members there you can imagine that the place wasn't exactly bursting."

"Well, I told him that I'd be the first to encourage you to turn your back on him if he doesn't treat you with the respect you deserve, so I'm pretty sure he'll at least come." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Even if reluctantly.. but.. honestly, who knows, perhaps the fact that he'll meet his father again will console him somewhat with everything else. I know for a fact that Richard was quite alright with homosexuality." he said and chuckled.

"Wait a second, you hooked up with my /granddad/?" John asked instantly, all of his worries Sherlock's previous point had stirred up. Because Sherlock's long life was getting more and more ridiculous.

"What? No, that's not what I meant." Sherlock said and chuckled, shaking his head, "We just talked about it at some point and he told me that he didn't mind it.. even supported it and that it was still better than arranged loveless marriages." he said.

"Oh, alright." John said with a nod, admittedly kind of glad he and his grandfather hadn't shared boyfriends. "Speaking of which... Do you know if he even wants to see any of us? I mean, I didn't know him anyway, but dad..."

"I'm sure he does.. he talks about it sometimes, but he wasn't sure how to pull it off.. or if your dad would even want to see him again after he'd been away for so long.. and of course.. there's that thing with all of you being sceptics." he said and laughed, "I really think we should tell your father what I am first, before we even mention your grandfather."

“Sweetheart, I can guarantee you that my response will seem mild in comparison to what my dad will do." John said with a huff. "But yeah, it'll be worse if he sees Richard; especially with him looking like the day he left. He'd go insane."

"Isn't there anything that'd make him more open to the idea? Maybe we could get him drunk?" Sherlock asked and huffed a laugh, "It would be unfortunate if he'd have forgotten about all of it the next morning though."

"Yeah, maybe let's not bring alcohol into play with this." John said, shaking his head a little. "But I'd love to see you try to get him to take some 'herbal soothers' with us." John said with a bit of a laugh.

"Or maybe I should just assault him and drink from him." Sherlock said with a laugh, "Convincing him I'm a nice vampire might be easier than convincing him of the fact that vampires exist in the first place."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure even mum would be horrified by that." John huffed a laugh and took a bit from his lasagne with a sigh. "I mean, seriously though this is harder than convincing me."

"Well it sure helps that you believe it... it'll make it easier." Sherlock said and chuckled to himself, "I could also just put plastic fake teeth in, we invite Mark and wait for him to point it out." he said after a moment, unable not to laugh. "Hey Sherlock those are vampire teeth right? Does Johnny know you're a biter?" he said imitating Marks tone.

John burst into laughter at the impersonation of his obnoxious cousin. "I'm pretty sure that's exactly what he'd say." He shook his head a little. "Anyway, we could start out by telling him you're not named after your grandfather."At least they had some time before it would become a problem not to tell him.

"Yeah.. and then?" Sherlock asked with a frown, "At least if we manage to convince him, the fact that I served in both wars will boost his respect for me a bit." he said and gave a shrug.

"Well, it's better a start than straight up biting him." John said with a shrug. "And I'm pretty sure it will. Anyway, I want to talk to Richard first, before we break the news to dad. You think he'd like to meet me?"

"Well, I can ask him right now if you want." Sherlock said pulling his phone out of his pocket, before taking a sip of blood. "Want me to mail him and ask him if he wants to come over to catch up a bit? I think it would be easier to explain who you are and what's going on personally, really."

"Yes, that would be... Yeah, I'd like to meet him. Does he do that? Just drops by at yours sometimes?" John asked, raising an eyebrow, though he couldn't help feeling excited and almost giddy at the prospect.

Sherlock smiled, typing out a quick message and inviting Richard over, not mentioning John yet. It really would be difficult to explain all this in a mail. "He sometimes does.. rarely.. I mean.. I think the last time was a year or two ago.. it's just that for him.. I'm the closest connection to his roots.. that knew him before he turned and knew people he knew.. " he said and shrugged.

John nodded. "Must be hard to live like that." He commented and thought about the stories from gran Mag and Dad; They'd loved him a lot that much was clear. Richard probably wouldn't know who John was though. They'd never met after all, but maybe he'd seen a picture.

"Well... for us.. it might be easier. I mean.. if everything works out well, we'll all be a big happy vampire family at some point." Sherlock chuckled, shaking his head, "So that'll make it a lot easier. You'll actually have the people you know from before." he said and looked at his phone as it vibrated, "Okay, so Richard could be here in an hour.. is that okay?" he asked, looking at John.

“Yes, that sounds good. Very good actually. Better than dragging it out." John said with a nod, though beneath the surface he was beginning to get a little nervous. This was starting to feel real.

Sherlock chuckled, "Now you're the one looking green, my love." he said and smiled at him, "I can tell him to come around tomorrow instead..." he said and took John's free hand.

John gripped Sherlock's hand a little harder (though nowhere near as hard as earlier this afternoon) and shook his head. "You've already met some new Watson's today and now it's my turn." He said with a bit of a smile.

Sherlock smiled, "Alright then." he said and quickly typed out his reply with his free hand. "I told him to make it an hour and a half.. just so you have some more time to mentally prepare." he said and chuckled.


	20. Getting Distracted

"Come on, how would you react, if you were to meet a family member you thought was already dead?" He said and relaxed his hold on his boyfriend's hand a little. "Still thanks though."

"Well, I don't think I'll have chance to find out about something like this at this point." Sherlock said with a small smile, "I think I'd like it though.. I mean.. if I were in your dads position and would meet my mother or father again.. I'd be thankful.." he mumbled.

"Yeah, I can imagine. Well, I can't, but , I know my dad will be thankful. Terrified at first, then angry and maybe resentful, but thankful in the end. " John said with a bit of a smile. "By the way, is Richard much like my dad?"

"Maybe a little less... stern?" Sherlock said and chuckled, "I'm not a psychologist but losing your dad that young... I imagine it can change the character and your view on life.. and well, I can sort of understand his view on homosexuality too in a way. He had no real male role model when he was a teen that could have told him he doesn't need to be all strong and manly to be a real man."

John nodded at that. "Yeah, that makes sense. And ai can definitely say that I hadn't had him, I'd be a lot different." A lot of the things John had done in his life were at least partly because he'd wanted to earn his dad's respect. Especially since he was his only son... But that wasn't something he really wanted to get into.

"You'll like Richard though.." Sherlock said and smiled, "I do think he'll might be hesitant at first, though.. I mean, he'll love to get back in touch with your family, but he'll be just as surprised about everything."

John nodded. "Yeah, this is quite the coincidence if you think about it." He said, shaking his head a little. "Thanks for e-mailing him by the way, love."

"The universe is rarely so lazy.." Sherlock murmured and smiled to himself, taking another bite of lasagna, chewing thoroughly before he leant in to kiss John.

John kissed him back with a soft smile, eventually breaking it and chuckling warmly. "So we're destiny, hm? Is that just a line you tell everyone?"

"All I'm saying is that nothing happens without a reason..." Sherlock murmured and smiled, "It seems too specific to be coincidence.." he said and laughed, "It almost feel like we're just characters in a TV show.." he said and chuckled again, "No actually it's worse, it feels like we're an overly romantic fanfiction of that show some fangirls came up with." he smirked.

John chuckled at that as well. "Yeah? Well if so they they can know I like the way this has been going so far. And anyway, the question that this begs is what do /you/ know about romantic fanfiction?"

"You hear that girls? Keep going, but tune down on the homophobic characters." Sherlock called jokingly, looking up at the ceiling with a laugh. "And well.. some of them are good. Especially when writers butcher a story and fans write fix its.."

"You seem to be quite the expert in this field." John said with a chuckle. "But yeah, I've heard so too. Anyway, now that my lasagna is history anyway, how about we move this to the couch till Richard arrives?" He didn't even want to make out, but be closer to his boyfriend. Sherlock was a calming presence and John frankly still a little nervous about this all.

Sherlock chuckled, emptying his glass and standing up to rinse his mouth, "Actually.. I was kind of thinking I could spice up some of that lasagna again for Richard..." he said and smiled a little at John. "I ate half of yours anyway, so we could have dinner together.." he said as he grabbed the mouthwash and rinsed his mouth.

John smiled and stood up to walk over to Sherlock, watching his boyfriend's expression. "Fine, but tonight you're mine." He said, before pecking his cheek. "You really like him, don't you?'

Sherlock smiled lightly, "Well... yeah.. I mean.. I feel kind of responsible for him in a way..." he mumbled as he got the lasagna out of the fridge cutting out a piece that was large enough to cut it in two after he'd have 'seasoned' it. Taking off the top layer and putting it onto another plate, before getting a spoon and some blood, starting to pour some onto the tomato sauce, and mixing it a bit in the process. "It's weird, I guess.. but I more or less raised him.. at least when it comes to that new way of living..."

"Yeah? Did you two stay in close contact after your return?" He asked, thinking that he should find the fact his boyfriend 'raised' his granddad weirder than he did. Probably because even on photos his he was more his gran's young husband than anything else.

"Sort of.. really not closely, but there's always some kind of connection, it's hard to explain." Sherlock said and shrugged, "It's not even so much parental as just.. some sort of deep, but at the same time loose friendship.." he said and shrugged as he lifted another layer off and added some blood there as well.

John nodded at that, glad that the both of them hadn't been completely alone the past decades. "Well, it must be a very good friendship if you can still talk to each other after seventy years without falling out with each other."

"Well.. yeah. We sometimes do that. That's why just calling him over to catch up isn't that weird. We do that every now and then." Sherlock chuckled and shrugged, "But there are also phases where we don't have contact at all, except for a mail every few months."

John watched Sherlock's work on the lasagna, before looking back at his boyfriend. "Well, I'm sure interested to see how he is in real life. From all I've heard he's pretty great." " “Hm, he is.." Sherlock said and turned to John with a smile, "I happen to like his grandson better though." he said and leaned over to steal himself a kiss. "I'm not 100% sure how much he'll like me dating his grandson though." he laughed.

"Well, it would be way too boring, if everyone just said 'good for you' to us straight away, right girls?" John huffed a laugh, before smiling at Sherlock a little. "And he's okay with the general concept of us, so that's good."

“Yeah, I really think he'll more struggle with the part about his friend dating his grandson." Sherlock said and chuckled, "But he'll come around quickly. It will probably be just weird for him that someone he knows from the second world war is dating his grandson these days." he chuckled.

 

"You know, sometimes I really forget how old you are. Were you like this 220 years ago as well?" It was a little strange when he compared his lover's demeanour to the heaviness an 80 year old carried himself. And Sherlock was thrice that age and a vet on top of that.

"I think so, yeah.. I mean, I spoke differently and dressed differently throughout the areas, but I was essentially the same person. I think when you don't age physically and don't feel the effects of ageing either and are also treated young.. you stay young.. if that makes sense to you."

"I mean I can't empathise with it, but it does make sense." John said after a moment of thought, before coming up behind Sherlock and wrapping his arms around his middle. "But besides, you're not only dating me, remember, my dear prospective fiancé?

Sherlock chuckled, leaning a bit back into John as he rearranged the lasagna, "Well, that's true, but until then, we're dating." he said and smirked to himself, "If you want to change that, go ahead." he said and laughed again.

John rested his head on Sherlock's shoulder and chuckled. "I will eventually." It was a pretty accurate statement, since John had only begun to save money for a ring yesterday. And as much as he hated to admit it, Harry'd been right about the state of his finances.

Sherlock smiled, "Unless I'm faster... Black dress and tank, I didn't forget about that." he said and chuckled, putting the large piece of lasagna into a separate baking dish, before putting it into the oven along with John's piece that was still sitting in the other baking dish, turning the oven on low temperature so the lasagna would slowly warm up.

John chuckled at that. "You're a marble, you know that? If need be, I'd probably be fine with a black tank top though." He said and pecked his cheek. As much as he liked that idea though, he wanted to be the one getting on his knee for the other.

Sherlock laughed, "No. If I do it, it will be a dress and a tank." he said and chuckled again, turning around in John's arms and moving his around him as well. "I still want a camera ban for that, though."

John smiled at him and pecked his lips. "That's gonna be a tough one, love. Though I doubt I'd forget that either way." He said and kept his arms around his waist.

Sherlock grinned, "Hm... perhaps if you ask nicely, I will let you take one photo." he said and smirked, "But don't you post it anywhere, I have to live with that one flying around the internet for quite a while." he said and chuckled.

John smirked at him and nodded. "Well, that much is true. And I can already promise you that; Scouts honour."

Sherlock chuckled, "So.. since the lasagna doesn't need any more attention.." he began and smirked, "I seem to remember you saying something about trying out the sofa..."

John grinned at his boyfriend and let go of him with one hand to pull him lightly in the direction of the living room. "Yeah... let's see if it can accommodate the both of us."

"Well, we may be forced to lie on top of each other for it to hold us both, you don't mind, do you?" Sherlock asked with a smirk as he followed John over to the sofa.

"Mmh... I think I'll manage." John said with a smile and sat down with his legs on the sofa, tugging gently at Sherlock's arm so that he lay against John's chest.

Sherlock smiled as he lay down with John, nestling against his chest, sighing fondly, "Can I ask you something?" he asked quietly and tilted his head to look up at John.

John wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and sighed - cosied up like that he felt better already. When Sherlock began to speak he looked back at him and nodded. "Anything."

"If Richard offers your parents and maybe even your sister to become like us after you have decided not to.. if you decide not to.. would it change your mind if the rest of your family would turn?" Sherlock asked with a frown, it was a possibility after all.

John was quiet for a good while, thinking about his answer carefully. Tightening his arms around his boyfriend a little, he eventually spoke. "Well, for starters, what I don't like about an eternal, or, well, let's just say very, very long life is of course that I'd leave my family and most of my loved ones behind. But if that were the main problem, I'd have already agreed. You know that I love you enormously much, so I'd still have had you. And I was going to watch for example my parents die with or without myself turning. I know you love me a lot, so I'd just leave you alone and heartbroken, so I wouldn't have to." He sighed... he had thought about this before. "No, I wouldn't do that. The problem I have is committing to that long a life. Not committing to a life with you or my family. I don't know if I want to risk forgetting about my old life, going insane or just wanting my life to stop. Because however much we love each other, I already know there are things that can ruin it. I don't want to be resentful towards you or ask you to kill me because I won't be able to do it myself from what I've understood. There are just a lot of things I have to consider."

"Well you wouldn't forget about your things in your life.. not more than you do as a human as well I mean.. you'll remember the main events. I remember what happened to me throughout the centuries." Sherlock murmured with a sigh, "And.. well, you won't go insane.. not unless you don't get blood, but there are ways to get blood. Even if we don't have access to blood bags for a while, which is unlikely, but should it happen, there's always the old school way. I think that's why our saliva has that effect on humans. It makes finding prey easier..once you bite someone they're getting so high that they won't mind.. it's kind of morally wrong, I guess.. but if push comes to shove.. we'll have ways."

John nodded. "And there's this whole blood thing. I know for a fact that the system as it is simply doesn't have enough donors. I'd choose to be an additional strain. I'd choose to forcefully take it from strangers alternatively. And what if i decide one or two or maybe even ten millennia are enough? Or I'll go insane at age 1455? You don't know that, love; you can't know that. I might become the most horrible person you could spend your time with. I might ask horrible things of you." He went silent for a while. "And I'm still undecided, I just mean there are good reasons for and against it."

"You're panicking a bit too much, though.." Sherlock said and frowned at him, "And... well at least I haven't met any vampire that got insane." he said and shrugged, "Although.. we all are a bit, I guess." he said with a small laugh. "And what you don't know about the blood I have is that we get the blood that's one or two days away from the end of their shelf life. It's fine since we freeze it anyway."

John pressed a kiss on the top of Sherlock's head. "Well, that's good to know, love. And yes, I don't quite know what to do with this thought yet. Coming back to your original question. The answer is no; once I decide, I want to be sure enough to make my answer final."

Sherlock nodded and snuggled back up to John, not really sure what to say to that, he just couldn't shake off the fear that John would say no in the end. That he'd decide to leave him. Even though he said it wasn't a decision like that, it still kind of was. It just terrified him.

"I love you." John said, knowing this had not been the answer Sherlock had hoped to hear. But he couldn't lie to him about things like that. Rubbing Sherlock's back with his thumb a little, he kept himself from letting out a sigh.

"I love you too..." Sherlock said and cuddled up even closer, practically clinging to him, "That's what makes it so terrifying." he mumbled, nuzzling his face into the crook between John's neck and shoulder.

"I'm sorry, love." John said quietly and kissed his head once more. In an attempt to comfort his boyfriend, he ran his hand tenderly up and down his back, holding him firmly with his other. He wasn't going to leave right now.

Sherlock smiled sadly as he lifted his head, "I just really don't know how I'm supposed to go on without you.." he mumbled and frowned, "That.. probably sounds weird..." he said and sighed.

"No, I know exactly what you mean." John uttered with a pained smile. That was one of the incredible perks of Sherlock being a vampire; At least logically speaking, this crippling fear was gone. "Just, mercifully for me, it's unlikely I'll ever get confronted with that."

"Yeah..." Sherlock mumbled and buried his head into John's neck again, "Guess I'm on the losing side on that particular area.." he murmured against John's skin, before he started kissing John's neck, partly to distract himself, but also because it was sort of a reminder for himself that John was still here after all, that he could still touch and hold him.

John kissed his cheek and brought a hand up to the nape of Sherlock's neck. If this was what his boyfriend needed right now, he'd give it to him.

Sherlock slowly moved his kisses up John's neck and along his jaw, before capturing John's lips with is own, moving himself properly on top of John, straddling him.

John moved his one hand up into Sherlock's curls, his other resting on his waist. Kissing him back passionately, he hummed a little and smiled into the kiss.

Sherlock hummed fondly into the kiss, slipping his hands under John's shirt, caressing his stomach for a short while before he started to unbutton John's shirt.

John helped him with the last buttons and dropped his shirt onto the floor, once it was off. Without breaking their kiss he got started on Sherlock's shirt and mumbled some unintelligible compliment in between.

Sherlock smiled against John's lips, unzipping his hoodie and throwing it aside, before he reluctantly broke the kiss, only to pull his t-shirt over his head, already leaning down to kiss him again as he sent his shirt flying as well.

John ran his hand down Sherlock's side and smiled at him, before leaning upwards a bit to help bridge the distance between them. "So beautiful." He murmured in between breaths with a smirk.

Sherlock smiled at that, "You're the one to talk..." he mumbled in reply, leaning a bit up to run his hands over John's chest and stomach, before undoing his belt, pulling it out of the loops and dropping it to the floor. He had just leant in again to kiss John as he heard the flat door, followed by Richard's voice, "Hey Sher, long time no see..." he said as he walked in, but stopped in his tracks as he spotted his friend on the sofa, "Oh for god's sake Sherlock, you know I'm tolerant but that doesn't mean I want to walk on that kind of thing.." he said with a laugh, turning his back to John and Sherlock.

John froze mid-motion and shot Sherlock a shocked glance that mostly said. 'How the hell did we forget about that?' Jesus... Yeah, that was another ice-breaker. After the initial scare and with Sherlock still on top of him (and his grandfather standing by), he fished with one hand for his button-up, belt and Sherlock's t-shirt.

Sherlock couldn't help but laugh at the situation, standing up and reaching for his t-shirt, "Sorry about that, we kind of...got carried away." he said and cleared his throat, "You can turn around, Rich." he said with a laugh, "We weren't naked." he said as he slipped into his shirt. "Yeah you better not be. I knew you were secretly dreaming about a threesome with me, but I thought you'd be more subtle about it." the man joked with a laugh as he turned around and immediately froze again as he looked at John, turning on his heel and walking out of the flat without another word. "Rich wait!" Sherlock called, rushing after him.


	21. Mystry Man

John swallowed and looked after the two, figuring it wouldn't dissolve the tension much if he followed them. Sitting on the couch he buttoned his shirt and stood up, waiting for Sherlock to return. He hadn't expected that abrupt an ending to this and figured now Richard wouldn't return. On the plus side he had obviously kept track, seeing how quickly he'd recognised him. It had been an idiotic idea to call him... he didn't want to meet him. Okay. John would accept that and move on. Yes.

Sherlock sighed as he finally caught up with Richard, "It's okay, really." he said, figuring why Richard had left so abruptly, "It's not okay, do you know who that is? It's my grandson, Sherlock. He's probably seen photos of me. How do you want to explain that?" Richard rambled nervously and Sherlock took a deep breath, "In fact, I have already explained it. He knows what we are and that we know each other.. and well that's why I called you over. He wanted to meet you." Sherlock explained and Rich frowned, visibly calming down a little, "Wait... if you know who he is.. why the hell are you making out with him?" Richard asked with a raised brow and Sherlock laughed softly, "Well.. let's just say.. you're pretty much my soon to be grandfather in law.." he said and smirked, "Oh you and him are... right.. right. Well that's good. I guess... you sure it's okay if I come back upstairs with you?" Richard asked and Sherlock nodded, "Yeah.. John really wants to meet you." he said, before gesturing Rich to follow as he made his way back up the stairs with him. "John.." Sherlock said as he entered the flat, "May I introduce you to your grandfather." he continued as Richard walked back into the flat, "Hello, John..." Rich said hesitantly, clearing his throat a little.

John walked over to Richard and held out his a hand after a moment of staring at him. He looked exactly like on the pictures... "Hello, Richard. It... was about time, I guess." John said and huffed a slightly nervous laugh.

Richard smiled lightly and shook his hand for a moment, before he used that hand to pull John in for a hug, causing Sherlock to roll his eyes, "Honestly, this family shouldn't be called Watson.. Cuddle or Huggie would be more fitting." he said and chuckled to himself as he walked into the kitchen to check on the lasagne. "Shut up, Sher." Richard called with a chuckle as he let go of John, "It's very nice to finally meet you." he said smiled at John, "Certainly different than watching from afar... feels a lot less like a creepy stalker." he chuckled.

"Likewise." John said, now with a genuine smile. "Oh, that was you behind those trees?" He joked with a chuckle, finding it hard to comprehend this was actually happening.

"Well.. I didn't hide behind trees.." Robert said and cleared his throat, "But.. do you remember that time when you were nearly hit by a car when you were eight and someone pushed you out of the way, got hit himself, but made a run for it, before you could get a clear look at him?" he asked and looked at his grandson with a smile, "I saw that thank you note [cf. notes] you pinned to the tree nearest to where it happened.. I've still got it pinned to my fridge, actually.." he mumbled and blushed lightly.

John immediately had a flashback... Yeah, he'd been coming home from school that day - they'd been on a field trip and he'd wanted to tell his mum and Harry - and he had forgotten to look right and left and... "You're the mystery man?" Even today, that tree next to the street still reminded him of that. He still had that drawing?

Richard smiled, "Well.. guess that's a perk of having a creepy stalker." he said and chuckled a little, "But yeah it was me. Hope the way I walked didn't scare you, but I couldn't help it, broke my leg there..." he said with a shrug and looked towards the kitchen as Sherlock called, "Dinner is ready, don't hug it." Sherlock joked, continuing the hugging joke as he set the table for them, placing John's plate next to the glass of pure wine, before he set Richards and his down next to the blood wine cocktails, just because it was funny (and to avoid confusion) he had decorated Richards and his own glass with plastic vampire teeth he had left over from last Halloween.

"You didn't seem to mind much about the hugging ten minutes ago, love." John called with a smirk, before glancing at the table and called "Nice decoration by the way. They'd fool Mark as much as I can tell." He chuckled a bit, before looking back at his granddad more seriously again. "No, you didn't scare me at all. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Richard said as he sat down, "So... does your dad.. does he know?" he asked quietly and cleared his throat before he took a sip of wine, after taking the teeth off the glass, "I mean.. about us? What we are? That I'm alive?" he asked quietly and Sherlock chuckled lightly, "No... we've already shocked him enough for a while.." he mumbled and looked at Richard, "David doesn't really have the same attitude about homosexuality as you have..." Sherlock said and shrugged, "He did take it surprisingly well though.."

"Yeah, erm, I was surprised actually when Sherlock told me you were fine with us two. He's always been very... conservative in those things. Refused to visit Harry's wedding actually and had pretty much broken off contact until today, I think." He said, assuming Richard knew about Harry as well. "We introduced Sherlock to our family and, even though he looked like was going to kill him in the beginning, he didn't throw us out. And even hugged Sherlock when we left. I think there aren't many people in our family though who haven't done that yet though."

"Yeah.. I can't even count how many Watsons hugged me today." Sherlock said and smirked at John, "And yes.. I did like that particular hug on the sofa." he said and chuckled again, "I liked it a lot, in fact." he said and laughed as Richard cleared his throat, "Would you relax?" Sherlock asked and looked over at Richard, "Excuse me? He's still my grandson... I don't want to hear about that..." he said and rolled his eyes, "Or see it for that matter." Richard said chuckling lightly himself, "But.. seriously, now." Sherlock said and cleared his throat a little, "We are going to tell David.. and... actually we were thinking to reunite you guys." he said and Richard's smile faded a little, "You think he's going to believe any of this?"

"I genuinely doubt he will right away. He's a much bigger sceptic than i am and even I almost broke up with Sherlock over this." John said with a frown. "Was that really just two days a go? It feels so much longer."

"Yeah he nearly broke up with me about 10 minutes after we got together... that must be some sort of record." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, "Thanks to Mycroft by the way. We went to a military exhibition and Mycroft managed to get Victor's and my portrait into it.." he said and shook his head, still mad at his brother for that. "But well.. in the end I'm glad I told him.. that really made some things easier.. and it would have felt awful to keep that big of a secret from him." he said and sighed, "Wait, Mycroft basically encouraged you to tell him? I still remember how he gave you hell for turning me.. he didn't seem particularly fond of these things." Richard said and frowned at Sherlock, "Well he didn't so much encourage me as he was trying to remind me of how I felt after Victor."

"Yeah, I haven't met this ominous bloke yet, but I doubt I'll enjoy our first get-together... Jesus, what a bastard. To me it just looked like he wanted to scare me off, because I almost was. Even thought Sher had started to do drugs in the beginning or was testing me..." He shook his head a little, before drinking some wine.

Sherlock smiled at John, "Well.. not even he can separate us, it seems." he said and nipped at his glass, before he took a bite of his lasagna. "Well, he couldn't do so much about me.." Richard said, starting to eat as well, frowning as he chewed, "Uh.. Sherlock... does John know there's blood in the lasagne?" he asked and raised a brow, before his eyes widened, "Hang on, have you turned already?" he asked, looking at John now. "No, he hasn't." Sherlock said briefly, not wanting to start that subject again, "And I fixed up our lasagna separately, don't worry, Rich."

John noticed how quickly Sherlock deflected the subject and didn't indulge it any further. "I helped out in the kitchen while he cooked it yesterday. Once he knew you were coming for sure, he began to prepare your two pieces, so that we could eat together." John said with a fond smile, finding it great to see how much Sherlock seemed to care for him. "It's strange though, you know. For me he's still my younger boyfriend no matter how many times I hear his life story."

Sherlock smiled at that, "Yeah..I kind of feel that way too, really. I feel like the baby here despite being old enough to be both of your great great etc. grandfather.." he said and frowned, "Although in a way I don't feel older but somewhat.. parental towards you.." he said, looking at Rich, "Although that might not be the right way to put it, it's weird. Guess that feeling is really unique to one vampire turning another." he said and shrugged a little, "Well I certainly don't see you as my father." Richard laughed, shaking his head, "I get what you mean though, it is an odd feeling." he said and shrugged, "But lets not call it parental given that you're going to marry my grandson.." he said and huffed another laugh.

John chuckled a bit at that. "The problems we have... I still can't wrap my head around that by the way." He said and ate a forkful of his bloodless lasagne. "I mean, I know you're my grandfather because you haven't changed since the photographs, but with Sherlock i just know we share a chemistry course. Just comparing the way you two interact with the way Sherlock and dad did is strange, if you think about it."

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah.. well one would think it's the other way around, given the times either of you grow up in, you should have the bigger problem with it than David has." he said, looking at Richard, who smiled, "Perhaps he became like that because I couldn't be there for him." Richard said and gave a smile. "It's not your fault, you realise that, right? You think Maggie would have believed you?" Sherlock asked and Richard shook his head, "No... no, she wouldn't have." he mumbled and sighed, looking at John almost sheepishly, "Did she... did she talk about me sometimes? Your grandmother?"

“Yeah, she did. A lot actually, when we'd listen. She told us stories about how you two met, your proposal, took her to a circus... all kinds of things really. It was obvious that she loved you a lot. But then again, really everyone I asked told me you were pretty great." John said, looking at Sherlock. "Dad too, I'm sure he knows those stories much better than I do. He even recognised Sherlock by his name, just because it's written on the back of one of your old photographs. "

"Hm.." Richard hummed, nipping at his glass, "She told me about myself too sometimes in clearer moments when she just believed I was looking 'exactly like her husband'.." he said and smiled lightly. "I admit, I kind of liked the not so clear moments better.. when she really recognised me as who I was."

John frowned a little at that, because that sounded very familiar. "Hold on a second, that nurse was actually you? Jesus... We all thought she'd been dreaming things."

"No she wasn't.. but I could hardly tell you and your parents about that. David would have recognised me no doubt." Richard said and sighed, "I just wanted to be with her again.. maybe that was selfish, but.. I've missed her." he said and Sherlock smiled at that, he could definitely relate to it. He had stayed with Victor too until he died and if John wouldn't decide to turn, he'd stay with him for the rest of his life too.

John nodded at that and glanced at Sherlock, already guessing what he was thinking about. "And I don't think that's selfish; she wanted to be with you too after all." He sighed a little before speaking again. "Can I ask you something? Why did you never in twenty years ask gran to turn? Or even tell her about yourself instead of disappearing?" He knew Sherlock didn't want to talk about this right now, but John had to ask now that Richard was here. "I have been really thinking about it lately, so that's actually partly why I'm asking. I should mention that Sher's obviously not pushing me."

Richard smiled, "Oh I did... She didn't... well, she didn't want to, she couldn't stand the idea of living eternally. She told me that she wasn't deciding against me, just against an eternal life. She always feared what would happen if she'd go insane at some point.. or forget about things.. I accepted that. And she accepted that I had to 'die' once I couldn't possibly pass for the age I was supposed to have anymore. We did see each other secretly though.." he said and shrugged, while Sherlock just frowned at that, looking at his lasagna and picking at it with his fork. It was nearly exactly what John was worrying about.

John nodded slowly at that; he did come after his gran after all. It was reassuring, though, to know that his fears weren't completely unfounded and that he wasn't the first to consider that. "Yes, that's what I've been thinking about as well." He noticed the way Sherlock played with his food and rested his hand subtly on his boyfriend's thigh. "Do you think it was the right choice?"

"Perhaps at the time.." Richard said and gave a small shrug, "Shortly after she started to feel the Alzheimer's effects, she told me she regretted it, though." he said with a sigh, closing his eyes for a moment before he opened them again, "She said that if she could change one decision it would have been that." he said sadly and shook his head, "It was too late though. There was no guarantee that turning would reverse that kind of disease and even though she did ask me to turn her, I knew she wouldn't want to live like that forever. It was one of her biggest fears about it after all, having her mind tampered with…"

John nodded at that with a sigh, remembering how she'd changed towards the end. It had been awful, especially for dad. This was exactly what he was afraid of. Nevertheless, if she hadn't developed Alzheimer's... He looked back up at Richard and cleared his throat. "Yes, I can understand that fear well. Thank you for telling me, I'll have another thing to think about it."

"All I'm saying is, don't decide out of fear." Richard said and shrugged, "You won't be able to change it if you wait too long, but you can still find ways to die after you've turned, but you'll never be as young and fit again as you'd have liked if you decide to turn." Richard said and Sherlock frowned, looking up, "Okay, enough of that. It's John's decision. No need to advertise one or the other decision." he said and sighed, really just wanting to end that subject. "I'm not advertising. I just don't want to see him regretting either decision he's going to make." Richard said and shrugged. "What I know is that I am thankful now Sherlock did it. If he hadn't I'd have died long before I'd have had the chance to even meet my son. Or.. well my grandson for that matter." he added.

"Yeah, I'll take that into consideration. Obviously I'm grateful too that Sherlock did it." John said, trying to transition into another topic, because he knew it was Sherlock making uncomfortable. And they weren't really getting any further from now on anyway. "What have you been doing in those past 50 years? I figure you haven't been working at nursery homes the whole time"

"I did this and that.. Sherlock and his brother supported me a little at first. Starting a whole new life and getting fake papers isn't cheap, I tell you that." Richard said with a laugh, "It's a perk of being a vampire that you can try everything you want out. You can be a butcher in one life and a dancer in the other. It's kind of fun." Richard said and laughed, "Did Sherlock tell you that he's been an actor once?" Richard asked with a laugh, "I've got copy of that horrible pirate film he did if you want to see it." he went on and Sherlock looked up, "It's not horrible." he said with a chuckle, "Maybe the script wasn't that good, but I liked the costumes." Sherlock replied with a smirk.

John let out a laugh at that and nodded. "Yeah, he's told me about it. And I definitely want to borrow that copy." He said with a grin. "I'd like to be allowed to watch a film with an attractive protagonist again, if you know what I mean. Sher's even refusing to let us watch Bond films together anymore. Until yesterday he hadn't seen a single one though, if you can believe it."

"The way you were drooling over that Daniel Craig guy was unbearable.." Sherlock said with a chuckle and instinctively leant over to kiss John, but pulled back, remembering the no bloody kisses rule with a roll of his eyes, standing up and grabbing the mouth wash, "What are you doing?" Richard asked and laughed, "Making myself kissable." Sherlock replied holding the mouthwash up for Rich to see. "Ah.. I get it. Your grandmother insisted on me actually brushing my teeth every time. Mouthwash wasn't good enough for her." he said with a smile.

John chuckled at that a little and leaned a bit back in his chair so he could look at Sherlock in the kitchen. "See? I'm very lenient in comparison." He said jokingly, before adding. "I'm actually even more lenient, but I appreciate that you're not eating the rest of my dinner again." He turned to Richard. "Really? Don't tell him, but I figured I'd just have to get used to the taste of blood eventually. I mean that has to become annoying after a while. Well, for Sherlock it obviously long has."

Sherlock smiled, "Heard that." he said as he walked back over to John and leaned in to kiss him. "I don't mind it all that much, though.. it's not the standing up and rinsing my mouth that's annoying, it's just a tadbit annoying then I can't kiss you every time I want to." he murmured and pecked John's lips again. "But you do not have to get used to the taste of blood for me, love."

"Okay, good. I obviously do prefer snogstops to mouthwash-stops though." He commented with a smile and brought his hand up to caress Sherlock's cheek.

Sherlock smiled, "Same." he said and leaned in once again, stealing himself another kiss before he sat down again, "But it's good to know we're not the only couple with weird kissing rules." he chuckled, nipping at his glass and scrunching his nose at the taste of blood mixed with mouthwash.

John hadn't met any other mixed couples yet, so he didn't really know how people usually handled that. If there was a usual in this case. "Yeah, they don't really offer couple evenings for that, do they?" John said with a chuckle.

"Yeah.. that'd be useful." Sherlock said and chuckled, shaking his head, "Why don't you put an ad into the papers, mixed vampire human couple looks for similar pairing to talk about experience and share tips." he said and snickered, "Just imagine all the lunatics that'd attract." he added and Sherlock laughed, "I could so imagine Mark to answer an ad like that, I don't know why." he said with a laugh.

John laughed at that and nodded. "Yeah, I think he might actually show up in costume." He said and picked up the fake teeth. "But who knows? Maybe a support group would contact with us out of pity..." He laughed, turning the teeth a bit in his hand. "It'd still be nice if that actually existed though."

"Well... who knows.. maybe we should actually do that.. with a prepaid phone number I mean.. if it's entirely unconnected to us.." Sherlock said and shrugged, giving a chuckle, "But it would be interesting to know if there actually are other couples like us." he said and smiled, "I mean.. there have to be right?" he asked and Richard laughed softly, "Probably.. but I have the feeling those couples wouldn't think it's a serious ad.. they'd think some vampire freaks look for other vampire freaks instead of thinking you're actually a vampire human couple like them."

John nodded at that. "Yeah, I think Richard is right there and I doubt you need the extra attention in that field, love." Figuring there were also bound to be dangerous vampire freaks, John thought it was probably best not to take unnecessary risks. "By the way, is that a serious thing you two have to be wary of nowadays? People actually looking for vampires, I mean." He asked at the risk of sounding stupid.

"That was actually a risk back then..." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Witch hunts had only just started to stop in the 1730's, officially that is.. there were still enough nutters going around looking for evil creatures.." he said and shrugged, "So maybe they weren't looking for vampires exactly, but some of them certainly would have taken action if they'd seen us drink blood..."

"Yeah, bit not good." John said with a wry smile. "Thank god Mrs. Hudson's fine then." He said after a quick moment of mental maths. Considering she was a woman the odds had probably been quite a bit worse. "Anyway, thankfully most nutters nowadays believe in things like chemtrails and wear dinosaur t-shirts."

"Well yeah that must have been dangerous." Sherlock said and frowned lightly, "Anyway, I agree though that it would be nice meeting a couple that's in the same situation.. or even a vampire vampire couple for that matter..." he said and Richard nodded, "Yeah.. that would add some normality to the whole situation.." he said with a smile, "Well at least we know some vampires, so at least sometimes we can actually be who we are, that's also worth something." Richard said nipping at his wine.

"That's true. And soon our family can hopefully join that list." John said with a bit of a smile, before turning a little to Sherlock. "I think Harry would take it probably by far the best actually, don't you agree"

"Yeah, probably.." Sherlock said and Richard smiled, "Right.. Harry.. I'd really like to meet her too, actually." he said and thought for a moment, "When do you plan to actually let your family know then? I mean.. Now that I've met you.. I'm kind of eager to meet the others too."

"Well, I hadn't really thought ahead that much to be honest. I'd say though you should probably meet Harry and our parents separately though to relieve the tension a bit. I mean, we've invited her and her wife over next week. Maybe a few days after that... What do you think?"

Richard smiled, nodding, "Yeah.. that'd be great, actually." he said and Sherlock smiled, "So.. we're going to tell Harry and Clara on Sunday then?" Sherlock asked and looked at John, "I mean.. I'm pretty sure Harry will take it well, but what about Clara?" he asked.

"I don't really know to be honest. But she's Harry's wife, so we should tell the both of them, I guess. I mean, she's a tolerant woman from what I can tell... I doubt she'd leave Harry for it." John said with a bit of a shrug.

"Oh yeah, very intolerant to leave your wife just because her grandfather and her brother in law are vampires." Sherlock chuckled and shook his head, "And actually vampire is politically incorrect, anyway, its person with a blood diet disorder these days." Sherlock said with a laugh.

"Ah, alright and I suppose insurances offer a special dental plan for that condition as well, yeah?" John retorted with a laugh. "And I can count the times I've met her on my hands; her attitude towards people with blood diet disorders in the family hasn't really come up yet. Yeah, okay we should probably tell Harry first and let her break the news or not.”

“Seems like a good idea, yeah." Sherlock said and Richard chuckled, "It's kind of hard to believe that I'm going to be able to actually talk to my son again, you know. Didn't think that would happen. Not even as a little boy he believed in these things, vampires, ghosts, monsters.. it was good in a way, spared Maggie and me a lot of nights looking for those in his bedroom at night, but.. it made it hard to even consider telling him about what I am." he mumbled and cleared his throat, before emptying his glass, "Anyway, I suppose I should get going. It's late and to be honest.. I'll need some time to let all of this sink in..." he said, standing up. "Oh.. right.. of course. That's actually typical Watson behaviour as I've learnt." Sherlock laughed, standing up as well. "You've got enough blood bags at home? I could spare one if you need some.." he said and Richard laughed, "Thanks /mum/, I'm fine." he said and Sherlock snorted, "Shut up!" he chuckled.

John chuckled at that and stood up with them as well. "Take care, Richard. It was so good to finally get to meet you." He said, before pulling his grandfather into a goodbye hug. "As proper Watsons, that's mandatory." He commented with a chuckle.

Sherlock chuckled, "Right.. as a future Watson.. or.. Watson-Holmes.." he said and sighed dramatically, unable not to chuckle, "I might as well go all the way.. Group-hug!" he exclaimed with a laugh, hugging both John and Richard. "You can be such a dork at times, Sher.." Richard laughed.

Pressed even closer against the other two, John laughed as well. "An adorable dork." She said with a chuckle, turning his head a little. "Are you ever going to release us, so we can continue on the couch?"

Sherlock let go in an instant at that, laughing as he turned to Rich, "Right so.. bye." he said jokingly as a comment to John's words. "Right thanks." Richard chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, it was nice to meet you too, John." he said and frowned, "Hang on.." he said and pulled his phone out, holding it out for John, "Can I maybe get your number? I mean.. we're family after all."

"Yeah, of course. Can I have yours as well?" He asked, taking Richards phone and cramming out his own, before holding it out to him.

"You two realise that I could just have sent you," Sherlock began looking at Richard, "John's number and given you," he went on turning to look at John, "Richard's?" he asked and chuckled, shaking his head as Richard took John's phone. "This is more convenient though." Richard said and chuckled, "You're just annoyed this is delaying your couch adventure with your fiancé." he said and Sherlock smirked, "Maybe." he admitted, clearing his throat, "He's my boyfriend, though. Not my fiancé." Sherlock explained and grinned at John, "Wait, didn't you say you're going to marry?" Richard asked and Sherlock chuckled again, "Well, yeah we will.. But John keeps waiting for the right moment to propose." he said with a smirk.

"Yeah, I don't want to make it forgettable." He said with a smile. "And it's been two days, love, so I'm really not taking all that long." He chuckled. "But yeah, at our speed, you could almost expect a happy announcement by the end of the week. Almost." He said with a wink.

Sherlock chuckled at Richard's expression, "You've been together for /two days/ and you're already planning to get married?" Rich asked and Sherlock chuckled once again, "Seems fast I know.. but.. well, it feels right and I'll go with the latter." he said and smiled at John, once again having one of those moments where he just got lost in watching him. "Good god, you guys are like watching a disney film." he said and Sherlock snapped out of his haze, smirking at Rich. "What?" Richard asked and Sherlock chuckled lightly, "You're the second person to say that to me today." Richard frowned lightly, "Really? Who was the first?" he asked and Sherlock smiled, "Your granddaughter."

John smiled at his boyfriend, before turning back to Richard. "Yeah, in all honesty I'm just glad all the staring doesn't pass as creepy." He joked with a chuckle. "And the amount of times we've said the word 'love' in those two days is a little ridiculous. Has he always been that big a softie?" He smirked a little at Sherlock..

Sherlock looked slightly offended at that, "I'm /not/ a softie." he said and Richard laughed outright, "Yes you are Sher, even though you keep trying to convince everyone otherwise." he said and chuckled again at Sherlock's expression, "Oh you are, don't start sulking." Richard said grinning, before he grew somewhat more serious again, "Anyway, I'll get going. See you two soon." he said as he exchanged phones with John again.

"Yeah, see you." John said with a smile as he accepted his phone again and walked with Richard towards the door. Going there he kissed Sherlock's cheek propitiatory and took his hand to go there together.

Sherlock smiled at the kiss and sighed, perhaps he was a bit of a softie. Not that he would admit that out loud. At least not to anyone but John. "I'll mail you after we talked to Harry." he said as Richard walked out of the flat. "Alright. Thanks. See you two then. And don't get married before I can join the wedding!" Richard chuckled as he started down the stairs.

"Wouldn't think of it." He called with a chuckle and watched him go down a few more stairs, before closing the door and going back inside. Shaking his head a little, John grinned a little at Sherlock. "Now, this went pretty great too."

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah.. it did." he said and pulled John towards the sofa a few stops, before frowning and changing directions, moving towards the kitchen, "Don't move, this is just a brief mouthwash stop.. and well.. I was thinking we could spend the rest of the evening in our bed rather than on the sofa." he said and chuckled before he started to rinse his mouth.

John chuckled at that and stayed exactly where Sherlock had left him. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." He said, smiling a little adoringly at his boyfriend. No one in the world could convince him that Mr. Snogstop and Grouphug wasn't one big softie that all but purred if scratched behind his right ear. Even if he wouldn't admit it himself.

Sherlock smiled as he turned back around to John, scrunching up his nose a little, "Am I really that much of a softie?" he asked with a frown, leaning against the counter as he looked at the other man.

"Not at first glance, because you're doing a pretty good job hiding it. But underneath... yeah, you're my big softie that initiates group hugs, wants a double wedding to get everything right for Harry and likes to be held." John said with a smile. "But don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."

"Just for the record, that group hug was a joke." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, moving closer to John and wrapping his arms around him. "I still think it's you making me soft.." he said and because he couldn't let that set up go past unused, "Except for the moments when you're making me hard." he said and smirked cheekily at John.

John chuckled and rested his hands on Sherlock's hips.m, leaning into his touch a little. 'Well, balance is the key to everything. And you suggested the bedroom, hm?"

Sherlock just smiled and took John's hand again, giving a chuckle as he pulled John after him into the bedroom, closing the door behind them to pick up where they had left off before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the picture little John drew for the 'mystry man' ^^  
> https://68.media.tumblr.com/2578b42d179077613cd1a323d0839ca6/tumblr_oqxp4yFlZd1s0pwgwo1_540.jpg


	22. Zooks! -----or alternatively----- How much do you still need your boyfriend's balls..

The week had passed relatively quickly without any major incidents. To John's mild disappointment Sherlock hadn't actually put on a black dress to get him to play Cluedo; though on the upside they hadn't played Cluedo either. Over the past couple of days they had brought the rest of John's few possessions over to their shared flat. John had just handed his key back over to his old landlord a day ago - he technically stilled rented the flat until the next month, but it wasn't like he wanted to still use it anyway - and they were now back at their flat to prepare for Harry and Clara's arrival. "Judging from Harry's cooking skills, I don't think they'll be very picky, love." He commented, helping Sherlock out in the kitchen.

"Hm, doesn't mean I can't cook for them." Sherlock said and chuckled as he stirred the tomato sauce, before he poured some of it into a separate pot. "And it's also easy for me to get some blood that way. I'll just say I'm allergic to something in the sauce, so I've made my own small portion of sauce without that ingredient. It's also red, which means I can put more blood into it than into something else without worrying about a suspicious colour." he said and chuckled as he grabbed a bottle of blood from the fridge with a frown, "You think I need to hide the blood bottles? Will they look into the fridge?"

"No, I don't think they will. I also doubt they'll check under our bed for something suspicious." John replied with a chuckle. "And if they should actually do so, we'll say we need them because of uni. I mean, I'm studying medicine after all." He said with a bit of a shrug. "Do you need me to do something else by the way? I feel a little useless right now."

"I think even a medicine student doesn't keep bottled blood at home." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "And didn't you say Clara is some sort of lawyer? I think keeping blood at home like that is of questionable legality..." he said and laughed, adding blood to the sauce like one would add wine.

"Yeah, just like keeping any kinds of human body parts at home. I genuinely don't think we should let them, and especially not Clara, look around the kitchen at all." John said with a laugh and checked a compartment in the fridge. "Be warned by the way, you know I'll throw those eyeballs away the day they turn." He commented, closing the fridge door. After some back and forth they had eventually compromised that John would be allowed to dispose of everything /dangerously/ hazardous in the flat.

"Well, I'll better keep /an eye/ on them then." Sherlock joked and laughed as he put the bottle back into the fridge, using the closeness to press a kiss against John's lips.

John smiled at that and kissed him back. "Yeah, you'd better." He said with a chuckle, as he pulled back to go into the living room. "They'll be here in forty minutes, so I'll just lay the table really quickly. I'm almost drawn to unstab the playing board for this, you know."

"If you want to unstab it to play, that's fine with me." Sherlock called from the kitchen and chuckled, "Otherwise it's wall decoration from now on." he added, putting a pot with water on the stove for the spaghetti.

"I was actually gonna put it away, but fine. It'll pass as modern art." John said with a shake of head, before tending to laying the table. "So you've got a terrible oregano allergy, yeah?"

"Just for the fun of it.. I was more thinking... /garlic/." Sherlock said with a chuckle, continuing to stir the sauce.

John began to laugh at that. "Perfect. Are you sure you don't want to reuse the Halloween decoration again as well? We've almost got enough insider jokes for this evening to become a little ridiculous." He commented with a grin.

"To accentuate my garlic allergy?" Sherlock asked with a laugh, moving into the living room and putting in those plastic vampire teeth John had just joked about, sneaking up behind John and waiting for him to turn around.

“Yeah, exactly" John called with a laugh into the kitchen. Once the table was ready, he turned around to go back into the kitchen. At seeing Sherlock standing there he winced a little, not having expected him right there. When he spotted the fake teeth, John began to laugh in earnest after a second, before pulling his boyfriend into a hug to press a kiss onto his cheek. "Yeah, just perfect love."

Sherlock chuckled, "Interesting reaction.." he said and chuckled again moving his arms around him as well. "You didn't say that when you saw my actual vampire teeth the first time."

"That's true, silly Billy, but that was over a week ago. That's ages." He said with a chuckle and emphasised his words with another peck on Sherlock's cheek. "And those aren't as sharp as your real ones anyway."

"Silly Billy?" Sherlock asked with a raised brow and chuckled, "But yeah, we would have to file a complaint if a kids toy would be as sharp as my teeth..." he said with a frown, his words still muffled by the plastic teeth, before he took them out again.

"Yeah, that name suits you well." He said with a grin. "So you don't want to give the couple a scare?" He asked, still chuckle, before glancing at the watch to check if they had still enough time before they'd arrive, which luckily they did.

"It really doesn't suit me." Sherlock said and chuckled, shaking his head, "And no.. I don't think we should ridicule vampires just before we're trying to tell them there are some which reminds me that we don't even need the garlic allergy excuse." he said and remembered that they wanted to tell them anyway.

"Right, a true shame those terrible jokes are going to waste now." John said before nodding. "Yeah, it's probably better to tell them in the beginning." Though he had to admit that he thought it a little ambitious to tell them before dinner now that it was as good as ready. "Maybe don't drink your blood-cocktail while we're telling them though."

"What? Why not?" Sherlock asked and frowned, "If anything, it's proof." he said and shrugged a little, "I mean.. at least it's not pure..." he mumbled.

"Because it might defuse the situation, that's why. I know for a fact you're not going to dtarve in that short period of time. And besides, if we need proof, we can just open the fridge."

Sherlock sighed, "Fine.. another Saturday night without proper meals. Seems like it's becoming a ritual..." he mumbled and chuckled lightly, it was a bit annoying, really. Especially since he had missed out on lunch already as well for the sake of trying out the sofa a little more. At least they knew now it did work for more than just making out.

"You do have the pasta. And once we've told them, they'll either leave or be relatively fine with it. So really either way you can drink something afterwards." John said a bit conciliatorily. "And I enjoyed our lunch."

"Oh yeah I did enjoy that lunch too." Sherlock said and chuckled, giving a small sigh, "Yeah okay, I think I can wait a little longer with that. I'll also get more kisses out of that, so I probably shouldn't complain."

"See, that's the spirit." John said with a chuckle and kissed his cheek. "And they'll probably be busy kissing each other, so that won't be a problem." He commented, though he wasn't exactly thrilled to possible see her sister snogging her wife in front of him.

"Well.. if they are, we'll find ways to busy ourselves too, don't worry." Sherlock said with a laugh and smirked at John, "You can kiss me properly by the way, I didn't drink from the blood I used to cook." he said and smirked.

John smiled at that and pulled him into a proper kiss, bringing his hand up to cup his boyfriend's cheek. He hummed a little into the kiss and let his other hand slight down onto his waist.

Sherlock smirked into the kiss and only pulled away once he heard the door bell, pulling back and turning his head to look into the kitchen, "I should probably put the blood back into the fridge, can you open the door?" he asked, reluctantly letting go of John.

John sighed inwardly a little but nodded. "Course, love." He said and went over to the front door, calling. "The food smells good by the way." Once he was at the door, he put on a pleasant smile and opened it, greeted by two women in their late twenties. "Hello Clara, hello Harry. Glad you could make it. Sherlock's just finishing something up in the kitchen."

Sherlock quickly took a long sip of blood before he stored it away and made quick work of rinsing his mouth again, before he took care of the spaghetti, which seemed to be ready.

"Hi, Johnny. Thanks for having the wife and me." Harry said playfully, earning herself a small chuckle from said wife. "Hi John. It's always so nice to see the family again." The ginger-haired lawyer said with a warm smile. "It's been just too long, hasn't it? How's medical school going?" John shrugged a little at that. "It's tough, but I'm managing. The Christmas break is already very welcome." He added with a chuckle, before gesturing inside. "Come inside, you two."

Sherlock smiled as John and Harry walked in, "Hey Harry." he said and walked over to them for the obligatory Watson hug, but stopping in his tracks when he noticed Clara. Which surprisingly was a familiar face, one he hadn't thought he'd ever see again, though. But.. that wasn't possible right? Clara Honeyfield was dead. Long gone. That girl couldn't be his cousin. And yet.. her name was Clara.. "And.. well, you must be Clara then.." he said with a frown, not wanting to ask for her last name, or maiden name, which would probably be weird.

Clara startled at the sight, but caught herself quickly, smiling at her... brother-in-law's boyfriend. This couldn't be him, could it? She'd only ever met a single Sherlock in her life, but- He looked exactly like her dead cousin. No, she wasn't going mad, this young man had exactly the same face; at least from what she could tell... "Yes, Clara Watson, nice to meet you." She said with the same innocent smile she'd used for John in the hopes of getting him to reveal his last name too, holding out her hand out politely.

"Sherlock Holmes." Sherlock said and smiled lightly at her, still staring a little, but he hoped it wasn't coming off as scary or something as he shook her hand. Really, how high were the chances that someone had the same name, same face and the same /voice/ as his cousin. And there really was only one explanation this could be possible - she was a vampire. She had to be. "It's.. very nice to meet you." he said, giving her a look he hoped would tell her that he had in fact recognised her as well.

Clara's eyes widened a little as she shook her little cousin's hand. He, he was a vampire too? He had been all this time? What in the... And she could tell by the look on his face that she wasn't just imagining things. "Heavens, I almost forgot to give you two this." She said after a second of probably awkward staring and reached in her bag to get out a small bottle of wine, not even noticing she'd used their old speak. John all the while frowned at the way the the two were staring at each other. After Sherlock didn't look back at him, he shot Harry a glance that said 'What the hell? Have they shagged and we don't know it?'

Sherlock smirked and took the bottle, almost unable to contain the excitement that slowly bubbled up inside of him. He couldn't believe that he too was suddenly meeting a family member that was supposed to be dead. "Thanks." he said and smiled brightly at his cousin, still unable to believe that she was actually here. "Okay.. guys.. how about we actually into the flat now?" Harry asked with a frown, looking at John with a mirrored expression. "Oh.. yeah, right, sorry." Sherlock said and stepped out of the way. "I uhm.. I made Spaghetti with tomato sauce.." he said, still looking at Clara, before dragging his gaze away and walking into the kitchen.

Clara smirked at that, suddenly feeling a little giddy at that kind of reaction, and took Harry's hand, before going inside. "Great, that's one of my favourites." John still frowned, but didn't comment on the earlier behaviour, just offering to hang the women's coats. He quickly glanced after Sherlock and shook his head a little. "So, have you phoned home in the meantime?" He asked his sister.

Harry looked for a moment longer at her wife and her brother's fiancé, before turning to look at John, "Uh.. no.." she said and her frown turned into a small smile, "But.. dad phoned me..." she said and chuckled a little, "They invited /us/ over for next week. And he didn't once tell me what a disappointment I am." she said with a shrug. "That's a start."

Clara gave her wife's hand a subtle squeeze and smiled a bit. They'd really come a long way in terms of her family and even though this wasn't ideal, it was better than what they'd had a few months ago. "Yeah, baby steps." John said and was actually really happy with that information. Maybe they'd actually be a whole family some time in the future... "Let's sit down, I can't wait to have some of that pasta." John said with a smile and began to lead the way to the living room. "You must be hungry too."

Sherlock smiled, "You all sit down, I'll take care of the food, he said as he first filled plates for John and Harry, placing them in front of the two, before he filled plates for Clara and himself, using the blood sauce for both of them, before he set the plates down, giving Clara a smirk as he did so. "So.. how did the two of you meet then?" Sherlock asked, looking back and forth between Harry and his cousin.

Clara already a rough idea what was in that red sauce as she began to swirl some pasta on her fork. "Well, it was all a bit cliché really. A friend had dragged me to this modern theatre, you know one of those that has a theme rather than an actual plot." She shook her head and chuckled. " I really don't know why I even agreed in the first place - and kindly put it wasn't really for me. So, during the first break I made a bit of a run and bumped into a stunning woman just before I had reached the exit. You can imagine how embarrassed I was, once I realised how charming she was... Anyway, we got talking and as it turned out, we're both not theatre geeks. She asked me for my number and, well, the rest is history." She commented with a smile that widened a little, when she actually put the forkful into her mouth at the end of the story.

Sherlock smiled, remembering that Clara even back then hadn't liked the theatre. "I actually ditched on my job as a waitress there. That boss was such an idiot." Harry said and laughed, "I don't think 'stunning' is the right word to describe how I looked in that horrific waitress uniform though." she said and chuckled again. "So you're a lawyer who doesn't like that theatre.." Sherlock summarised after a moment, eating a bite of his own pasta. "You're one of those people who want to change the world, or one of those that become a lawyer because their parents were too?" he asked, wondering if she had always wanted to do the job her father had done, which of course wasn't possible back then.

Clara chuckled at that. "Both really. My dad was a good lawyer, you see, and sometimes brought me and my baby cousin alongside him. He was the one who really opened my eyes to all of the injustice in the world at quite a young age." She laughed a little. "I know I can't change the world in a week. Slowly but surely, that's what he used to say." She said with a knowing smile, before asking. "What about you though?"

Sherlock raised a brow at the word 'babycousin'. "Well.. I'm studying chemistry.." he said and smiled at her, still somewhat awestruck at the fact that his cousin was sitting right next to him. "I do think about going into crime solving.. not necessarily with the police though. Or at least not as a police man." he said and chuckled, "Actually, though.. I don't know if you're interested in that kind of thing.. but one of my ancestors was a lawyer." he said and smirked again, "I've got some of his old files and even his robe.. it's from the regency era.. you could come up there with me for a moment so I can show them to you?" he asked, trying to sound casual and not like he just wanted to talk to her alone for a moment, while Harry's frown deepened again at that, looking at John.

Clara smirked at that and nodded. "That sounds interesting. I've really got a thing for that time period, you know." She said, before standing up from the table, practically ignoring everyone in the room but her cousin. John mirrored Harry's look, visibly unhappy with what he was seeing. Was Sherlock seriously using a weird pick-up line to lure his sister-in-law into /their/ spare bedroom? And why was it working?

Sherlock smiled and nodded, "We'll be right back." he said only briefly looking at John before he looked back at Clara, "Right then.. let's go." he said and walked out of the room, leading the way for Clara.  
Harry actually gaped at the two of them as they left, "Unbelievable.. what was that?" he asked, turning to look at her brother once Clara and Sherlock were out of sight. Once Sherlock and Clara were out of earshot of the others he turned to look at Clara with grin, "Okay.. please tell me I'm not hallucinating and you actually are Clara Honeyfield.." he said smiling.

John exhaled slowly and shook his head. "Stop me, if I try to attack him later on. Or on second thought, maybe don't."  
“To make it easier, I could attack him for you and you take Clara. That way we won't have so many hang ups about it." Harry murmured, crossing her arms and looking over at John, "Does he really have old lawyer stuff up there?" she grumbled, looking at John. 

Clara grinned right back at him and shook her head. 'I always thought I was the only one left, Sherlock." She took his hand in two of hers, practically beaming. "You can't imagine how much I've missed you."  
Sherlock grinned and shook his head, pulling her into a proper hug, "Sorry.. but I hear that's a thing in our new family.." he said with a laugh. "I've missed you too. But.. how are you here? I mean.. when? When did you turn?" he asked, almost rambled.

"Well, he does have regency, erm, stuff up there." John replied, not wanting to reveal to much, even though that really wasn't a major concern of his right now. "Right..." Harry mumbled and sighed, sinking deeper into her chair. "You don't think they're.. you know.. getting it on up there, do you?" she asked, she was very close to just standing up and rushing after them demanding to know what was going on.

She kissed his cheek and began to giggle a little. This still felt so surreal... When she pulled back, she also sobered up a little to update him on her past two centuries. "I was mugged on the streets one night when I was twenty eight." Well, it wasn't a lie and they didn't need the whole truth in that moment. "It took me about three days to realise what had happened or at least the obvious differences. Ten years later I 'died', but well, as you can see I could never quite let our home go... What about you? You look like you were turned around six years before me."  
Sherlock smiled, "Well.. yeah roughly six years. Mycroft, me and Jane were attacked on our way back from visiting you.. you know the last time we were over before I erm.. 'died'." he said and shrugged, before his eyes grew wide, "Faith! You don't know that, I nearly forgot. Jane and Mycroft are both still alive as well. La! Jane will be so happy, she was crushed when she heard about your death!" he said, not even noticing that he fell back into old slang.

"No, he wouldn't... And if they were, Sherlock'd be a dead man." John grumbled. Out of all the things that could make him uncomfortable tonight, this scenario hadn't occurred to him. "Well if they're not making out, what the hell are they doing so long up there?!" Harry asked and sighed, running a hand through her hair. "One minute she says I'm stunning and the next she bloody /elopes/ with your boyfriend.." she grumbled, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

"Zooks! Are you kidding me Sherlock? You need to give me their contacts. Oh la, how I've missed them. How are they doing?" She asked with a bright smile, ready to hug Sherlock again - she was a true Watson in that regard - completely unaware of her language.  
"No, I'm not.. wait, give me your number and I'll send you theirs." Sherlock said and handed Clara his phone. "This deuced secrecy about it, I can't believe we've missed out on two centuries, believing our family is completely wiped out, eh wot? I mean.. must have been worse for you, I guess.. you had nobody.. I at least had Jane and Mycroft.."

"I've no sodding clue. At least the walls are thin." He said, sounding pretty pissed off and regretting to have just said that. "Jesus..." 

"Yes, I completely agree. Bad form, really, to put it mildly." She said with longer sigh and gave him her number. 'Oh Faith... I wish I had seen you again earlier. And now we're both Watsons, eh wot?"  
Sherlock smiled, "Yeah, I guess we are.. well almost, John still waits for the right moment to propose, which is just a fancy way to say that he wants to save up for a ring.." he said and chuckled lightly, "Oh zooks! We should probably go back downstairs.." he said, realising it probably was a little weird for them to be still upstairs together. "I don't know about Harry, but John gets very jealous very fast.." he said and wondered if Harry and John were mad about them going upstairs.

"On a scale of one to ten... how much do you still need your boyfriend's balls.." Harry grumbled darkly, her tone making clear why exactly she was asking that.  
John groaned quietly and ran a hand through his hair. "He's gay, so calm down. And if not, he's dead." He wasn't exactly calm either, but he didn't want to have that kind of conversation with his sister. Any kind of sympathy he'd had for Clara was now out of the window... 

"La, really? He doesn't seem like that." She commented, before making a step towards the door. "The way I know Harry, she's probably plotting to murder you." She said with a bit of a laugh, though it was clear she wanted to go back downstairs. "That must be a genetic thing with them."  
Sherlock chuckled as he followed her, "Well.. thank god I'm more or less immortal." he said and chuckled as they walked back downstairs, "I'll send you their numbers later tonight, by the way, I don't want to add texting under the table to the things John could be annoyed about tonight.." he said and chuckled again.

"Yeah I hope for him that he's 400% gay." Harry said and glared at her plate as she took a bite of spaghetti.

She chuckled at that. "Yeah, better not risk it. And thank you so much. I can't wait to see her and Myc again." She said, having a hard time to keep the grin off her face as they walked down the stairs back into the flat. "Oh la, I could kiss you again." 

John couldn't really get anything down and just huffed in response. Once he heard the two finally coming back downstairs, he almost stood up, but kept himself relatively calm until he saw that red smudge on his boyfriend's cheek that hadn't been there ten minutes ago... He clenched his fist under the table hard enough for a knuckle to crack, obviously not amused.


	23. Of Sherlock Using Foul Language

"You two look like you had fun..." Harry scoffed as she too noticed the lipstick on Sherlock's cheek. "I see, Clara gave you some make-up tips, didn't she? But you must have misunderstood, Sherlock, the lipstick goes on the lips, not on /your cheek/." she almost snarled and Sherlock raised a brow as he touched his cheek, looking at lipstick smudges on his fingers. "Oh, that, yeah, okay, let's tune the Watson jealousy down a bit for a moment and let me explain. Clara.. is my cousin. I wasn't sure at first that's why I asked if I could talk to her alone for a moment." he said and cleared his throat, looking at John, "I haven't seen her in /ages/." he said, giving John a look. "I didn't even know she's still out there... we lost contact a long time ago." he explained, hoping to make John understand what was happening.

Oh! Wait, Clara was a vampire too? Okay, that turn of events he wouldn't have expected... Well, he should have expected that probably. She looked exactly like the day they'd married and 'spends money like she's been saving it for centuries'... And Sherlock had talked about the uncle who'd let him inside Newgate, hadn't he? At least she wouldn't leave Harry because of her vampire grandfather. "Well, that's a better answer than that you two looked at old antiquities in the bedroom, while exchanging make-up tips." He said with just a bit of a huff. Sherlock could've really told him earlier, so he was still a little grumpy. (Even if he couldn't have, at least John would've liked him to)

"Don't be like that, love." Sherlock said and leant in to press a chaste kiss to John's lips - given that he had had some of the blood sauce before, he really couldn't do anything else, so that'd have to do. "You're the only one I'd exchange make-up tips with while looking antiquities.." he said with a chuckle, before sitting down again. "Wait so.. you're really related?" Harry asked, glancing at Clara questioningly, "So one of your parents was a sibling of one of his parents?" she asked, unsure how to phrase the actual question about Sherlock being just as old or if he was a descendant of Clara's family.

John was consoled by that and knew they had more important things going on right now. Clara nodded at that and gave Harry a short and meaningful glance. She doubted that Sherlock had told his boyfriend his whole life story within the first week. And she didn't want to take that away from her cousin, so she just played it safe. "Yes, my father and his mother are brother and sister. That cousin I talked about earlier on? That was Sherlock." She replied with a nod. "We used to see each other a lot back then, so you can imagine how glad I am to see him again." Clara added with a smile to her cousin, before having an idea how to get on the same page with everyone. "Speaking of which, I don't want to be rude on this occasion, but I can't eat all of this. Would you mind to share mine with me, sweetheart?"

Sherlock gaped slightly for a moment, before shutting his mouth and piecing things together with a smirk, telling them about Richard had certainly become a whole lot easier now. Harry smiled as he took the plate from Clara, "Uh.. sure.. " she said carefully, before noticing Sherlock's expression, a smirk forming on her lips as well as she realised that probably wasn't just tomato sauce.

John watched everything that was going on with a slight frown, a little surprised lukewarm pasta seemed to taste that good. "Yeah, Sher's really a good cook." He said after a moment, which made Clara smirk a little. "That he certainly is. Are you two sharing as well?" She asked John, though the question more directed to Sherlock. "What? Oh, no I'm good." He said relatively quickly, remembering the blood in there. To make it sound less strange for Harry, he added. "I mean, he can have mine, but Sherlock always puts so much salt into his own food."

Sherlock chuckled softly, "Well, despite my cooking skills, John generally isn't that much of a blood fan." he said and chuckled again at all of their expressions. "Yes, John knows. And he'll probably have figured out Clara is a vampire by now. Although.. what he probably doesn't know is that his sister apparently joined the blood club as well." he said and smiled at Harry. "Well.. welcome to the club."

John raised an eyebrow and stared first at his boyfriend and then his sister for a while. "Oh, you- Oh." He sighed and shook his head a little at that and Clara gave him a sympathetic smile. "Alright, I kinda feel like I should have seen that one coming. Can I ask when you joined the club?"

"Our wedding night." Harry said and chuckled a little, "I don't recommend it though, doing it in the wedding night I mean. Being a vampire is great, I sure recommend that." she said with a smile and Sherlock cleared his throat, "Before we go on... Anyone up for a glass of blood?" Sherlock asked with a laugh and stood up, "Oh yeah, I'll take one. Anyway," Harry went on. "Really.. if you have anything romantic planned for your wedding night don't do the turning then. I was so out of it, I slept the whole night and half of the next day." she said and chuckled, "When are you due then?" she asked happily, clearly excited that she could share her secret with John.

Clara smiled, glad for her wife to be able to have at least one other family member she could talk to. John cleared his throat a little at the last part. "Yeah, I'll hang on to that, but, well, I'm still undecided to be honest." He admitted, hoping Sherlock couldn't hear him; he seemed to try to avoid this topic even more than John.

Sherlock smiled as he returned with three glasses of blood before Harry could reply to that, setting them down in front of Harry Clara and himself before he poured John a glass of wine. "It's funny, though.. just last week we've been talking about this.. having a .. similar couple to talk to." he said and looked at John. "But.. while we're making big revelations.. John do you want to tell them about Richard or should I?" he asked as he handed John his glass.

Grateful for the change of topic now in front of his boyfriend, John practically jumped at it. "Thanks, love. Oh and yes, I can start." John said with a smile and took the glass of wine. "So, as you know we were back at home last week. So, after a while Sherlock told them his full name and apparently that rang a bell. Dad ended up getting out some of granddad's old military photos and, well, turns out Sherlock has a strikingly similar face to his grandfather's, who happened to fight alongside our granddad." John said with a bit of a look, before turning to Sherlock. "Do you want to take over from here? It's really your story anyway."

"Wait hang on, you were a comrade of our grandfather?" Harry asked with a frown and looked and Clara, "Is it just me, or are our families really ridiculously entwined already even without the fact that you're going to marry John and I married your cousin?" she went on and Sherlock laughed, "No.. I noticed that too, actually. Anyway, I'll just quickly go to the bathroom, John you can continue the story." he said, realising since they were all nearly finished eating, he could reveal his secret surprise for John.

"Erm sure. So, Sherlock pulled me aside after that to tell me he was, well, is good friends with Richard. He's even saved his life in the war by turning him. So, yeah, Richard's still alive and still in contact with Sherlock." John said and paused a moment, because said out loud it still sounded unbelievable. "He only faked his death and went into hiding, because of that. Gran knew everything, but didn't turn, nor did either of them ever tell dad. And I know all of that, because we met up with him that evening. He'd like to meet you and the rest of the close family too."

"Wow.. that's incredib.." Harry was cut short as she glanced at where Sherlock was entering again wearing a red cocktail dress with matching heels. "Surprise, bitch." Sherlock said with a laugh, looking at John, "It's Cluedo time!" he said, still laughing as he walked through the kitchen as if it was a catwalk - admittedly he had practised walking in those shoes before whenever John was out.

"Zooks, Sherlock!" Clara exclaimed with a laugh when she saw her cousin entering the room. John turned around and gaped at his boyfriend taking a good while to remember what Sherlock was referring to. He had bought a dress, shoes and shaved his bloody legs for this? It didn't take very long for John to begin to laugh, because honestly, this sight was hysterical. "You're impossible!" He said with a grin as he watched him walk over. "Just impossible."

Sherlock grinned at John as he sat down on his lap, chuckling again, "You remember the deal, right?" he asked, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend's neck. "Do I even want to know what deal involves you wearing a dress, high heels and.. Cluedo?" Harry asked with a laugh, looking Sherlock, "Since I /hope/ you won't need that dress after tonight, it's kinda neat, can I have it? Looks like I'll fit into it." she added with a laugh.

Clara giggled a little and gave her wife a bit of a look. John laid an arm on Sherlock's back and brought the other to his cheek, ignoring his older sister. "Don't think I could forget that." He said with a chuckle and pecked his lips (though, if it hadn't been for the blood, he'd done more than that) "God, I love you. I'd better go and unstab the board now then, hm?"

"Is that all you can do? I did brush my teeth, you know.." Sherlock said and leant back in again to steal himself a proper kiss, "Honestly, though.." he murmured against John's lips, smiling against them, "Your face was worth it already and.. I think I'll rather safe that one time I can get you to play Cluedo for another day." he said chuckling.

"Really? Does that mean you're going to dress up for me again that day?" John asked with a smirk. "Because if not, that photo ban hopefully isn't in force yet. You look just perfect right now." John said with a chuckle, before leaning in to kiss his boyfriend again.

Sherlock hummed against John's lips, getting lost in the kiss until he heard Harry clear her throat, "You guys remember that we are still here right?" Harry asked with a laugh.

John broke the kiss at that and opened his eyes, having completely forgotten about the other couple. And he immediately wished they were gone that instant. "Right. I knew there was something." Clara laughed a little as well. "Cousin dear, I had no idea red compliments your eyes that well."

"I had no idea I'd turn John on like that wearing a dress." Sherlock said with a giggle, shaking his head, "Those shoes are horrible though, I have a lot more respect for women wearing those every day after a week of practising." he said and smirked, sitting up a bit. "Oh and you can have the dress Harry." he chuckled.

"I'm already looking forward to that." Clara said with a smile to Harry and wrapped her arm around her middle. John rolled his eyes at the first part of what Sherlock had said, but kept his arm around Sherlock. "But it's your lucky day, because apparently we're not going to end up fighting over a game after all." He told the women with a chuckle.

"So does anyone mind if I go change?" Sherlock asked and chuckled, leaning down to undo the straps of his shoes, "Too bad you have smaller feet than I have.. but perhaps I can return the shoes and swap them for some your size." he said looking up at Harry. "The cashier already gave me a funny look when I said that yes, I'm sure that is my girlfriend's shoe size." he laughed. "Mind if I come with you? I'd really like to try that dress on." she said and Sherlock chuckled, "I don't know.. your brother might throw a fit at that." he said and smirked at John.

John rolled his eyes at that. "Yeah, I think I'll manage." He wasn't exactly happy with his boyfriend seeing his sister half-naked, but it was probably out of proportion to protest. He didn't know Clara very well, but with Harry and Sherlock he obviously knew for a fact there was nothing to worry about. "I'll just show John some make-up tips to pass the time while you're gone." Clara suggested with a laugh.

Sherlock chuckled, "Oh please do. He's horrible at picking eye shadows." he said as he leant in to kiss John again, before standing up along with Harry and leading her into the bedroom, where he quickly took off the dress and handed it to Harry before he started to take on his clothes from before. "You think Johnny is going to turn?" Harry asked unexpectantly as she started to undress. "Well.. I hope so.." Sherlock said with a sigh, looking at the shirt in his hands, "But it's his choice... I'm not gonna pressure him." he mumbled, giving a shrug, "I'll stay with him no matter what." he added and Harry smiled, "If he loves you half as much as you love him, he'll turn." she said and Sherlock smiled a little.

“May I ask why you're still undecided? Harry was quite sure of it not long after I had told her." Clara asked him once the other two others were gone. There was no judgement in her voice, just curiosity. John sighed a little at the question. "I've got a list." He commented dryly. "I mean, a list of reasons why I might end up depressed, you know. Sherlock thinks I might be over thinking it." That made Clara frown a little. "Okay. And the main pro argument is not having to leave Sherlock, yeah?" He nodded and sighed. "Pretty much. I know that's selfish, but I think no one is helped by me making myself unhappy. I mean everyone I've talked to says I should go for it, but it doesn't mean I won't regret it." She studied his face carefully. "No, of course not, that definitely is a dangerous risk. You wouldn't want to make Sherlock responsible for that either. There's hardly anything that could be worse for him from what I can tell." She said, which made him nod quietly.

"I'm serious. I mean.. Maybe he isn't as spontaneous as I am, but he'll come around." Harry said and Sherlock smiled lightly, "Can we not.. I mean.. I've been over this with John often enough thinking about it only terrifies me at this point. I just don't want to get notified something happened to him when he's in service.. or.. I don't know every time he leaves the flat, there's this split second where I remember what could possibly happen to him just randomly.. It's not that I won't get more time with him than a life time if he doesn't want to turn.. it's.. it's living with the knowledge that any minute something could happen and it would be over.." he mumbled, moving to help Harry with the zipper of the dress. "I even have nightmares like that sometimes, luckily they're mostly nonsensical enough for me to know that I'm just dreaming in the first few minutes but it still.. hurts.." he admitted and sat down on the bed for a moment, running a hand through his hair, "Have you told John about the nightmares?" Harry asked and Sherlock shook his head, "No.. and you won't either. I told you, I won't pressure or guilt trip him into this."

Clara stood up to sit down next to her brother-in-law. He obviously knew that leaving Sherlock alone for all eternity wasn't the kind thing to do... "All that I can tell you is that I'm grateful, I don't have to live in solitude anymore. Only six years years ago I'd have given anything for my current situation. Do you want me to give you some honest advice?" John sighed and nodded; one opinion more or less couldn't hurt. "You need to be a sure that you two aren't going to fall out with Sherlock; or Harry for that matter. Right after loss, solitude is one of the worst things I've experienced in my time." John found himself nodding again at that.

Sherlock smiled as he stood up and held out his arm for Harry to hook hers in, just like he'd have done back in earlier times, before they both walked out of the bedroom again, "Should we go for an audience who wore it better vote, what do you think?" Harry asked with a laugh as they entered the kitchen together, "La, you win, obviously." Sherlock chuckled, letting go of Harry, before he walked back over to John, sitting down on his lap again since his chair was occupied anyway and it wasn't exactly uncomfortable to sit on John's lap. "I hardly doubt either of them would disagree." he said and chuckled, moving his arm around John.

Clara nodded at that. "I just love it on you, Harry." John wrapped an arm around his middle and chuckled, glad to be back near him in that moment. "Yeah, I'll have to give this one to Harry." He said, before asking after a moment. "What is it with you and those expressions by the way? What does 'La' even mean?"

Sherlock looked truly astonished at the mention of that word, only now slowly realising that he had said it just now and giving Clara an amused look, "I didn't even notice that." he said with a chuckle, leaning a bit against John's chest, "It's old slang.. I suppose we just.. fell into old habits." he said and chuckled again, "La basically means.. god or .. wow, man.. that kind of thing."

John smiled and held Sherlock a little closer. "Ah, alright. I think I might've actually read that in a book somewhere." Clara chuckled at that; she hadn't picked up on their different speech either. "Yeah, I doubt you'd find it anywhere else nowadays." She said and shook her head a little. "It feels as though I've never shrugged those off actually. Thinking about if, I think I'll start using 'La' more often actually. It's so useful."

"It is, though.." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "So should we all move over to the living room? Might be more comfortable." Sherlock said and Harry cleared her throat, "John, by the way I've got some problem with my car.. the engine sounds weird. Can you quickly take a look at it?" she said giving Clara a look, silently asking her to back her up on that lure.

"Yeah, it's been making those noises since yesterday, hasn't it? Hopefully it isn't something expensive." Clara commented with a slightly worried frown. She had no idea what Harry was on about, but didn't hesitate to cover for her. "Erm, sure. I mean, I'm no mechanic, but I can take a look. You mean right now?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, already standing up.

 

"Yeah these things tend to get more expensive the longer you wait so.." Harry said as she put her chucks back on, they didn't go so well with the dress, but oh well. "Hm, I'd offer to help, but if it's not about the chemical side, I'd be useless." Sherlock said as he took their glasses and brought them over before he went to grab the wine and bottle of blood, bringing it into the living room. "Well let's go then." Harry said and walked over to the door, "Hey Sherlock can I borrow that coat of yours? It's chilly outside." she said and Sherlock just nodded, "Take it." he said and chuckled as she put it on, having to lift the hem like a dress, "Good god you're a giant.." she said and laughed as she walked out the door like that.

John grabbed his jacket as well as his phone (he'd known the torch app on there would be useful), before going to the door. "See you in a minute." He said with a short smile to his boyfriend, before following Harry outside. Closing the front door behind himself, he rubbed his hands together against the cold, before looking around and frowning slightly at her. "So, where's your car?"

"It's parked on the other side of the road, but never mind my car, I just wanted to get you alone for a moment." Harry said and crossed her arms as she turned to look at John, "I'm gonna punch you if you tell Sherlock I told you that, because he told me I shouldn't, he's worried he'd be guilt-tripping you into something if you knew, but ... he's suffering, do you know that?" Harry asked and sighed.

John frowned at that. Guilt-tripping him into what? "Do you mean because I haven't decided yet? What do you mean he's suffering?" He asked and felt a pang if guilt in his stomach. He should be able to tell when something wasn't right with Sherlock.

"He told me he's got nightmares... about you just.. randomly getting injured or ... worse." Harry said and sighed, "He's constantly terrified every time you walk out of that door.." she said and sighed again, "Look, I'm really not trying to push you towards turning, but.. I don't even know what you should do about it, I just figured you should know that..." she said and gave a small shrug, starting to shiver a little even with the coat.

John nodded at that, cursing himself for letting Sherlock keep that from him. "Jesus, I had no idea... Thanks for telling me, I'll - I'll try to talk to him about it." He said and let out a sigh. How had he not seen that? "I'll definitely do something about it..." He noticed that his sister was shivering. "Come on, let's get back inside, before you freeze out here."

Harry smiled lightly, "Don't be surprised if he tries to downplay it, though.. he seems to be that kind of person.. you know the kind that rather suffers than worrying someone he loves." she said and sighed again as she turned to the door, "And don't tell him you know that from me.. I've got to be around him for an eternity, given that he's the closest living relative my wife has. It might be somewhat uncomfortable if he holds a grudge against me." she chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, I know how he is... And course not, I'll take it to the grave." He assured her with a weak chuckle, before realising what he'd said. "Erm, or not. Either way, he won't learn it from me." John was quite sure his boyfriend would take an educated guess, if he'd only told Harry, but that wasn't the point. He took out his key and opened the door once more, holding it open for her with a light smile. "Let's get back up. I'm turning into an ice lolly."

Harry chuckled a little, "I'm sure you've got someone who'd love to lick the ice of your lolly." she joked, giggling to herself, mainly because it was fun to make her little brother uncomfortable.

John blushed and cleared his throat, clearly unhappy with Harry talking about things like that. Closing the door behind them, he muttered something like "Yeah, let's just get upstairs..."

Harry just giggled as they walked back into the flat, "Did you get the problem fixed?" Sherlock asked as they walked back into the flat and Harry shook her head, "Nah, John couldn't see anything strange.. I'll just get it to a mechanic tomorrow." she said and hung up Sherlock's coat again. "Probably better." Sherlock chuckled, smirking at Clara, "Remember when we needed to call a vet when something was wrong with the /engine/?" he asked with a laugh, referring to the times where horses were the engines.

Clara laughed at that. "Oh dear, the good old times. Though I have to admit that I do prefer the modern times where a dying engine isn't half as tragic." She said and glanced at Harry for a moment. She'd definitely ask her what that had been about once they were back inside the car.

"Oh yeah, I remember how you cried when Blueberry died..." Sherlock said, remembering Clara's favourite horse when they were children. "You didn't leave your room for a week..." he said and hummed a small laugh. "Not until my mother had one of our ponies brought to London for you." he said, smiling as he remembered his mother.

Clara smiled as she remembered the dark pony. "Yeah, Bluebell was beautiful... And so was Violet. And after that she really was my very favourite aunt." She said with a chuckle. "I haven't ridden in too long." She said with a shake of head.

"If I remember correctly she was your only aunt.." Sherlock said and laughed, nudging his cousins shoulder with his own. "But yeah.. we should do that some time.. I mean.. I could easily get us some horses." he said and Harry chuckled, "Yeah, I'd really love to see Johnny sitting on a horse.." she said and giggled as she sat down next to Clara on the sofa. "We tried that once when I had a couple of lessons. He nearly cried because the /pony/ was taller than him." she laughed.

"First of all, I was nine at the time." John started and sat down on the armrest of Sherlock's chair, laying a hand (mostly out of habit) on his boyfriend's shoulder. "And second of all, horses are dangerous." He defended, though even he couldn't help the smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Nevertheless he didn't have the desire to sit on a horse again. "So, yeah, I prefer modern horses. Even if I can't fix them every time."

Sherlock chuckled, "Well.. we can share a horse, though.. maybe that makes it less frightening for you." he said and smiled at Clara, remembering how they used to ride through the forest whenever she was visiting. "How about next weekend? We could all stay at our family home, oh by the way, Clara we still have the house. Never let go of it." he said and chuckled. "It still looks the same as it did back then, Mycroft and I just couldn't bring ourselves to change it."

Clara smiled widely at that and nodded. "That would be wonderful, don't you think, honey?" She said to Harry, obviously excited at the prospect of doing this so soon again. "I can't wait to see your house and the other two again..."

"Who's the other two?" Harry asked with a frown and looked over at her wife, "Oh, she means my brother and as it happens her best friend.." Sherlock said and smirked, "Clara do you want the pleasure of telling Harry about who exactly your former best friend is?" he asked and chuckled, remembering John's reaction to that particular information.

Clara chuckled at that. "Oh, right. Jane's really a bit of a celebrity nowadays. My bestie used to be Jane Austen, Harry. Though, back then she really was just Jane from next-door’s. Actually, if I recall correctly, dear aunt Violet would've really liked her to become a Holmes." She said with a smirk to Sherlock, before sighing happily. "Oh, Faith! I'll get to hear her voice again.'

"Yeah that she really would have." Sherlock said with a snicker and Harry did a double take, "Hang on. Jane Austen? /That/ Jane Austen, you.. you were /best friends/ with /Jane/ /Austen/?" she asked and blinked stupidly at her wife. "Are you /kidding me/?!" she went on and Sherlock laughed, "No.. it's true. And my mother would have very much liked to make her Jane Holmes.. I wonder if she'd have sold just as many books with that name."

John laughed as well, remembering all too well his own reaction. Clara chuckled at Harry's reaction and put a hand on her thigh. "I guess now we'll never know. Although, are they both still so insistent on remaining single? She could be Jane Holmes after all then, nowadays."

Sherlock huffed a laugh at that, "Zooks, Clara! Why ever would you punish Jane like that?" he asked and shook his head, "Your brother really sounds like a cheery person from the way you talk about him." Harry said and chuckled, "Trust me, he's a dick.. but for a dick.. he's relatively alright, I guess."

"Yeah, I have to admit I did get along better with him when we were children." Clara said with a chuckle, not wanting to talk bad about her long lost cousin. "But I can't understand them in that regard, Sherlock. A relationship is such a wonderful thing, especially for us." She said and kissed her wife's cheek, before turning back to her cousin. "Don't you agree?"

"Yeah.. it is.." Sherlock said, feeling a pang of jealousy bubble up about the fact that Clara didn't have the same worries as he had, but he pushed it back immediately, it really wasn't her fault. "Jane is more into women anyway, though. So to be honest, there were more chances for her to become a Honeyfield at some point, than becoming a Holmes." he said and Harry cleared her throat, "Excuse me?" she asked and frowned, "Tune down the jealousy," he chuckled, "I know my cousin and I know Jane, you have nothing to worry about, Harry."

"It's only ever been you, honey." Clara said warmly. She wasn't really a jealous person, so she couldn't really empathise with being jealous at something that could've happened centuries ago.( But she did take it as a compliment.) And it was true; Harry was her first marriage. "And me and Jane really wouldn't have worked out, if that's any consolation." She added with a warm chuckle .

"Hm, I guess it's fine.." Harry said and smiled lightly, "I couldn't blame her if she'd fall for you though.." she smirked leaning over to kiss Clara and Sherlock smiled at the two of them, genuinely happy for his cousin. "And they say we're the Disney film.." he mumbled with a chuckle.

John chuckled at that, mainly glad for his sister (though again, he really didn't need to watch his older sister snog her wife), and yawned, before commenting. "Yeah, true that." Clara eventually broke the kiss and looked at the two of them with a cheeky smile. "Nah, that title still belongs to you two lovebirds."

"Hm, I think that title might belong to all of us." Sherlock said and chuckled again, yawning again and stretching his neck a little, as if by command Harry yawned as well. "You know what.. we could make this a regular thing.. the four of us doing something on the weekends..." he said and yawned once again, "But I think we should call it night now.." he mumbled and chuckled, "John seems to be the only one who's not tired.."

"Yeah, I agree. And we've still gotta drive back." Clara said and stifled another yawn and got to her feet. John kissed the top of Sherlock's head and had a rough idea why he probably hadn't slept much. "Nah, I'm definitely ready to go to bed. And I'd really like to have you over again." He said with a smile and slowly got up.

Sherlock smiled and stood up as well, pulling her into a hug worthy of a Watson - or future Watson for that matter, "I'm really glad to have you back." he said and smiled at her as he let go. "Well, I'm glad I don't have to hide the whole vampire thing from the two of you.." Harry said and chuckled softly, pulling Sherlock into a hug as well.

Clara smiled back at them all, her eyes glistening a bit. "I still can't believe I've got you all." Now with Harry turned, the Watsons accepting her and her cousins back...This was something she wouldn't have dreamed of ten years ago. She wrapped her arms around John, who warmly returned the embrace. Once he pulled away, he moved to hug his sister. "Take care you two."

Sherlock turned to look at John once the two were out the door, raising a brow, "Did you actually think I'd cheat on you?" he asked as he strolled over to John, wrapping his arms around his middle, "With a woman at that? And when you and said woman's wife are sitting just downstairs?" he asked with a chuckle.

 

John cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. "No, of course not. But in that moment... jealousy just got the better of me, I guess." He said sighed and looked up at his boyfriend. "I'm sorry, it's something I should probably work on. In my defence though, Harry wasn't exactly helping."

"Yeah she looked like she wanted to do very bad things to me when we came downstairs and I had that lipstick mark on my cheek." Sherlock chuckled and pulled John a little closer. "It's kind of flattering though. You thinking everyone must be into me. But try to limit it to bad looks and grumbling at the most." he smirked.

John chuckled lightly at that and pecked his boyfriend's lips. "I'll try. And how could they not? You're gorgeous." He said and leaned a bit more into him.

Sherlock smiled and rested his forehead against John's, "So.. should we go to bed?" he asked with a chuckle, "I didn't sleep so well yesterday, I'm surprisingly actually tired." he said and yawned.

"Yeah, let's do that." John said with a smile, though he wasn't happy about the reason he had told Harry for that. They'd address that tomorrow. Tomorrow when they weren't tired. "I'll just quickly brush my teeth and then I'll join you in a minute, yeah?"

Sherlock chuckled, "I'll stick to mouthwash.. I've brushed my teeth and rinsed my mouth often enough this week, I feel like my gums need a brush break." he said and smiled pecking John's lips again.

John chuckled a little, before pulling away from Sherlock with a sigh. "Well, I can't say that about myself. I won't keep you waiting too long." He said with a smile, before going into the bathroom.

Sherlock smiled and walked into the kitchen, doing just a quick rinsing with the mouthwash, he loathed it's taste by now, but it was only a small price to pay for getting to kiss his boyfriend properly. And after all, there were various of mouthwash flavours out there, so that probably wasn't so much of a problem. Once he was done, he walked into the bedroom, changing into some pyjama bottoms as he waited for John.

John sighed once he stood in front of the bathroom mirror and made relatively quick work of brushing his teeth and washing his face. What a day... Once he'd dried off his face with his towel, he returned to their bedroom and slipped into his plaid pyjama bottoms. "Hey, love." He said with a smile and climbed into bed, spooning Sherlock from behind and kissing his neck.

Sherlock smiled and shuffled back a little, snuggling closer up against John, "You think Harry's gonna throw one jealous fit after the other now that Clara and Jane will be in contact again?" he asked quietly, wondering if that'd be a problem.

"I hope not." He said with a sigh. "But genuinely, Harry isn't /that/ jealous a person. I think once she knows Jane well, she'll come to see there's nothing to worry about." He said after a moment and pulled Sherlock a little closer.

Sherlock sighed and moved to turn around in John's arms, smiling lightly at him, "Really though, you also don't have a reason to be jealous in any case. I love you.. and trust me, I'm not the kind of person to use those words lightly."

John nodded at that and smiled back at him. "I know you aren't. But thanks for reminding me of that... And I love you too. More than I can say." He said and kissed Sherlock's lips lightly, now that he was conveniently turned to him anyway.

Sherlock smiled, "I know.." he said and pecked John's lips again, before he gave another yawn, letting his eyes fall shut as he cuddled even closer up to John.


	24. Pillow

John shifted when the morning light hit his face and woke him right up. He was still right next to his boyfriend, an arm loosely draped over his chest. A glance at his watch told him it was already late morning, so there was no point in going back to sleep. "Good morning, love." He rasped, his voice still thick with sleep.

Sherlock smiled as he cracked one eye open, "How are you up earlier than me?" he asked with a tired chuckle, letting his eye fall shut again, cuddling up to John. "That's ridiculous.." he mumbled and smiled to himself, "I'm the one that needs nearly no sleep here.."

John pressed a kiss on top of Sherlock's head and smiled, running a hand down his boyfriend's bare back. "Well, it'd be boring if I were that predictable, wouldn't it?" He said with a light chuckle. "And I'm hungry, so that might be part of the reason."

Sherlock chuckled lightly, sitting up, and blinking his eyes open, "I should probably go out to do some grocery shopping.." he said and yawned, still feeling tired, "Sorry, I'm not used to living with someone that requires solid food on a regular basis." he chuckled again.

John shook his head and sat up as well. "It's fine. I'll just pop over to the bakery down the street really quickly; that'll do for now. How about croissants? I'm feeling fancy today."

Sherlock smiled, "I'm kind of in the mood for donuts.." he said and stretched his arms, "Two please. Both with chocolate topping." he said with a smile, "I'll have some liquid breakfast meanwhile." he said as he crawled over John to get out of the bed.

"Alright, two chocolate donuts coming right up." John said with a smile and got to his feet to throw on a shirt and a pair of trousers. He didn't bother to take a shower for that short a walk. "Could you put on the kettle in the meantime, please?"

"Sure." Sherlock said and yawned, shaking his head, "Maybe I should go for coffee and blood today." he said and grabbed his morning gown, slipping into it. "How about I also prepare a bath.." he said with a smirk, strolling over to John and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

John smiled and ran a hand through his boyfriend's tousled curls. "Sounds bloody perfect. I'll make sure not to waste any time." He said with a chuckle and went on to get his coat a little reluctantly after a few seconds; but the earlier he left, the earlier he'd be back.

Sherlock smiled at John as he took on his coat, "Don't forget my donuts." he said and chuckled, "Although I would choose making out with you over donuts, just for the record" he said as he put on the kettle, watching John from the kitchen.

"Good, that's noted. And I'll try my best not to." John said with a chuckle and grabbed his keys, before opening the front door. "Love you, Sher" He called into the kitchen, before turning back around.

"I love you too." Sherlock said and turned back to the counter as John walked out the door, starting to make some much needed coffee, before he poured himself a glass of blood.

A few hours later John still hadn't returned, when someone knocked on the door of 221B.

Sherlock nearly sagged with relief when it finally knocked at the door. He had had tried to call John a gazillion of times until he had realised that phone was still at home, he felt a bit ridiculous now for panicking like that and he would have to send Harry and Clara a text not to tell John that he had bombarded them with texts asking if John was with them. But really what did John expect if he told him he'd just pop out to get breakfast and then stays away for hours, walking over to the door, he could feel how his worry transformed into annoyance, "You know.. you could have at least taken your key with you.. where the hell have you..." he started as he opened the door, swallowing at the sight of two police men standing in front of the door. No. No this wasn't happening. Please..

The police officers looked both uncomfortable, when the older one of them stepped a bit forwards to talk to Sherlock. "Hello, Sir. My name is Sergeant Meyers and this is my colleague Constable Disher. Is this the home of Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson?"

"Yes..." Sherlock said carefully with a bit of a delay, clinging to that one thread of hope that John maybe just robbed the bakery and was on the run now. They'd be coming to his home to look for him. Maybe they were just looking that uncomfortable because they really believed John would be that much of a stupid criminal. He cleared his throat, "How.. how can I help you?"

"Mr. Holmes," The Sergeant spoke and took off his head, a gesture quickly mimicked by his younger colleague. "We're very sorry to inform you that there has been a car crash this morning in front of the 'Corner's' bakery." He said and paused for a moment in search of the right words. "Mr. Watson got fatally injured and died on the spot. Any attempts at resuscitation were without success... I'm so sorry for your loss."

Sherlock just stood there, staring into space for a few seconds - or minutes? Hours? He couldn't tell. He didn't hear anything the policemen said, before he closed the door. He just felt numb. Empty. There wasn't even pain. Not yet. He didn't know how he ended up in bed that night, or the night after that. Or the next night. The first time he could grasp a clear thought was four days later when he woke up Harry's face looking down at him. "Sherlock..." she said with a sigh, holding up one of the empty bottles of wine scattering the floor in his bedroom. "You think that's what he'd have wanted? You starving yourself and be the first vampire that drinks himself to death?" she asked, her voice softer than her words would make it seem. "Get up.. it's today.." she said and Sherlock rolled onto his side, turning his back to her, "Go away.." he grumbled, feeling tears stinging in his eyes.

Clara could've almost cried as well at the sight of her cousin miserable like that and barely able to survive on his own. To be on the same level as him (even if he couldn't see her) she crouched down next To the bed. "I'll get you something nice to drink, how about that?" She asked carefully, though regardless of his answer, she'd get him some blood.

"Just leave me alone.." Sherlock said, hugging the pillow he didn't even know he was clutching at even tighter against his chest, it still faintly smelled like John. "I don't want to go." he said and for a split second the if-I-refuse-to-accept-it-as-the-truth-it-didn't-happen logic seemed to work, but then it all came back to him and once more he started to break out into sobs that shook his whole body.

Clara sat down on the edge of his bed and laid a hand on his shoulder. "We're all going, Sherlock. Everyone in the family is coming to say goodbye to John a last time. You won't have to talk." She said gently and began to stroke his arm tenderly. "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

Sherlock squeezed his eyes shut which only increased the stinging in his eyes, violently forcing his sobs to temporarily still as he sat up and looked at Clara, hesitantly taking the glass of blood with a shaking hand, his other arm still clutching the pillow and even though his sobs stilled, the tears were still rolling relentlessly out of his eyes. "Will they.." he cleared his throat as he looked into his glass, "Will they want me there?"

"Yes, of course they will.' Clara said without thinking too long about it and Harry tuned in. "We've talked to mum and dad and they really do. Mum has already told aunt Beth not to come at all and dad wants you there too."

Sherlock nodded and nipped carefully at his glass like it was some unknown substance he wasn't sure was drinkable at all. "Right.. yeah." he mumbled quietly and stared at his glass again, "Glad Beth won't be there..." he murmured quietly.  
"Me too.." Harry said and sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed, "John would be too.." she added quietly, an obvious hitch in her voice at saying her brother's name and Sherlock nodded, "I guess.." he murmured, sipping on his glass again, not feeling better at all even though he knew he should. "You erm.. you should probably get dressed.. dad will be here in about forty minutes.." Harry said, running her hand through her hair.

Clara nodded and ran a hand down his bare back. "Come on, Sherlock, your fiancé wouldn't want you to lie here like that." She said encouragingly, though her voice was just as soft and grief-stricken as before.

"He's never been my fiancé… Not really." Sherlock said and wiped his face with his hands, crawling off the bed and standing up. "I don't know what to wear." he said and his voice broke a little. "Black feels wrong... He liked my purple shirt..." Sherlock murmured and felt like it would be comical how helpless he stood in front of the wardrobe if this was any other situation.

Clara got up as well and opened the wardrobe, before coming to stand next to him. "Thst's alright." She said softly. After taking a look at him, he took out the purple shirt as well as some matching black pair of trousers. "Then let's try it on, hm?"

Sherlock nodded and got dressed, not really caring about changing in front of Harry and Clara. "Is that okay?" he asked and Harry nodded, "Yeah.. he'd like that." she said and sighed as she watched Sherlock almost robotically oblige to every request, giving Clara a worried look.

Clara returned the look, but didn't know what to do about it. She brought a careful hand to his back to guide him out of the bedroom, which he obviously hadn't left in a while. "We could go into the living room, what do you think?"

Sherlock nodded again, reaching for the pillow that smelled like John and hugging it again, before he walked out of the bedroom and into the living room automatically. He just didn't know what to do with himself. Sitting down with the pillow, Harry watched him again, "I.. I saw him already.. yesterday dad and I went to... he looks.. good..." she said quietly, "In case you were worried about that... almost like he's just.. you know.. just sleeping." she went on, her voice trembling a little.

Clara sat down next to her little cousin and wrapped an arm protectively around him as if he was about to shatter any moment. She looked up a few moments later, when she heard the knock on the door. "That must be your father. Could you open the door please, love?"

Sherlock instinctively leant a bit into Clara, almost as if he was seeking protection as Harry walked over to the door and opened it up for her father, "Hey dad.." she said and bit her lip, "I think.. I think Sherlock needs another moment.." she mumbled and looked over to her brother in law, "Or.. maybe two." she added as she watched him still clutching the pillow and cuddled against her wife.

Clara tightened her arm around him a little in response, resting her head against his. David raised an eyebrow a little, but nodded after a moment. "I understand. We're all in grief, but you can tell him I'm not about to bite him. When would you like me to come back then?" He asked, assuming they'd still go to the funeral together.

Sherlock shook his head at that, "No.. let's.. let's go." he said and lifted his head again to look at David as he stood up, walking over to the man, the pillow still firmly in his grip. "I.. might want to take that with me.." he said and looked down at the pillow. "I'll leave it in the car I just.. I think I'll need it to ground me after.." he began and that clear, almost alive moment was over as soon as it had come and the tears started to roll again, his face clearly showing that he was in pain.

David looked at him and could see in Sherlock's eyes that he hadn't exaggerated how much John meant to him. He laid a hand firmly on his shoulder and spoke clearly, though he was obviously hurting. "Listen, son. We all loved John, because he was a commendable young man in every way. We are all grieving our son, partner, cousin and whatever else he was to people. But, despite all of the pain his loss has caused us, we need to stand tall and be soldiers today. John deserves a proper farewell."

Sherlock took a deep breath a nodded, wiping his face with one hand, "Soldiers today." he said with another nod, walking over to the chair that had become John's in that short time he's been here frequently, carefully setting the pillow down on it and talking another deep and long breath. "Soldiers.." he whispered again and turned back around to David, gathering every bit of strength he had left.

David gave a short nod at that. "Soldiers." He said, before looking back at his daughter. "Are you all ready here? If so, we have a church to get to." He said calmly, obviously pulling himself together extra hard as the head of the family.

Harry nodded, instinctively taking on her father's attitude and only now Sherlock realised that he was the only one crying there, which just made him feel worse. Almost unworthy of being a part of this family, which made him forcefully try to hold back any more tears that wanted to roll out. It worked because suddenly, he had John's voice in his head, what he'd say if he was there, "Sherlock.. Sherlock it's alright, I'm here with you..". His voice was clear in his head as if he was right next to him. So clear that he was for a moment worried he might be going insane now, but if that meant he'd have John still talking to him.. he'd embrace it.

Clara frowned softly as she watched him struggle and stepped back next to him to offer some comfort. Meanwhile David had opened the door and went through it first. "Let's not keep him waiting then. The car is parked right outside.”

Sherlock followed and got into the car in silence, repeating it like a mantra. Soldiers. He had to be a soldier for John today. Give him a proper goodbye. The kind he deserved. The ride to the church felt blurry, he just couldn't focus and it was too short. Way too short to properly prepare for this. For the rest of John's family waiting outside. For.. what was inside.

In front of the church were all the familiar faces from Emma's birthday. A few feet away from the church stood for example Gareth talking to Mark and John's Emma's young niece. They were all wearing either black suits or dresses and looking grief-stricken. "Sherlock, you haven't had the chance to see John yet, have you?" David asked, once they stood in front of the church.

"No.. I'm not sure I.." Sherlock said and was cut off by John in his mind again, "Sherlock, calm down, it's all good, I've got you.." it almost was like he could feel John's arms around him, holding him and well.. having his back, just like he said. "I.. I'd like to see him.." he said with a steadier voice, nodding to emphasize his point and possibly also to convince himself of it.

David nodded and opened the door to let him inside. "You've got ten minutes in private, before we'll start to get everyone inside." He said, keeping himself from sighing. Harry and he hadn't been with him longer than five minutes; it had just hurt too much.

Sherlock took another deep breath, focusing on the phantom feel of John's arms around him as he walked into the building, his eyes instantly falling onto the open coffin across him as the door was closed behind him. He could do this. He had and he wanted to say goodbye. He wanted to see him, but even being in the same room with him without really seeing him was suffocating him and without really noticing it he started to shake again, the tears he'd held back before rolling freely out of his eyes as he forced himself to took one step after another towards him. It was getting harder to breathe with every step he took and then he froze as he saw him. Dead. John.. John was... he was dead. Really dead. Not coming back. It crashed into him like wrecking ball and he just had to get out of here. He actually ran back to the door, but it wouldn't budge. It was locked. Why was it locked. Why would they lock him in here? Hammering against the door with one hand and rattling at it with the other, he shouted for the others to help him, to just get him out of here.


	25. No Croissants

John was getting worried now, that Sherlock was actually thrashing about and shouting. Looking at his boyfriend's pained and tear-streaked face, he didn't want to think about the fact he hadn't been there for Sherlock the previous times. More loudly that before he spoke to him and ran his hand firmly but still gently down Sherlock's arm to get him out of this, because frankly this was beginning to scare him as well. "Sherlock, love, it's all fine. Everything's okay. I need you to wake up for me."

Sherlock's eyes fluttered open after a moment, the sudden change of scenery disorienting him which only seemed to work him up even more at first, although the thrashing and shouting had stopped the sudden lack of a door to pound against, his tears and his ragged breathing hadn't. It took him a long moment to figure out where he was and what was going on and he hadn't processed it all even when he turned to John, looking at him bleary eyed. He was still not quite sure what was reality, but he was more ready to accept the fact that John was there, alive. Alive and warm and well. Without saying a word, Sherlock curled up against the other man, breaking into heavy, but quiet sobs.

John wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and held him as close as he possibly could. "Shhh... It was just a nightmare." He said as in his softest tone of voice. "You're okay and so am I." He said, hoping to comfort.

It took several minutes until Sherlock had calmed down enough to think clearly, finally realising that he had really just dreamed it. But this one was worse than any similar dream he'd ever had. It was worse because he hadn't known it wasn't real. And god, real it had felt. Too real. "I.. yeah.. I'm.. I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to.. I'm fine now." he said and gave John a half hearted smile, "Go back to sleep okay. I'm okay." he said and swallowed thickly.

"Sherlock, you obviously aren't okay." John said with a frown and used his thumb to wipe a thick tear from his boyfriend's face, keeping his hand on Sherlock's cheek even when he was done. "The only thing I want you to apologise for is not telling me about this earlier." He shook his head a bit. "I love you endlessly, Sherlock. Never think you have to put on a brave face for me." He said, looking sad, before going back to a more urgent expression. "Don't lie to me about thinks like that. Please."

"It's just.. nightmares." Sherlock mumbled and leant into John's touch. "They usually aren't this bad. I usually know I'm dreaming... But this time.. I didn't.." he said and frowned, "We.. we woke up together and you wanted to get breakfast because the fridge was empty... You just wanted to pop over to Corner's for croissants and doughnuts and then there were those policemen telling me you.. well you died in a car crash.. then there were Harry and Clara and your dad who wanted to pick me up for the funeral and when we were there your dad said I could go in on my own and.. when I was in there.. I just couldn't see you like that.. but the door was locked and I couldn't get out and..." he paused, already breathing heavily again, having to remind himself that it was just a dream.

John began to stroke Sherlock's face soothingly with his thumb. "It's over, love. None of it was real." He assured once more and sighed softly. This was worse than what Harry had told him... How could he not have noticed Sherlock was suffering right next to him? "Thank you for telling me this. Are your other nightmares similar to this one?"

Sherlock sighed, "Does it matter what the others were like?" he asked and chewed on his lip, "Because I'm not really eager to spend the night discussing various ways I could lose you."

"Yes, you're right. Now's probably not the best time to talk about this, unless you want to." He sighed a little. "We should try to go back to sleep. Would you like me to make some tea or warm milk beforehand?"

"I actually don't want to.." Sherlock said and swallowed again, "Sleep, I mean.. I don't think I can anyway." he mumbled, shuffling closer up to John. "What usually helps best is watching you sleep and breathe.. as weird as that might sound." he mumbled and wrapped his arm around him.

"I don't want to go back to sleep either, love, with you still all shaken." John said quietly and let go of Sherlock's face to rub his back instead. He certainly didn't want to lie passively back and leave Sherlock to deal with this alone. "And it doesn't sound weird. Even if I usually don't get the chance to, I like to watch you in your sleep sometimes." Though, today hadn't been one of those times.

Sherlock sighed, shaking his head, "Unlike me, you actually need a full night's sleep, though." he said, hating to have him worried. "Just.. if you can don't go to Corner's alone for a few days.. or the very least don't go tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, that I can promise you." John said with a nod. "And will you promise to wake me up if you have a nightmare again?" He asked; even if he wasn't going to now, Sherlock would have to go to sleep eventually. "I can't stand the thought of not being able to help you when you're right next to me."

Sherlock sighed and nodded, "If the dreams keep being like this.. I feel like you will probably know." he said and took a deep breath. "I heard you though.. at least I think so.. you kept saying things in my head like that you've got me and that you're there.. I even felt your arms around me.. in my dream I felt like I was going mad.. but it helped a lot."

John nodded. "I'm glad it did, love. Is there anything else I can do to help you if you're having them regularly?" He asked after a moment, still holding him.

"I don't know.. probably not.." Sherlock said and frowned, "Except perhaps waking me up earlier.. when you're noticing I'm getting... worked up.. I don't really know how much you see of it.. but don't wait.. that long again.. just.. don't." he mumbled quietly.

"Okay, Sher, I won't." John promised and kissed the top of Sherlock's head, sighing softly. Since he knew he wasn't going to fall asleep right now anyway, he continued to rub Sherlock's back tenderly. "I love you."

"Would you mind if I don't wear that purple shirt for a few weeks?" Sherlock asked after a moment together silence, resting his head against John's chest, "It's just.. it's what I wore.. to.. erm... That funeral.." he mumbled quietly.

"No, of course not." John responded. "I mean it's one of my favourites, but I'll manage." He added with a weak smile, before asking a few moments later. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"I don't know.. I mean.. do you really want to hear about your own funeral?" Sherlock asked and closed his eyes as he listened to John's heart, which was more than soothing. "Well.. if you want to know, your dream family didn't invite Beth.. Gareth and Mark were there though."

"If you want to talk, I'll gladly listen." He said quietly. "And in that case my dream family sounds quite alright then. Did dream me forget his keys as well?" He asked with a light smile, because that was something had been doing since moving in with Sherlock.

"Yeah..." Sherlock said and chuckled weakly, "And dream me had a sudden longing for chocolate donuts, while you wanted croissants." he said and gave a small shrug, "To be honest, I'd rather stay away from both for a very long time after this.."

"Hmm, we could get muffins for breakfast in that case. Or waffles with syrup." John suggested. Not because he was hungry, but because waffles with syrup were a much nicer thing to think about. Maybe that'd help put Sherlock's mind at ease a bit.

Sherlock smiled, "Waffles with syrup sounds good." he said and hummed a faint chuckle, "I've got everything we'll need for that here too.. so no need to go to the bakery.." he murmured and experimentally closed his eyes, letting out a small relived sigh at finding out that he didn't see any images of his dream when he did so. "I'm sorry I scared you like that," he murmured quietly.

"No need to apologise. I'm just glad I did notice eventually." He told him truthfully. "But I'd like to talk to you about it in the morning, if that's alright." He said and kissed his boyfriend's head once more.

Sherlock smiled lightly and nodded, "Yeah, I guess so.." he said and bit his lip, "John.. I don't.. please don't let this affect your decision.. you shouldn't feel pressured to do anything you don't really want just because I'm a terrified mess.." he said and gave a small shrug.

"Of course I won't" Naturally this really was nudging him towards a certain decision. "I've told you that my whole family turning wouldn't change my mind. I'm just that selfish. You don't have to worry about me, okay?" John said with a sigh, hoping this would come off as comforting rather than egotistical.

"And I didn't want you to worry about me.." Sherlock said and sighed, feeling exhaustion grow over again. "But I suppose that's one of the things people in love want to but can't avoid." he said and smiled a little to himself, snuggling even closer up to John, wrapping his leg around him as well, just feeling the need to be constantly reminded that he wasn't hugging a pillow here.

"Yeah, it probably is." He said with a bit of a smile and ran a hand lazily up and down Sherlock's back. He was starting to get tired again, but wanted to stay awake until Sherlock was beginning to relax. Not as if he was going to tell his boyfriend though.

"You know.. until you decide.. can you just try very hard not to get killed in the meantime?" Sherlock asked and raised his head again to look at John, "That'd be good." he said with a small smile, leaning in to peck John's lips.

"Yes, love, I'll try extra hard to stay alive for you." John smiled at his boyfriend and chuckled lightly. "You kinda make it sound like I'm suicidal. Be assured I love my life and won't give it away that easily, okay?"

Sherlock smiled and leaned in again to capture John's lips with his own for a proper kiss this time, using his leg to press him closer against himself, "You'd better not.." he murmured into the kiss.

"I definitely won't." John assured and kissed him back, bringing one hand up into his curls and letting the other travel down his side. Without thinking much about it, he rolled them both carefully onto the side, so that he had an easier time leaning into Sherlock.

Sherlock smiled against John's lips, using the leg he had wrapped around him to pull John on top of himself as he rolled onto his back and brought his other leg up around John as well.

 

\-----------------------

 

The next morning, John was glad to be awoken only by the thin ray of sunlight that was shining through the curtains right onto his face and nothing else. He didn't have any classes today which was a very welcome change. After about a minute of just lying there and feeling his boyfriend next to him (who was probably already/still awake), he opened his eyes with a tired smile. "Morning"

"Good morning..." Sherlock said, waking up from a light slumber at John's movement. For a moment slightly worried this was a repeat of the same dream but then he realised they were both still naked and entangled, which hadn't been part of the dream. "I'm gonna punch you unconscious for your own safety if you say you want to get croissants from Corner's.." he said with a chuckle, his mood still much brighter.

John chuckled a little at that and shook his head. "Pity, I like croissants, but I thought we'd agreed on waffles anyway, hadn't we?" He asked and lifted his head to peck Sherlock's lips.

Sherlock nodded and chuckled a little, running his hand down John's side. "You know... You asked what you can do if I've got nightmares like that.. turns out reminding me that you're very much alive... Like last night.. does /a lot/ to chase away the dream..." he said with a smirk.

John smirked at that and laid his hand on Sherlock's. "Well, good thing then that I really like a good midnight shag. Did you end up sleeping at all, Sher?"

"Some light dozing..." Sherlock said and smiled lightly, resting his head against John's head against John's shoulder, "I mostly wondered about the way I see your family." he said and frowned, "Especially your father and Harry... She was.. pretty composed in my dream.. seemed to put on your dad's attitude.. is she really like that? Not showing too many emotions in situations like that?"

John thought about that, before nodding. "Yeah, you know, three years ago, when Mag gran died, I don't think either of them was crying. I think in that regard we're both like my dad, you know. Her probably more than me. Though, I wouldn't mind her to show at least a little emotion if I should, well, anyway... Yeah, I'd say she toughens up in situations like that.”

"No she did.. but.. it was subtle.. or maybe it seemed subtle because I was so out of it.." Sherlock said with a sigh, "Anyway.. can we change the subject for a moment? I've got classes from 12 to 3 today.. so if we could delay talking about the... situation until after that, I'd appreciate it.. and... while I know I can't take you up on promises you made in a dream..." he said with a smirk. "Dream you did promise to bathe with me." he chuckled.

John chuckled at that and shook his head. "Then real me should better make sure to keep at least that promise. I'm just glad I'm taking the intensive anatomy workshop this semester." He commented with a smirk; every other Sunday for two months for a uni-free Monday was a nice trade. With a sigh, he pushed himself up into a sitting position and glanced at his watch. "so, waffles?"

Sherlock chuckled, "Harry forgot her clothes by the way." he said, with a roll of his eyes, pulling out a bra he was lying on and which must have been lying somewhere on the bed last night. "It's that.. or you have some explaining to do..." he said, holding up the black bra.

"Oh, shut it, I wasn't the one who shared a dress with Harry yesterday. Speaking of which, we had /sex/ on /my sister's underwear/?" He said with a scrunched face, as he looked at the offending piece of clothing, before getting out of bed for good.

"We probably did.." Sherlock said with a laugh at John's reaction, "It's just a bra though.. It's not like she was lying next to us and watched." he said chuckling and standing up as well, wrapping his arms around John from behind after dropping the bra.

John sighed and relaxed a little into Sherlock. "Yeah, but it's still weird. Anyway, we don't need to dwell on this. Breakfast now or shall I keep dream me's promise first?" He asked and turned his head to kiss Sherlock's cheek.

"Keep your promise first." Sherlock chuckled, "I feel like I don't see you naked often enough..." he smirked, leaning down to kiss John's neck.

"I feel the same about you, you know?" He replied with a chuckle, before turning in Sherlock's arms to kiss him properly. "Let's go then, love."

"How about we add a no clothes at home rule.. that is unless we have visitors, obviously." Sherlock said and smiled as he took John's hand, leading him over to the bathroom.

"That's a very interesting proposal." John said with a chuckle, stepping into the bathroom. "However, I still don't think I'd like Mrs. Hudson to ever walk in on that." 

"Oh right... in the worst case, she'd join in on it.." Sherlock said and scrunched up his nose. "Okay.. lets say that rule only goes when we don't have visitors and Mrs Hudson is out." he laughed as he leant down to turn on the water and put the plug in.

"Jesus, I don't even want to think about that." John said with a smiliar expression, before laughing a little. "Alright, that we can talk about." He said and came up behind Sherlock to wrap his arm around him when he stood up; Sherlock had seemed as if he wanted John closer than usual to him today and he was happy to oblige.

Sherlock smiled, leaning back into John's embrace and resting his hands on his boyfriend's, "Maybe we could start sleeping naked.." he said and chuckled a little, turning his head a bit to press a kiss to John's cheek.

John smiled back and rested his head on Sherlock's shoulder. "Actually, I think pyjama bottoms are overrated anyway." He said with a chuckle. "And it might be an extra motivation."

Sherlock smirked, "Definitely overrated." he said and turned to glance at John, "Motivation for some more nightmare therapy?" he asked with a smirk, "Because I'd very much like that." he chuckled.

"So would I." He replied and smiled into Sherlock's neck. "I'm glad we could agree on that." He murmured and ran a hand down Sherlock's side. “Might be some extra motivation.”

Sherlock smiled, "In fact.. some extra therapy session right now would really light up my day." he said and turned around in John's arms to kiss him deeply, moving backwards and stepping blindly into the tub.


	26. Still No Croissants

 

After an extra therapy session for Sherlock and some drying each other off afterwards, they both got dressed and went into the kitchen where they made some waffles with syrup and 'special syrup'. Before long it was half past eleven and Sherlock had to leave for his classes, leaving John alone to study at their flat. After about half an hour, he gave in to the itch in his fingers and texted his sister.

* * *

 

                                                                                                                                          

I think I need your advice. It's about Sherlock. JW

Okay.. what's up? HW

Those nightmares he told you about? He woke me up in the middle of the night. JW

Woke you up as in waking you up to tell you about it? Or did you wake up from him.. getting upset? HW

The latter. JW

Oh.. that doesn't sound good. But.. how exactly would my advice help? I'm a cabbie not a therapist. HW

Well, you're in a healthy relationship for one thing and my sister. I mean, I need to talk to him about it, but I don't know what to say. JW

Well.. it honestly sounds like he should see a therapist. But he'd probably have a hard time explaining his actual problem. HW

Well, yeah. And it can't go on like this. He's already forbidden me to go buy croissants and I don't even want to know what this could evolve into once I'm leaving for service. JW

Why did he forbid you to get croissants? Does he think someone would poison you? HW

Not exactly, dream me got hit by a car on his way to buy croissants. JW

Oh.. but he said the dreams aren't that bad because he knows when he's dreaming.. HW

Yeah, he said that to me too, but apparently this one was very realistic. JW

Don't you know some psychology student you'd trust. You could tell them about vampires... It really seems like he needs some professional help there, Johnny. HW

No, I don't unfortunately. But loss anxiety isn't really a vampire only problem. I mean, it's just a different reason, right? JW

But don't people have to dive into that reason.. I guess that's what therapy's for. And if he tells them he's afraid he'll lose his mortal fiancé and that he'll have to spend the rest of his vampire life alone. Well.. I'm sure he'll get /some sort/ help, but not the kind he needs. HW

Yeah, that's true... It's kind of why I'm asking you for advice here. I mean, I'll have to talk to him about this eventually anyway. JW

Are you really so unsure about turning? I mean.. that would probably not solve the problem entirely, but it'd likely help quite a bit.. HW

You mean it would be better if I just said no right now? Because one week isn't all that much to make a decision like that. JW

I didn't mean say no, Johnny. But look at it from his point of view. As we've stated right now, he can't go see a therapist about it. So having you turn is the only thing he can hope for. HW

Isn't uncle Paul's new wife a therapist? JW SH

Wait, you want to tell uncle Paul's wife about it? HW  
I mean.. I like her, but.. I'm not sure she'd believe you. And.. we should probably be careful about telling therapists anything of the kind.. HW

Yeah, you're probably right... Look, besides turning, is there anything else I could do? JW

Well.. don't go buying croissants, I suppose. Maybe ask him if you should text him more often when you're out without him.. I don't know. Clara was also worried when I was still.. well, mortal in the common sense. But not like that. Why is he so panicky anyway? Is there a story to it? HW

Well, he had a 'mortal' husband... I think that might be the reason. His brother even send him a picture of him on our first date as a reminder to get him to leave me. JW

Oh wow.. what a dick. I can see why he doesn't think so highly of him.. HW

Yeah, that was a low blow... So, I just stop buying croissants and donuts for now? JW

What's wrong with donuts now? Is that part of the croissant thing or a separate story? HW

Oh no, same story. I just forgot to mention that dream Sherlock wanted donuts. JW

Why donuts? HW  
Never mind, dream logic, probably. By the way, I think I left my bra, jeans and tshirt at yours. HW 

Right, I almost forgot. You can drop by any time, when you're in the area. JW  
Just don't bring any baked goods. JW

Maybe that wouldn't be bad though.. at least he'd see donuts and croissants aren't going to kill anyone. HW

Yeah, I suppose so. I'll just have to be quick to explain I didn't go out to get them JW

Well if I bring them when I'm coming around he'll see that. HW

Not when you come pick up your stuff right now. He's at uni. By the way, you aren't driving, are you? JW

My shift starts in an hour, why? HW

Nothing, sorry. JW  
Just wondering if I should expect you here any time soon. JW

Nah, if you don't mind, I'll come around some time the next few days. HW

Sure, whenever you're in the area. Thanks for talking, Harry. JW

You're welcome.. just wish I could do more.. HW

Me too... But I doubt there's much more to be done right now. JW

I suppose. Well.. good luck with that talk then. HW

Thanks, I'll need it. JW

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                


	27. Mummy?

The week had passed without another hitch, which Sherlock was very thankful for. Four nights without bad dreams. Maybe talking about the most usual scenarios with John had helped with that and of course the fact that John seemed to text every hour whenever he was out. He still had the same fears nagging at him, but it was more bearable now that John knew. "You looked up psychology classes?" Sherlock called from the living room, where he was surfing a bit on the internet since John had decided to spend their free Friday studying. "What for.. they're not a requirement if you want to specialise in surgery.."

"You're looking at my browsing history again?" John called back from the kitchen, where he was seated on the table, his chemistry notes scattered all over it.

"Well not intentionally..." Sherlock said and chuckled, "It's in the google search history." he said as he stood up with the laptop, walking over to the kitchen, "You're okay here.. I told you I can help if you need me to." he said and raised a brow at the pile of notes.

"Hm?" He looked up at his boyfriend. "Oh, I'm good, but thanks. Inorganic chemistry just isn't my favourite. And about the psychology thing, I just thought it could come in handy some time."

"You mean for instance when your vampire boyfriend is suffering from some ages old trauma?" Sherlock asked with a small smile, leaning over to peck John's cheek, "Thanks, though.. it's appreciated." he mumbled, leaning back in his chair and putting the laptop on his lap.

John smiled a little over at him. "Of course, love. I got the impression you were more relaxed the past couple of days though." He commented after a moment, still looking at Sherlock.

Sherlock smiled and sighed a little, "Yeah.. I guess the whole telling you about things that trouble me thing.. is not as much of a bad idea as I initially thought." he said and smiled lightly, "By the way, if you need something from the supermarket, tell me now, because I'll go in a minute. I'm gonna make crème brulet today as a dessert." he said with a grin.

"Mmh, I think we're short of tomatoes." John said after a moment of thought. "I'm already looking forward to that by the way." He added with a smile, before refocusing on his notes.

Sherlock smiled and hesitated for a moment about bringing up something he had been thinking about, "Erm.. can you get fresh croissants and donuts tomorrow morning?" he asked quietly. He had thought about it the whole week. It was ridiculous to ban John from getting particular foods. Or go to a particular bakery. "I mean.. from Corner's.." he said and glanced up at John.

John looked back up at Sherlock and nodded with a smile. "Definitely. I need to leave for uni around eight tomorrow, so how about we eat at half past seven?" This was a big step for him, but John didn't want to make a big deal out of it so as not going to make Sherlock uncomfortable.

"Yeah.. sounds ... good." Sherlock said hesitantly and smiled sheepishly at John, it just felt odd to have confirmed mental issues. Especially with a doctor at home. When they talked about it, he kind of felt more like a patients sometimes. But then again, it was also helpful to talk about it. It was just a weird feeling generally. "Is it stupid to ask you to text me when you're there?" he asked and cleared his throat. "And.. when you're leaving?"

"No, it's not stupid. I understand where you're coming from, so naturally I'll text you." John said, shaking his head at the question. He really just wished he could help Sherlock more with his progress. "Though, I guess my teenage self would have a different answer to that." He joked with a light chuckle.

"Well, I'm glad I'm dating more or less adult you then." Sherlock said and leant over to steal himself a kiss, before he stood up, "Anyway, I'll get going then, you need the laptop? Or should I bring it back into the living room?" he asked.

"More or less?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in good humour. "No, here's fine. I might still need it for my studies." He commented, inwardly sighing at the fact he still had to learn all of this in front of him.

Sherlock smiled, setting it down on the table, "If you need help with chemistry though, tell me." he said and kissed John's cheek again, before he grabbed his wallet and keys.

"I might actually take you up on that later." John said with a wry smile, before calling after him when he watched him leave. "Love you!"

"Well you've got a 56 times graduated chemist at home, why not use him." Sherlock said with a laugh as he walked over to the door, "Love you too!" he called back.

John smiled and went back to studying inorganic chemistry... 56? That was bloody impressive. He thought to himself, before turning the page in his book.

\--------------------------------------

Vanessa Berkeley was already late for her appointment when she finally reached her nephew's flat, feeling a little bad for not giving him a warning, but she just didn't have time right now, with a patient waiting for her at their home having a mental breakdown. She couldn't get anyone else on the phone and John's flat was on the way to her patient's, so it was convenient and John would hopefully not mind to take care of her twins Amy and Ally. The girls were happy to see him anyway, he was their favourite cousin after all. Parking the car, she quickly got the girls out of the car with practised moves lifting Amy up to sit on the side of her hip, before crouching down so she could lift Ally up on her other side bumping the car door closed with her backside before she walked up to the front door and let both girls press the bell one time.

John frowned, when the doorbell rang that soon again. Hadn't Sherlock taken his keys with him and Mrs. Hudson usually didn't ring... Reluctantly getting up and leaving behind his studies, he went out of their flat and down the stairs to the front door. His eyebrows darted up, when the sight of his aunt and her little daughters greeted him. "Hi Vanessa. Erm, what can I help you with?"

"You can help me with those two here. I've got some sort of emergency with one of my patients, they're having a complete breakdown and I have to get there, but I can hardly take them with me." Vanessa said, already handing Ally over, "Mummy's got to work!" Ally exclaimed, grinning broadly at her cousin. "We can play now!" Amy added and chuckled as Vanessa set her down. "Really, I'll pay you, dear, just take them for an hour or two. They've got to have their nap in an hour anyway so you won't even notice they're here."

And there went his study afternoon... John already knew his little cousins well enough to know that he'd probably very much notice they're there, but he could hardly say to to her. Especially now that he was holding Ally in one arm. And maybe it would actually just take two hours. "Erm, sure, don't worry about it. Have they already eaten?" He asked kindly, smiling at Amy.

Vanessa sighed in relief, "Thank you /so much/, John, really. They've had lunch, but only a sandwich so if you could possibly make them something." she said and smirked at him, "You'll understand how its once you've got your degree and your own pack of little ones." she said and chuckled a little. "Maybe with that new girl Beth told me about, although she did say that she was very rude when you introduced her, anyway, no time for chitchat, I'll get going." she said as Amy walked over to him.

"Sure, see you, Vanessa." John said, still smiling as he held out two fingers for Amy so she could hold his hand. "We'll have a nice time until mummy's back, won't we?" He said to Ally.

Vanessa smiled, "You're saving my life, honestly.." she said and frowned, "Or perhaps my patients.. that's not entirely clear at this point." she said, already walking back to the car, "See you later, girls and be nice to John!" she said, getting into the car and driving off.

John sighed once she was gone and closed the door behind her, making a memo to himself to rage about Mark's mum at a later time, when he wasn't in charge of his baby cousins anymore. "Come here, Amy." He said and lifted her up as well, before carrying them both upstairs. (He didn't want to risk any staircase-related accidents). Sitting them both down on the carpet in the living room, he crouched down next to them. "So, here we are."

"Can we play princess?" Amy asked as she looked around in the flat along with Ally, "John that's not your home! Your home is small!" Ally pointed out and frowned, "Yeah your home has a blue wall!" Amy joined in and looked questioningly at John.

"That's because we like blue. And there are big and small homes, but they're still all homes." John explained patiently, not really knowing what else to say to that. "Come on, little princesses, let's play a bit, alright?"

“But your home is small! It's not your home!" Amy insisted and Ally nodded, "She's right!" she added and both looked at him like he was a bit slow, which was a look Sherlock could have given.

John chuckled faintly and shook his head a little. Great, now he had three of them in the flat... "Okay, what do you think is my home then?" He asked, curious what they'd tell him this time.

"Not this!" Amy pointed out and Ally nodded again, "Yeah it's someone else's home!" she explained and chuckled, "Is it your girlfriend's? Aunt Beth said you had a girlfriend!" she babbled and Amy snickered too.

"I have a boyfriend, not a girlfriend, you know. His name is Sherlock. You can meet him when he comes home from the shops." He said, hoping the new information would distract them from the home-thing.

"Oh!" Amy said and smiled, "That's really cool!" she said and Ally joined in again with a nod, "Yeah! I saw that on tv! That's when kids have like two daddies then the daddies are boyfriends too!" she explained, looking at the door as it was unlocked and opened and Sherlock walked in carrying a shopping back, stopping in his tracks as he spotted the toddlers. "I missed something didn't I?" he asked with a raised brow, looking at the twins sitting in their flat.

John gave him a slight smile from on the carpet. "They're my cousins Amy and Ally. Aunt Vanessa brought them over a few minutes ago be cause she had an emergency at work. She's Amber's stepmum. They'll be with us for a couple of hours." He explained, before turning to the girls. "And this is my boyfriend, Sherlock.”

"Oh. That explains it. I was about to say there are certain things we have to do before we have our own.." Sherlock said with a chuckle, setting the bags down and pulling out a box of cookies, "And luckily... he said, walking over to the girls and crouching down, I brought this." he said and Amy's and Ally's eyes grew wide, "Are they all for us?!" Amy asked and Sherlock chuckled, "Nah.. I think your mummy wouldn't like that so much, but you both can have one.. /if/ you tell me who is who." he said with a smirk and Ally snickered. "I'm Amy!" she exclaimed and Amy nudged her sister, "We don't get cookies if you lie!" she said and looked at Sherlock seriously, "I'm Amy and she's Ally." she said and smiled.

John chuckled and gave his boyfriend a look that said 'yup, they're two. Don't ask me.'. He then said. "Now, I know who's who and I can tell Sherlock that Amy just told him the truth."

Sherlock chuckled, "Mmh, I know.. because I can tell when people lie." he said and smiled at the girl's excited faces, "Really? How?" Ally asked and Sherlock smiled, "They do weird things with their faces then. I can teach you to watch out for that if you like.." he said, opening the box and handing both of them a cookie.

John chuckled and went over to Sherlock to kiss his cheek and talk to him while the two little ones were busy munching their snack. "Paul is gonna blame me now if they are gonna stop believing his stories, you know." He chuckled. He could already tell his boyfriend was good with children.

"Hey, I'm just teaching stuff everyone should know." Sherlock said with a smile, "Yeah everyone should know how to see if someone lies because liars are bad people!" Ally said and Sherlock chuckled, "Hm, I wouldn't say that, honey bee, some people lie because they don't want to hurt your feelings like when they don't like something someone cooked, but they worked really hard, they say it's really tasty even though it really isn't." he said and smiled as he sat properly down with them, "But you should still try to be honest most of the time." he explained.

John watched Sherlock talk to his little cousins with a fond smile. Meanwhile Amy nodded empathetically at that, before telling Sherlock. "Amber baked cookies once and burnt them. Mummy and daddy still said they were yummy, but they were all /black/!" She giggled excitedly.

"Hm, that's just what I mean." Sherlock said and smiled, "Amber sure put a lot of effort into those cookies and it wouldn't have been nice for her if someone said they taste bad, sometimes it even feels better for people when they know themselves that it isn't quite true. It's called a white lie.. they're not all bad, but as I said, the truth is better in most cases." Sherlock said and Ally smiled, "Mummy says that too." she said and Sherlock smiled, "Yeah.. mine did as well when I was your age.." Sherlock said and sighed softly, "And let me tell you a secret, even if you don't always like what mummy says, mummies are mostly right.." he said with a wink and smiled at the girls. They really looked a lot like his sister had when she was little.

Hadn't Sherlock already talked about wanting to have kids? John thought with a smile. At least this would make the afternoon more relaxed with the both of them getting along with them.  
Amy grinned back up at her cousin's boyfriend, before 'running' over to him. Wrapping her tiny arms around him (at least partly) she snuggled into his side. He was one of the good grown-ups, she could tell.

Sherlock smiled as Amy cuddled up to him, followed by her sister, "I like you." Ally said as Sherlock wrapped both his arms around the little ones, "Well.. that's good, because I like you two as well." he said and chuckled softly, "But... What do you say, you have an early nap and when you wake up..." he said, pausing a little to make them just a touch more curious, "When you wake up we have dinner together and after that, we can build a pillow fort!" he said and Ally giggled, "Okay! But only if we get another cookie." She said and Sherlock chuckled, "After dinner." he said and Ally pouted, but nodded, "Alright..." she said and smiled again as she cuddled closer up to Sherlock. "But you have to tell us a story!" she said and Sherlock grinned. "That's doable." he said with a chuckle.

"I'll already get you your beds ready, while Sherlock tells you a story, alright sweethearts?" John said, without really expecting a proper answer. With those two he was just used to announce whatever he was doing to keep them on track. He also was glad he didn't have to feel bad for leaving Sherlock 'alone' with them for a moment. The sofa cushions and their big pillow should make a nice mattress for them. Amy nodded excitedly, before asking. "A pirate one! Please..." Her mummy often told them those before bedtime, so it was only appropriate to have one now too.

Sherlock smiled, diving into a tale that was the same kind his mother used to tell him when he was little and asking for stories. It featured pirates, mermaids, even the occasional vampire and ghost, but it only had the appearance of scary and exciting story by the overuse of mystical creatures while in fact, it was all very much appropriate for their age.

Somewhere towards the end Amy had drifted off, cuddled against Sherlock's leg, even though she'd tried to stay awake to hear the whole story. Meanwhile John had propped some cushions and bedding on the carpet for a makeshift toddler-bed. A crumpled note in his hand he'd started to learn a little (though in truth he'd ended up listening to Sherlock's story more). When Sherlock was done, John got out his phone and snapped a picture of the three. "Okay, this is the most adorable screen-saver" He said with a smile. "Let's get them into bed, yeah?"

Sherlock smiled, "They're adorable.." he murmured, waiting for John lift up Amy, before he lifted up Ally, "They look an awful lot like my sister, you know.." he said and smiled as he carried the little one over to the makeshift bed, laying her down.

"Well, they're certainly smart enough to be your sisters." He said with a chuckle and tucked the older sibling in. "Honestly, I love Amber, but next to those two, we both look like idiots." He commented with a shake of head. "Anyway, you've never told me you're that good with kids."

"I am?" Sherlock asked and frowned at John, "Maybe I'm just good with Watsons, ever thought about that?" he asked with a chuckle and glanced up at John with a smirk, before standing up.

John chuckled at that and got to his feet. "Even though they aren't Watsons, you've definitely got us all three wrapped around your finger." He said and walked up to Sherlock, wrapping his arms around him.

Sherlock smiled, "They're really cute though.. and smart." he said and frowned, "You think their mum would mind if we have them over more often? They seem smarter than average for their age. Some sort of advanced early education probably doesn't hurt.." he said, watching the little ones.

"Yeah, Vanessa and Paul are always busy, so I think they'd just be happy for the cheap babysitters." He commented, before smiling once more. "And 'advanced early education'? You really like them, don't you?"

"Well.. I was like that when I was little too.." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "I mean.. you know.. too smart for my age, but back then there kind of wasn't anything like highly gifted people.. sticking to the norm was the main goal." he said and chuckled a little.

"I'm certainly glad we're all living here then." John said and kissed his cheek. "I'm sure you'll like Vanessa though. From what I can tell she does a great job of keeping them entertained." He said, remembering that she still thought Sherlock was a girl, a thought that made the earlier anger bubble up again.

"If you like her so much... why do you look like you want to wring her neck?" Sherlock asked with a frown, picking up the cookies and the bags, deciding to start working on the promised dinner.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, apparently aunt Beth talked to her about my 'rude girlfriend'. She was in a rush, so I didn't get the chance to correct her, but seriously? That woman probably wouldn't let me near Mark anymore if she had a say in it..."

"Well.. I do look very good in a dress." Sherlock said and chuckled, trying to cheer John up a bit, "So she wasn't that far off." he said and walked over to steal himself a kiss, "But I should probably have my own dinner before the little ones wake up and ask questions." he said and frowned at how strange it felt to have to hide it again.

John chuckled a bit. "Yeah, they'd probably figure it out in under five minutes the way I know them." He said, shaking his head. "But you know maybe-" He broke off; if he turned, there was no way they'd stick around long enough until they could tell them. But he didn't want to think about that right now. "What's on tonight's mortal menu then, love?" He asked instead with a smile.

"Maybe what?" Sherlock asked and frowned at John, before looking into the bag, "Well, I was actually going with self made fried noodles.. but I'm sure I can throw together a quick Bologna.. you know, it's more child-friendly." he said and chuckled as he started to unpack the groceries.

"I'm sure they'll love it." He said with a smile and went over to Sherlock to help him store away the groceries. "Do you need any help with that or do you think I can give chemistry another try while the twins are still asleep?"

Sherlock smiled, "No go ahead, I've got this." he said and pecked John's cheek again, "It was actually lucky I brought cookies, it's the way to every child's heart." he said and chuckled as he stored them away.

John chuckled as well. "That's true. It's a nice coincidence." He commented, before sitting back down at the kitchen table, hunched over his notes. This was going much more smoothly than he'd have expected.

"I was kind of startled for a moment, though." Sherlock said and laughed, "I mean.. not that I'd mind us to have kids, but I'd like to be informed we're going to get some before it happens." he said and smirked as he started to cook, having 'dinner' on the side.

"Yeah, while you were out grocery shopping I just went ahead and got children. Surprise!." John said with a bit of a laugh. "Don't worry, I'd have texted you if I had gone out."

"But not if you'd gotten us children?" Sherlock asked and laughed, "Maybe.. if you do that.. mention the children part in the text." he chuckled, nipping on his glass, before put a pot with water on the stove for the noodles.

That would be boring though, wouldn't it?" He teased with a chuckle and went back to his notes. "Thank you for cooking today by the way."

Sherlock smiled, leaning over and kissing John's head, before he went back to cooking being interrupted when a sleepy Ally walked into the kitchen, "I'm not tired anymore can I help cooking?" she asked and looked at the glass. "Ew.. tomato juice!" she said and scrunched up her nose. "That's icky! Mummy drinks tomato juice too all the time because she says its really healthy but I think it's icky!" she babbled and Sherlock smiled, tomato juice seemed like a good excuse when you had to hide it from a 2 year old, so he was just going with that. "Yeah.. but mummy is right, it is very healthy." he said and chuckled, lifting Ally up on his arm. "You know what you can do, you can help me pick what kind of noodles we'll cook." he said, walking over to the cupboard with her.

It didn't take long for Amy to notice that her twin sister was gone and got up on her feet to stumble into the kitchen, where all the noise was coming from. Carefully, she watched the ongoings, before walking over to her cousin's boyfriend who was holding his sister. Once she'd reached him, she pulled on a leg of his trousers. " 'Lock? Ally? What are you doing?"

Sherlock smiled down at her, he wouldn't admit it, but the way she called him 'Lock' was quite heart-warming. "I'm helping Lock cook!" Ally pointed out, "I can pick the noodles!" she exclaimed proudly and Sherlock chuckled, leaning down to pick up Amy as well, "You both can." he said, walking back over to the cupboard.

Amy looked at the different kinds of noodles and relatively quickly lost interest when she saw Sherlock's glass of 'tomato juice'. She always drank that at home too, so now that it was so conveniently in front of her she quickly reached out and brought the 'special treat' to her lips to take a sip, spilling some of it in the process.

"Amy don-" Sherlock tried to warn, but it was already too late when she had drunken from it already and Sherlock had no free hand to stop her, holding both kids, "Why can't she it's just tomato juice, she likes it a lot!" Ally informed and Sherlock frowned, really having no idea what to do or say for once. "Amy.. are you .. alright? John.. I need some assistance here.."

John looked up and frowned, taking less than five seconds to stand next to his boyfriend and cousins. "What's wr-" He started, the words dying in his throat, when he spotted the glass of blood in Amy's hands and immediately took her from Sherlock to sit her down on the kitchen table. Taking a closer look at (and the glass away from) her, John didn't know which was worse: the fact that his little cousin had blood dripping from the corners of her mouth or how unperturbed she seemed to be by all of this.. He'd never thought he'd ever wish his baby cousin would throw up... "Sherlock... what happened?" He asked, trying very hard to keep his voice level. Amy frowned at all of the sudden fuss. "What's the problem?"

"She just took a sip! I had my hands full, what was I supposed to do?" Sherlock asked and walked over to the kitchen table as well, looking at Amy, "Are you alright, bee? Are you feeling ill?" he asked and Ally frowned, "What's happening?" she asked with a frown.

"No, I'm fine. Why are you so excited?" She asked and looked at the two adults in front of her with wide eyes. John looked at her carefully and bit his lip. "Nothing's happening. Amy, don't-" He started and put the glass even more out of her reach, when she reached out for the glass again. "Ally, I'm thirsty!" She turned to her sister, when the adults wouldn't respond.

"John..." Sherlock said and frowned, "Can you hold Ally for a second?" he said slowly, handing the little girl over to his boyfriend before he crouched down in front of Amy, "Darling, open your mouth for me." he said and felt her canines when she obliged, "John..." he said and cleared his throat, "They're right.. give her the glass back.." he said and turned to look at him with a frown, "It's.. okay." he said and took a breath, realising that /nothing/ was okay here, not when a 2 year old had been turned into a vampire.

John gave Sherlock a shocked look, before forcing himself calm for the sake of his cousins. "Here, there you go, princess." He said and gave Amy the glass back, though he kept his hand on it so that she wouldn't spill even more. This couldn't be true... Jesus Christ. "Sherlock, is Mrs. H downstairs?" He needed to talk to his boyfriend. Right now. Meanwhile Amy accepted that and continued to happily drink her tomato juice, though she did notice that the two men weren't alright. "Are you okay?" She asked after a while over a glass.

Sherlock smiled and nodded, "Yeah.. everything's alright, Amy, sorry about the fuss. But I thought I had seen a bee in your drink and that's very dangerous, because it can still sting if you swallow one." he said and smiled, "But I probably was just wrong." he said and smiled at her setting her down after taking away the almost empty glass. "You know what, if you go downstairs and knock at the door there, there's a nice old lady, just tell them I sent you two and I'll explain it later, alright?" he asked and Ally nodded, "Okay, come Amy!" she said and took her sister's hand.

Amy smiled at her sister and nodded, before going with her sister to the door. After John had opened it for them he watched them go safely downstairs, before returning to Sherlock. He was still pulling himself together, but the worry and slight look of panic on his face were evident as he looked at his boyfriend. "So she's a vampire?"

"She is.." Sherlock said and held out the small cut on his finger for John to see, it had been larger fore but it was rapidly healing with a double dose of vampire saliva, it was looking just like he had pricked himself with a needle, but he figured John would get the point. "Normal canines wouldn't cut like that... just.. what's going on? Do you think that Vanessa woman... I mean.. would she do that? Turn her daughter? Is she even a vampire? Even if Amy was ill, which is the only partly reasonable reason to do that... wouldn't dying be better than staying two years old forever?"

"Shit..." He groaned and closed his eyes for a moment. "I don't think she'd do something like that, but that doesn't mean much." He said, ruffling a hand through his hair. "Just, the thing is, I know for a fact Amy hasn't been sick in months. And definitely not sick enough to justify that..." He said and swallowed. "I mean it must've happened recently. She still looks exactly like Ally."

"Could your uncle....?" Sherlock asked, not sure what to say, really. "But.. that's unlikely, Ally did say 'mummy' drinks it too..." he said and frowned, "It must be her... But.. honestly this is sick. You can't just... I mean.. even if she mentally grows up.. she'll never be able to live a normal life.." he said and leant back against the counter.

"Jesus Christ..." He said, having utterly no idea what to do. "I'm not supposed to call her out of an emergency like that unless it's extremely important. I'd almost say this counts." He said, mainly because he wanted answers and someone he could hold accountable. "I mean what do we do now? Just pretend everything's fine until Vanessa's-" John was cut off by the doorbell. "That must be her." He said, before going downstairs and opening the door, not really masking his anger, when he greeted her. "Hello John" She said, slightly startled by his mood. "What's going on?"

Sherlock followed John downstairs and was about to make his opinion really very clear to the girls' mother when he heard that voice, which nearly made him stumble down the last few steps. He was almost in shock at hearing that distinctive voice. But that couldn't be. It couldn't be. It was just not possible and yet, when he moved to stand beside John, looking at the woman standing in front of the door, he felt his knees go weak. He had never, ever been that close to fainting ever since he had become a vampire. "Mummy?" he asked and watched an equally shocked expression unfold on 'Vanessa's' face, "Is.. Oh my god.. Sherlock is that you?" she asked, tears forming in her eyes just like in his as they both just stood there, frozen in place and staring at each other.


	28. The Psychiatrist And The Couch

John watched the two of them with raised eyebrows, as he slowly understood what was going on. So Vanessa was a vampire which was why she'd changed her name from Violet over time... Jesus. He cleared his throat and momentarily forgot about everything else. "So you're Violet, I take it?"

Violet just nodded and Sherlock smiled lightly, still too dumbfounded to really react to those news properly, "Well.. erm.. John.. I guess I have the unexpected .. really very unexpected pleasure to introduce you to my mother." he said and chuckled in disbelief, "Mummy... this is my boyfriend.." he said and kind of felt a tiny bit smug about getting to introduce John to her.

John smiled, still overwhelmed by the news himself, and held out a hand to his aunt (just because it seemed to be the appropriate thing to do). "Hello Violet. And just for your information, there is no girlfriend." He added with a chuckle.

"Yes.. I.. I figured." Violet said, slowly feeling the shock fade away as she stepped forwards and hugged Sherlock, who's arms went around her in return immediately, "Oh my god, you have no idea how much I've missed you." she said and now did start to cry, "I've missed you too.." Sherlock said, resting his head against her shoulder, sniffling a little himself. "I just.. I can't believe it.." Sherlock said and looked at John, "Are there any more family members of mine married to yours, you better tell me now, because you better tell me now, because I don't know how many more of those shocks I can take at this point." he chuckled.

John gave him a smile at that, before remembering why he'd stormed downstairs in the first place. Right. Amy simply had priority here. And he couldn't forgive anyone who'd do something like that to her. "I need to talk to you." He said, sounding harsher now, and closed the door behind them. "We just discovered Amy's a vampire. How on earth do you explain that?" There was really no point in beating around the bush.

"I'm sure she's got a good reason for what she did, John.." Sherlock said lamely, not being able to think of one and he was clearly biased. He just couldn't help getting defensive when someone was talking to his mother in a tone like that. "No, no, he's right worrying about it, dear. But it's sweet of you to defend me like that." she said, taking ruffling Sherlock's curls out of habit just like she used to do. "Let's go upstairs and I'll explain everything. Where are the girls anyway?" she asked, with a start realising they were no where in sight. "You didn't leave them alone upstairs, did you?"

John shook his head at that. "No, of course not. They're with our landlady right here." He said and pointed at the door to 221A. "We just found out about Amy less than ten minutes ago and needed to talk in private." John explained shortly. It was obvious that he was still pretty unhappy with Violet's earlier response.

"Alright. Good. That's good." Violet said and sighed, figuring they weren't going anywhere since John didn't move, "Look, it's not what you think... She's growing.. I've turned her right after she was born, Paul diagnosed that something was wrong with her heart and she wasn't breathing properly either. I've seen kids like that.. I'm actually working with an orphanage that's only taking in those kids .. they grow. They aren't stuck. They grow until the fully grown and only then, they stop, they'll stay young adults forever.." she explained and Sherlock frowned, "Hang on... There's an orphanage with vampire children?" he asked and Violet nodded, "Yeah.."

John was visibly relieved at that new piece of information. Good. Amy was fine. That was the most important thing... He then frowned slightly. "Why would there be an orphanage only for- oh, the blood, right?"

"Yeah.. mostly they're getting those kids after .. well, murders. Kids that get worse and worse after their families are killed.. we also check if there are kids with their parents still alive that just get ill and no one knows what's wrong with them. Imagine a child gets turned and it doesn't get what it needs because no one knows.. that's what they do. A big part of that is letting the parents know about it too." she said and Sherlock suddenly realised something. "Hang on.. if Amy and Ally are your daughters..." he began and Violet chuckled, "Then they're your sisters, yes dear." she said and smiled happily.

John smiled at that, before talking again. "I can imagine you'd like some privacy upstairs. Do you want me to follow you in half an hour or longer with the girls?" He offered, figuring they probably had a lot to talk about.

Sherlock smiled, "You really wouldn't mind?" he asked and bit his lip, not wanting John to feel left out, but he really wanted to have a few minutes alone with his mother. He hadn't seen her for ages. It was even different than it was with Clara. He had his mother back.

"Don't be ridiculous, of course I don't. So, does an hour sound alright?" He asked with a smile, incredibly happy for his boyfriend. Though, it was kinda strange that their families were already intertwined like that.

"Don't be ridiculous, of course I don't. So, does an hour sound alright?" He asked with a smile, incredibly happy for his boyfriend. Though, it was kinda strange that their families were already intertwined like that.

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah.. that would do.." he said and smiled broadly his boyfriend, before looking back to his mother, "Should we go upstairs then?" he asked, still looking at his mother like she was just some mirage that'd disappear again in a moment.

"Yes, let's do that, darling." Violet said with a warm, motherly smile, as John already went inside Mrs. Hudson's flat so as not to disturb their moment. "We've got a lot to catch up on."

Sherlock nodded, taking his mother's hand, mostly to just be assured she'd not just disappear again, before leading her up the stairs, "So.. let me get this straight.. Amy and Ally are your biological children?" he asked as he led her into the flat. "They actually are my sisters? By blood?"

Violet held his hand firmly, finding it very hard to believe she had her youngest son back, and nodded. "It was a tough decision, but yes, they're my first children after Eurus... and they look exactly like her as well, don't you think? Those smart girls remind me so much of you three." She said with a soft smile and found herself welling up again.

"Yeah they really do.. I even told John so.." Sherlock said and pulled his mother into his arms again, noticing that she was about to cry again, "It was a very good decision, you know.. they're amazing. It was just a bit of a shock when Amy reached for my /tomato juice/ and took a sip without warning.." he said and chuckled softly.

Violet chuckled as well at that and ran her hand affectionately through her son's dark hair. "We're just relieved that Ally doesn't like actual tomato juice, otherwise we'd have a completely different problem. At least we don't have to check their teeth every time before giving Ally her sippy cup, now that they're older." She said with a smile and shook her head a little, before teasing lightly. "I wish those had already been invented when you were little, you know."

Sherlock chuckled at that, "Well.. yeah I imagine parenting is a lot easier these days." he said and smiled, "Must have been difficult when they were infants, though.." he said and frowned, "Unless.. a vampire infant instantly grows canines? I don't know." he said and chuckled a little.

"They don't unfortunately. Amy and Ally have always looked almost identical." Violet said with a sigh. "But the few times Ally's been sick made that easier; her sister has only been sick twice so far. The saliva's a dead give-away, but puncturing your finger several times a day can get a little annoying over time." Paul and her had been admittedly desperate at the time.

"Yeah.. I can imagine." Sherlock said and sighed, "God, honestly how did I miss that? You were what? 30 when you were turned? Kind of hard to guess for me, you just.. you know.. look like my .. mummy.." he said and blushed a little at the word, but it was true.

Violet chuckled warmly and nodded. "But I never expected any of you to pick up on that. And you still look exactly like on the day you went away..." Even though he still looked like back then, she knew only too well several lifetimes had passed in the meantime. She sighed softly and pulled back to look at him. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, darling. Believe me when I tell you that it's the biggest regret of my life."

Sherlock sighed, "It's fine, you didn't know, we didn't know..." he said and cleared his throat, "And.. you were a better mother than anyone else got to have back then. You accepted me even though, I really didn't fit in back then, I mean hell, you and father let me go off with Victor and live with him, not caring if it might come out and taint the family's reputation.." he said and smiled, "Did I ever really thank you for that?" he asked quietly.

"You never had to; All your father and I ever wanted was for you to be happy." She said with a shake of head, before adding. "Well, and safe. Please tell me you didn't actually go on to become a pirate."

Sherlock smiled, "Kinda... at least I played in a film where I was a pirate." he said with a laugh, "I guess you're not much of movie buff, are you?" he asked and ran a hand through his hair, "But other than that, no I mostly stayed safe.. I had a bit of a reckless phase after Victor died, but Mycroft kept me in line.."

"Mycroft?" She perked up immediately at the mention of his name, because if Victor had died of natural causes, her oldest son shouldn't have still been able to stick around... She knew she couldn't be that lucky and barely dared to even say it out loud. "Is he also...?"

"/Oh/!" Sherlock exclaimed and looked at her, "Yes, I'm sorry. I should have said that sooner, Mycroft is still alive, yeah, we were both turned at the same time." he said and smiled at her. "He's still around.." he said and smiled brightly, though, admittedly more because it would make his mother happy than that he was happy about that. At least recently he wasn't that happy about it.

"Oh, goodness!" Violet clasped a hand in front of her mouth, a few seconds later guiding her son's head down a bit to kiss his forehead. Wrapping her arms back around him in a tight embrace, her tears were beginning to run freely again. "I have my two boys back..." She whispered happily.

"You've got Jane and Clara back as well." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, feeling tears well up in his own eyes. "That's what I meant when I told John to tell me if any other family members of him are married to mine." he chuckled, shaking his head as he pulled back a bit to look at her, "Clara is married to John's sister, Harry. They're both vampires at this point. Clara turned her. Voluntarily, I might add."

She grinned at him happily through the veil of tears; those girls had been like daughters to her and the thought of having almost all of her little ones back at once was just overwhelming. "I mean, I had heard her name was Clara, but I would have never guessed she's our... Oh, Sherlock!"

"No, I didn't realise that until I really met her either. But she's definitely a Honeyfield." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Wait.. so.. does that mean.. Paul is my stepdad and Amber is my ... stepsister?" he asked and tried to remember their faces, he hadn't really paid attention to that with the fallout with Beth.

"Yes, they are. Oh, you've already met them on Emma's birthday then. Right..." She remembered that John had brought his partner along. "What is your first impression of our new family?"

"Eh... it's a mixed one.." Sherlock said with a laugh and shook his head, "I'd say it's generally a good impression of all of them except Beth. If you haven't noticed, she isn't that fond of me." he said and rolled his eyes.

Violet sighed at that and shook her head, but not even that woman could ruin her mood today. "Her opinion is utterly unimportant, alright? And you can rely on me having a serious talk with her in the future. As you know, I don't tolerate that kind of language when it comes to my own children." She said, a few seconds later adding. "But you've picked a nice boyfriend. I've known John since he was fourteen, you know, and he's a good boy. And you'll love your new sister; she's just wonderful." She said, since she got the feeling Sherlock hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her stepdaughter yet.

"Well.. I already knew I picked a nice boyfriend.." Sherlock said and smiled happily, "A very nice one.. and.. technically.. I'm not sure if boyfriend fits the bill.. we're practically already engaged, although John's still saving money to buy a ring.. even though he wouldn't admit that." he chuckled.

Violet smiled even brighter at her son and chuckled as well. "Congratulations, darling! I'm so glad he makes you that happy. This is so much wonderful news at once."

"Yeah he does..." Sherlock said and sighed a little, feeling that same fear bubble up again, that he might lose him, but he shook it off quickly, really not wanting to spoil this moment with his mother. "What about Paul then.. is he a vampire? Did you turn him?"

Violet frowned softly, sensing something wasn't quite right and deducing quickly that John most likely hadn't turned yet. The way she knew Sherlock combined with the fact he'd already lost at least one other partner meant this was probably hitting him harder than he'd let on. But if he didn't want to talk about that, she wasn't going to push him. "No, it's still too early for him yet, but he said he wanted to be turned on his 43rd birthday. So two more years. That way our age difference won't be that big."

"I don't think two years matter so much if you're well beyond the 200's." Sherlock chuckled and shook his head, "Anyway.. maybe you can help us, though.. we have to let David in on the whole vampire thing. Not only is his daughter one, but.. well.. I served with his father in the second world war and eventually turned him to save him.. and we want to reunite them, but John thinks it's gonna be harder than convincing him it's the truth.. which.. was pretty hard." he said and shrugged.

Violet chuckled softly at that. "You know, John's right with that. Almost three years ago, after turning Amy, Paul and I decided we needed to tell some family members so that she'd have a guardian who could look properly after her in the unlikely case we both died. And convincing him really was a tough one. Though right in the beginning Emma also thought we were having them on."

"Wait, they /know/?" Sherlock asked and raised a brow, "David and Emma know about vampires?" he asked and laughed, "Well.. that makes it easier.." he said and chuckled again, shaking his head, "Yeah, I guess that's gonna make it a lot easier to tell him his father's alive."

"Yes, I should think so." Violet said with a chuckle. "I'm so happy for him. He's been missing his father a lot over the years..." The trained psychiatrist gave a sigh. "How about we clean up a little so we can sit down on the couch?" She asked, gesturing with a smile towards the toddler bed John had made.

"Yeah.. well, I actually have a spare bedroom.. I mean.. I could make that a room for Amy and Ally.. I was going to suggest to help with their education anyway since they seemed very smart.." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Like.. Mycroft and me.." he said and smirked at knowing now that they were much more like Mycroft and him than he initially thought. "But I'd still like that.." he said and chuckled, "I mean.. after all I'm a 56 times graduated chemist with some other degrees as well.."

Violet smiled at that, glad that Sherlock accepted his new sisters that readily (she needed to remind herself again that he was a grown man and not a post-pubescent teenager). "That's impressive, darling. They'll be lucky to have a skilled mentor like yourself." She said and added. "And Paul and my schedules are really a bit tight, so we'd appreciate that a lot." She said and considered offering him money for a second, before coming to the conclusion that that would be more insulting and distancing than anything else.

Sherlock smiled, "God, I can't believe you're really here.." he said and hummed a chuckle, "I've kept all the portraits you made, you know.. we even kept our house.. I mean.. it's still the way it was when we all lived there, Mycroft and I made sure of that." he said and started to pick up the cushions and blankets.

''You kept those old things?" She asked and came next to him to start to help him. ''We need to go there together in the near future... I never went out to look for it again, you know. Thought the new owners would've changed it to an unrecognisable degree by now if it still existed." She said and shook her head, folding a blanket and putting it on Sherlock's chair for now. "This is truly one of the best days in my life."

"It's one of the best of mine too." Sherlock said and smiled to himself, letting the calming presence of his mother sink in. It really felt good to have her here, perhaps there was more of a teenager in him than he thought before, or maybe not. What he was sure of though, was that he would probably handle it way better if something should happen to John with his mother around.

Once the floor was clean and the sofa recushioned, she sat down on it and gestured Sherlock to come sit with her. Until six years ago there had been a two hundred year gap of her taking care of her children and it still amazed her how natural it felt to go back to that role. "Is your brother doing alright for himself?"

"He's actually the head of the British government.. so I'm not sure how to answer that." Sherlock said with a chuckle, sitting down next to his mother and leaning a bit into her, "He's still pretty much like he used to be, cock sure, strait-laced and the Pinkest of the Pinks." he said and chuckled.

"Well, I've always plumed myself on the fact that my children had great potential.'' She said with a smile and wrapped an arm around her son's waist, easily going back to their old slang. "Say, is he riveted?" She never thought Mycroft would be up for marriage, but people could change.

Sherlock laughed, "No, he's not. Never been.." he said and shook his head, "I suppose the right partner for someone like him is not yet born." he said and chuckled again.

"Tsk, don't talk about your brother like that." She chided lightly, before adding after a few moments. "But I suppose you're right." She chuckled softly, before asking. "So John's the right one for you, hm?"

"Yeah he is.." Sherlock said and glanced up at his mother, "I think almost more so than Victor.. maybe at the time Victor was the right one for me, but with John.. you know.. with Victor.. I felt like I wouldn't want to live without him, with John it feels like I /can't/ live without him.." he said and sighed, snuggling up closer.

"And yet he doesn't want to turn, right?" Violet said gently, rather summarising the problem she was pretty sure Sherlock was dealing with than actually asking. "How does that make you feel?" She asked stroking his side with her thumb.

Sherlock smiled at that, looking up to her, "You're a psychiatrist, aren't you?" he asked with a chuckle and cleared his throat, "But to answer your question.. it's not that he doesn't want to.. he's not sure yet.." he said and shrugged lightly, "And.. well.. yeah. it doesn't exactly make me feel well..." he mumbled, "I.. erm.. I get these nightmares you know, where I get informed he died.. mostly in ways that could have been avoided if he turned.. I usually realise I'm dreaming, but.. well last week I was thrashing and screaming so much that he woke up..."

"Oh dear.." She said with a soft sigh. ''And how else does this fear manifest itself in your daily life?" She asked tenderly despite the medical phrasing (not that that's ever been a contradiction in the Holmes household though). "And yes, good catch, I got my degree a few decades ago."

Sherlock shrugged, "Well... I keep asking him to text me regularly when he's out and I kind of have forbidden him to go to get croissants and donuts.. or generally go to the bakery... if that's the kind of thing you mean.." he mumbled sheepishly.

"Mmh, And how would you describe your general well-being now compared to how you felt before you enforced those rules?" She asked, her voice free of judgement and her thumb still stroking his side.

Sherlock couldn't help but smile, it just felt so odd to talk about these things with someone like a therapist, let alone his own mother, "Well... this week was better.." he mumbled and looked up at her, "I mean.. I didn't have bad dreams the last nights, but I'm not sure how much that has to do with the rules and how much talking to John about it helped. And ... I'm not sure what tonight's gonna be like given that I asked John to get croissants and donuts tomorrow morning.."

Violet nodded at that, assuming that's what happened in Sherlock's bad nightmare. "Let me just say that I think it's great step forwards that you're confronting yourself with that, even though it's frightening to you." She said, before continuing. "And what do want, Sherlock? Would you reach your goal if the nightmares stopped, you wouldn't worry about John anymore, he'd decide to turn or something else?"

"Well.. I want.. him.." Sherlock said and shrugged, "I've lost enough people in my time.." he said and sighed, before looking up at her, "Or.. thought, I'd lost them.." he corrected and sighed, "Maybe I'm just worried that he's gonna leave me for someone.. more normal.. you know.. someone that's not a vampire and not makes him give up mortality and start drinking blood.."

"Mmh" She hummed understandingly, knowing that fear herself. "How did he react when you first told him you're a vampire?" She asked after a moment.

"He thought I'm crazy but that's understandable.. Who wouldn't think the other is crazy after they tell them they're a vampire?" Sherlock asked and chuckled, "When he believed it though he was pretty much alright with it. So much that we erm.." he cut off for a moment, realising what a good job his mother did as a therapist. He had nearly causally told he and John had had sex after revealing his big secret. "By the way though, I didn't exactly get the chance to tell him voluntarily.. your son.. not me, the less charming and less funny one.." he said with a small smirk, "He smuggled a your portrait of me and one of Victor into the military exhibition I've taken John to on our first date.. So.. I kind of had to tell him after he'd seen that."

"That's just impossible of your brother... I'll have a word with him about that." Violet said with a shake of head, though mainly just for Sherlock's sake, because this certainly wasn't on top of the list of things she wanted to talk to Mycroft about. "But back to John. Has there ever been a time when his actions made you feel like he'd leave you for someone?"

"Well.. no. He hasn't.. I mean.. even when I stayed away from him for a month because I wanted to avoid this exact same situation.. you know.. me being terrified to lose him.. but even when I ignored him completely.. he still agreed to go on a date with me after that." Sherlock mumbled and smiled, "Oh and.. we kind of agreed to get married after only a few days.." he said and smiled, realising that all things considered, John really seemed about as helplessly in love with him, as he was with John.

Violet smiled a little at that and nodded. "And he took you to a family event quite early on from an objective point of view." She commented. "Why do you think did he do hat?"

"Because I asked him to?" Sherlock asked and glanced up at his mother, "Well... At least at first I did.. he didn't even want to tell me where he'd be going, but he did when I specifically asked... And he agreed to take me with him after I asked him to .."

"And why was he reluctant to tell you at first?" Violet asked her son.

"Because he thought his dad and other certain family members called Beth wouldn't approve." Sherlock said and shrugged, "I suppose he was just scared of the fallout with his dad and... well he didn't want me to go through all that..." he said and smiled, "Okay.. I get it.. He probably won't leave me voluntarily.. you're quite.. good at this, mum..." he said and chuckled a bit.

"Thanks, honey." Violet said with a chuckle. "I'm glad I could be of help. And generally, if anything should be bothering you, you know that you can always come to me to talk, right?"

"Yeah.. well now I know.." Sherlock said and smiled, sitting up a bit, "So... what about that orphanage you're working with.. how many kids like that are there? I always thought there were about as many evil vampires as there are evil humans, but if there are orphaned vampire kids after murders.. I mean, it does sound like there are some sickos going around turning kids and killing their parents."

"Well, it's hard to tell how many similar facilities there are. If you make a network like that, there's always the danger more people will find out about you, so some orphanages will likely decide to keep to themselves. And with those children you want to keep the risks minimal. We have connections to other orphanages in Glasgow, Dublin, Berlin and Reykjavik, but those are the only one's I know of. The specific one I'm working with is looking after roughly 70 children right now. When I started working with them it were maybe half as many."

"Seventy?" Sherlock asked and huffed a laugh, "That's.. kind of a lot, but I suppose, looking at it from the psychological point of view I can see how turning into a vampire might be just the last drop for someone to turn evil with all the legends of being evil creatures.. some of them might think it's fate or something." he said and frowned, "But why turn the kids?"

"I don't know. A lot of the children seem to have seen their attacker... and the orphanage has even found dubious messages addressed to them." She sighed and shook her head. "It's concerning."

"Well.. if you need help funding..." Sherlock said and shrugged, "I'd definitely help out with it, Mycroft and I have a lot of unused money lying around and that way it'd at least do something good. How do you get all the blood for that, though.. that must be tough..." he said and frowned, "I mean.. I don't suppose you have only one source.. amounts like that would attract attention."

"Thankfully there's more leniency when it comes to supplies for children and a lot of us have a medical degree. And yes, we get it from different hospitals and aid agencies like the Samaritans or the RC. And that would be a great cause to donate to." She said with a smile.

"What do you tell them though? I mean.. I don't think they'd just give out blood.. especially not to a group that claims to be vampires..." Sherlock said and frowned, hearing footsteps on the stairs, tiny footsteps. "Can I tell them? That I'm their brother I mean."

"Of course, darling. I don't see a good reason to keep it from them." She said with a smile, having almost forgotten about her youngest two. ''They'll be excited to have a big brother.''

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And for those of you who are interested. We got the slang words in the chapter above from this website: http://www.georgette-heyer.com/slang.html


	29. Badge Of Honour

After about an hour later John took the little ones by their hands and led them up the stairs back into the flat, though he did knock first, not wanting to burst into anything. "I knew it wasn't your home!" Came a triumphant remark from Amy at that.

Sherlock chuckled, "Well in fact it's our home. His and mine, Amy." Sherlock said and Ally snickered, "Mummy Lock and John thought Amy swallowed a bee and they were super worried but there wasn't a bee after all!" she babbled excitedly and Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah I was so sure I saw one in that tomato juice..." he said to explain it to his mother. "But girls, you know what.. your mummy is my mummy too! We had lost each other a long time ago and now mummy found me again." he said, crouching down in front of the girls. "So... what do you think of me as your big brother? Is that okay?" he asked and Ally's eyes went wide, "Coool!" she exclaimed and toddled up to Sherlock.

Amy squealed joyfully and hugged Lock's leg fiercely. "Is Mrs. Hudders our granny now?" She asked excited, looking up at her new big brother and her mummy.

"Something like that..." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "She's more like a good friend, but she was there for me like a mummy when our mummy and I couldn't find each other." he said and gently ruffled Amy's hair. "Looooock..." Ally began and looked up at him, "Are you and John going to get married?" he asked and Sherlock chuckled, looking up at John, smiling happily at John, "I don't know, John, are we?" he asked and chuckled again.

"Yeah, we are eventually. And as soon as I find some stuff I need for that I'm going to announce it properly." John said with a chuckle, the last part being directed at Ally. And he still refused to feel bad for not having proposed to Sherlock yet; he had been saving money for little over a week at this point. Amy grinned at that. "Will John be our brother or our cousin?"

"Hm.. that's a good question, he'll be your brother in law and your cousin, but that's only because my mummy married his daddy's brother." Sherlock said and chuckled, "So it's really rare, you know." he said and chuckled softly.

Amy frowned a little confused at the tall man, finding that explanation a bit hard to follow. ''So, John is special?" She asked with wide eyes, glancing over at her cousin brother-in-law and tugging a little on Sherlock's cuff to be lifted up again.

Sherlock chuckled, "Well actually, you two are special, because your brother in law is also your cousin, but some people will get very confused about that, just like you did, so maybe only tell them that he's your cousin." he said and chuckled as he lifted Amy up again, while Ally walked over to her mummy, trying to crawl onto her lap. "Mummy are we really special?" Ally asked, looking up at Violet.

Amy nodded empathetically at that and rested her little head on her brother's shoulder. Violet chuckled and pulled Ally onto her lap. "Yes, you two my are extra special girls." She said with a warm smile and ran her hand tenderly through her daughter's dark hair. "Sherlock, say how much tomato juice has Amy drunk here with you?" She asked after a moment, looking up at her son.

"About half a glass.." Sherlock said, realising that he had no idea how much 'tomato juice' a toddler vampire would need. "Was that... enough.. or too much?" he asked with a raised brow, "We should probably talk about the right amount of tomato juice at some point if the girls are here more often.." he said and chuckled a little.

"Depending on how she feels she usually gets 3/4l to a whole litre daily." She explained, looking at her daughter. "She already had some ketchup on her sandwich, but I'm guessing you're thirsty again, sweetheart, is that right?" Amy perked up at that and nodded on Sherlock's shoulder, not wanting to lift her head up. "Want my tomato juice..."

Sherlock chuckled, "Well lets see if I've got some more for you." he said and chuckled, walking into the kitchen with Amy, thankfully having a few plastic cups. Filling one with blood for Amy he handed it to her with a smile, "There you go bumble bee." he said and smiled at her. "By the way, mum, can I please be the one to terrify Mycroft by letting Amy drink from his /tomato juice/ when he gets to meet the two?" he asked with a chuckle as he walked back into the living room with Amy, supporting the cup with one hand just so she wouldn't spill anything.

"It's nice to see that some things apparently never change." Violet commented with a chuckle and shook her head a little. "But if that thing about the portrait is true, he had it coming I guess. You're going to meet your other brother soon too." She told Ally with a soft smile, pulling herself together because the thought of almost all of her children together made her chest ache. Amy looked up at Sherlock with a confused expression. "Does he think that bees are in his tomato juice too?"

"Yeah... but maybe you can drink from it when you meet him to show him there are no bees in it." Sherlock said and snickered to himself, "And it's fine if you want to do the name joke with him." he said and chuckled a little.

Amy smiled and nodded at that happily. "Yeah, I'll show him, so he won't has to worry!" She then frowned again. "But we shouldn't tell lies, Lock!" She exclaimed accusingly and looked at her sister and Sherlock. "Or is that a white lie?" She asked in between sips.

"Hm... no, no, you're right, that was stupid of me." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I think Mummy agrees that isn't a white lie.. and you shouldn't do that." he said and smiled down at his little sister, he had that coming, hadn't he?

Amy nodded at nodded at that, happy to have been right again. Having lost interest in the half-full cup, she let go of it and rested her head back on Lock's shoulder, wiping her mouth on his shirt. // Violet raised an eyebrow at that. "Yeah, mummy agrees with you two." She replied, before tickling the girl on her lap a little. "So you've been playing tricks on people again, sweetheart?" She asked with a chuckle.

Sherlock chuckled, glad he was holding the cup with her. "Well.. they couldn't fool me." he said with a smirk, "Not so sure about John..." he added with a grin, walking over to John and pecking his lips, "Ooooooh!" Ally chirped and snickered.

"Thanks, love." John said, rolling his eyes and resting a gentle hand on Amy's shoulder. It really was a shame though that he couldn't kiss Sherlock properly with their family though. "Something funny, Ally?" He asked with a warm chuckle. Meanwhile Amy giggled and had began to dribble onto the blood stain on Sherlock's shoulder.

Sherlock smiled and looked down at Amy, "Looks like someone's tired because they didn't have a proper nap.." he said and chuckled a little. "I'm not tired!" Ally exclaimed and Sherlock laughed, "I wasn't talking about you, though." he said with a smile and looked at his mother, "Perhaps you should get them home?" he asked albeit reluctantly since he actually wasn't so fond of the idea of seeing his mother leave so soon but Amy really seemed tired and they came first.

Amy shook her head in mild protest. "I'm not tired too!" She said sullenly, because she didn't want to leave already. Violet stood up, having Ally on her hip and had a look at her other daughter. "Yes, we probably should." She said, sad to be leaving her son so soon again. "Would you be a dear and carry Amy downstairs?" The mother of six asked Sherlock with a smile.

"Sure.." Sherlock said and chuckled, "By the way, do you know to remove... erm.. 'tomato juice' stains from silk?" he asked smirking at his mother as he started to walk downstairs with Amy.

"Cold water and hand soap usually do the trick, but don't wait to long or you might have to use hydrogen peroxide." She replied with a chuckle, having some experience with that. "Oh, and Sherlock, John has my number. I want you to send me the numbers of Mycroft, Clara and Jane, alright? And I'd like you to meet your stepfather and -sister soon."

Sherlock smiled, "I will and.. yeah I'd like to meet them properly too." he said and smiled at his mother as they walked out the door, waiting for her to open the backseat door of her car so he could put Amy in.

Violet opened the car door and put Ally into her booster seat in the back. Once she'd done that, she brushed her thumb over Amy's cheek, who had nodded off on their way downstairs and was now sleeping on her brother's shoulder.

Sherlock smiled as he put Amy into the other seat, before he turned to his mother, "You have no idea how I glad I am to have you back, eh wot..." he said and smiled at her.

Violet smiled at him and kissed his cheek, before pulling him into a warm embrace. "You know, I think I might, darling." She said with a bit of a chuckle. "I love you so much it hurts." She whispered; it was something she'd always told him when he'd been little.

Sherlock smiled at that held her a bit tighter, "Take care of yourself and of my little sisters." he said with a broad smile as he pulled back, looking at the little ones again, "Are you going to tell Paul and Amber about me? I mean.. that I'm your son?"

"Of course I will. They already know about you and Mycroft and Eurus anyway. All part of the inevitable vampire-talk. I'm sure Amber will be glad she isn't the oldest now anymore." She said with a chuckle, because that was something she'd been complaining about. "I'm sure they will be thrilled to meet you."

"I'm very curious what she'll think about having a brother that's a few lifetimes older than her." Sherlock said and chuckled, shaking his head, before he leaned into the car, "Alright you too, I'll see you very soon.." he said, talking mostly to Ally since Amy was still half dozing. "Next time you come here, you'll have your very own room and we can do a sleepover how does that sound?" he asked with a smile and Ally beamed at him, "With cookies?" she asked and Sherlock chuckled, "Of course with cookies, it's not a proper sleepover without cookies.." he said with a smirk on his lips.

"I'm glad to know they'll be in very good hands." She said with a smile, before getting into the car. "Take care, darling. And call me." She said, before waving both him and John, who was still standing in the door, goodbye.

Sherlock smiled, "I definitely will. Bye mum." he said and walked back over to John, watching his mother drive off with him, "I so have to talk to you..." he said with a chuckle, turning to his boyfriend with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

John raised an eyebrow at that and closed the door behind them. "Yeah, what about?" He asked, wondering what his aunt could've told Sherlock.

"You remember how we said it's gonna be hard work to convince your father that vampires exist in the first place?" Sherlock asked and chuckled again, "Turns out.. well.. he knows they do."

John's eyes went wide with shock and if he had had one, he'd have spilled his drink. "Wait, he does /what/?" To him that statement was pretty much the equivalent of 'your father is having tea with the mad hatter and the tooth fairy'.”

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah... I reacted similarly." he said with a laugh and shook his head, "But yaeh he does, with Amy, they needed someone as a guardian they trust and who'd know what Amy needs if something should happen to both of them. Amber isn't old enough to get custody, so .." he shrugged.

John chuckled dryly and shook his head. "I feel like I'm the only person in the entire family who didn't know until a week ago... Well, this is gonna make telling him about Richard much easier."

"Well no, aunt Beth and her pet husband don't know." Sherlock said and laughed, "Neither does Mark." he said and smirked, he couldn't even properly imagine Mark's reaction, it would probably contain the words cool and dude.

"Well, now I feel much better." He commented with a chuckle. "But I have the feeling that if you asked Mark about the old pictures with you and Richard he'd come to that conclusion all by himself." He said and huffed a bit of a laugh. "Jesus, soon somebody's gonna tell me my cat never actually died either."

"He probably doesn't know about his father, though." Sherlock said and shrugged, "That's still gonna be hard, but I think he has a hunch about me..." he said and smiled lightly, "That could be why he was more than even just civil towards me."

"Oh, right. That's actually pretty likely with you not even changing names

"Oh, right. That's actually pretty likely with you not even changing names... In his mind you might actually be the last connection to his father. Well, at least kind of." He commented. "When do you think should we tell them? This weekend?"

"Well.. sure, but I think I might ditch on some classes so I've got time to finish Amy's and Ally's room." Sherlock said and smiled, "I still can't believe Amy is a vampire, though." he said and frowned, "I mean.. I'm glad they saved her, but it still feels a little off to see her drink blood."

John nodded at that and began to walk up the stairs. "Jesus, when she held your wine glass in her hands and had blood dripping from the corners of her mouth... I thought I was about to either die or murder something there for a second." He admitted with a shake of head.

Sherlock nodded, "Yeah, god that was a terrible moment, I know." he said and shook his head, "Imagine a baby bottle full of blood though.. I'm kind of glad I missed that, although it is a bit sad that I missed out on their first two years.." he said and shrugged lightly, before his lips curled up into a grin again, "But I've got my mother back. I can hardly believe that."  
"Yeah, it's crazy... And you've gained three new sisters. I'm so happy for you, love." He said with a bright smile. "And Violet's really a great woman."

"Hm.. yeah.." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, still flying on the high of the happiness today's revelations had brought on. "And.. well, I suppose you don't have to look up psychology courses anymore, since we already have one. A vampire one at that. "You're okay with me making that room into a room for Amy and Ally, right?"

"Yeah, course I am, love." He said with a smile and opened the door to their flat. "Mrs. Hudson loves them too by the way. She seemed happy to hear the two would be visiting more often in the future."

"And you're really okay with having them over that often?" Sherlock asked and started to unbutton his shirt, slipping out of it to work on that blood stain Amy had given him. "They won't annoy you?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"Well, you know I'm studying medicine, so if they'll be here a lot, I'll probably stay at the library more often again. I don't mind them over, just don't expect too much help from my side; I still have to catch up on chemistry after today and I have a feeling it might take a while." He commented with a sigh.

Sherlock smiled, "I'll help you with that too. You know, I can always throw my studies and help you out with yours more and helping out with that orphanage too. That sounded like they could use some more help. Mum told me they currently have about seventy kids there, if you can believe it and that's only the one in London." he said with a frown, still confused about the motive behind turning kids and killing off the parents.

"That many?" John asked with a frown, before realising what Sherlock had just said. "And don't you throw your studies for me. Getting a degree is more important than-" Wait a second, hadn't Sherlock already studied several times? ''Either way my point still stands. Anyway, you want to work at that orphanage?"

"Well, I don't see why not. I can always pick up on uni again, but those kids are learning now for the rest of their lives.. of their very long lives in fact. They need proper education and it's not like they can be sent to a normal school with their special lunch and breakfast requirements." he said and shrugged, and I imagine they're rather short on vampire teachers.." he said with a smile, before frowning again, "And.. I kind of want to figure out more about what happens to them. I mean if there is someone going around, killing parents and turning the kids.. someone needs to do something about it."

John nodded at that. "Hm, you're probably right... But keep me updated if you should find anything out. That sounds dangerous." He said, not really because he wanted Sherlock to do nothing dangerous; he just didn't want him to do that sort of thing by himself.

Sherlock smiled, "Nothing wrong with dangerous if you're immortal." he said and drenching his shirt and following his mother's advice to get the blood out. "Oh if you were wondering Paul is still mortal.. there we have our mixed couple."

"I don't think good immune system equals immortality." John commented, enjoying the sight of of Sherlock not wearing a shirt. "It'll be nice to talk to him about that." He said with a half smile.

"Well... he is going to turn though.." Sherlock said, wondering if John was hoping to hear another opinion than for instance Harry's. Someone's that would more resemble his own. "He's going to turn on his 43rd birthday."

"It's interesting what different kinds of approaches there are to this." John commented, having pretty much given up on hearing from someone with a similar opinion to his own. He'd just have to figure this one out by himself. "How's the stain?"

"Sticking." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Maybe I should give up and see it as a badge of honour. Kids normally don't trust you enough to want to sleep on your arm rather than mummy's if they can after just an hour of knowing them." he said with a smile.

"Then wear it with pride." John said with a chuckle and came over to kiss his cheek. "I could tell they liked you right from the start It might actually be a good idea for you to work with children."

"You think?" Sherlock asked and smiled at John, "I mean.. they're my sisters, they're genetically predisposed to like me, unless given counter evidence." he said and chuckled lightly, "But I'm still glad they do." he said and smiled happily. "God.. it's really been a while since I had an actual family of my own." He said, dropping the shirt in the sink and leaning back against the counter.

"Good thing you got those tickets two weeks ago." John commented with a warm chuckle. "How is the tutoring going by the way? Is that why you want to work as a teacher now?" He asked, coming to stand next to him and wrapping an arm around his boyfriend's middle.

"No.. that's Mycroft's job. If the "I hate you" and "I know I upset you but this unnecessarily cruel" texts I get every Tuesday are anything to go by, the tutoring is going very well. At least.. for me." Sherlock said and laughed, shaking his head.

"Well, that prick deserves it." John said with a chuckle. "From what I've heard of him, he's definitely a great tutor for children though." He said and laughed a little. "So Mycroft isn't very good with children, I take it?"

"Not really.. he just doesn't get them." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I mean.. I remember once he told a mother of a child that threw a water bomb at him that her five year old son was acting very immature." he said and chuckled. "And that's about as much as he understands about children."

"I meant he deserves it after that exhibition thing he pulled." John commented "And well, to his credit, it's one of the basic things about children I guess." John said with a chuckle. "Was he one of those overly mature and responsible children?"

"I don't know.. sadly I missed that part of his life." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I kind of really can't imagine how he was as a child. Not at all, really. He feels like that kind of person that was born the way he is now." he chuckled.

"We need to ask Violet the next time we see her." John said with a chuckle. "You know, before you had described him to me, I had always just sort of assumed Mycroft was kinda like Harry."

"Ha! No." Sherlock deadpanned and shook his head, "Definitely not. Their characters couldn't be further away from each other." he said and laughed, "No, really, I don't even think they'll get along very well."

"Hold on a second... They're family too now, aren't they? They're ...Stepcousins? Is that even a thing?" He asked with a chuckle and shook his head. "Damn, this is strange."

"I suppose just cousins will do, really, there's no need to confuse each other." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Although perhaps there is a need with the two of us, if someone figures we're cousins..." he said and frowned at that thought, "In our case, the /step/ is a kind of important term." he chuckled.

"It's really a good thing we don't already share a last name yet, I guess." He said with a chuckle. "It seems like there's genetics involved, seeing as so many people of our families have married. Wait... You're my 'stepcousin' and 'cousin-in-law' and my granddad's self-proclaimed paternal friend, yeah?" John said and began to laugh a little. "Sounds like some people don't like coming up with new characters."

"Don't forget future husband." Sherlock said with a laugh, shaking his head, "Maybe lets only bring up our family history with selected people." he said and chuckled again, walking over to John and moving his arms around him.

"Probably a good idea." John chuckled and leaned into into his boyfriend, before leaning down and enveloping his boyfriend's lips with his own and humming into the kiss.

"Probably a good idea." John chuckled and leaned into into his boyfriend, before leaning down and enveloping his boyfriend's lips with his own. He did however pull back relatively quickly again, having completely forgotten that Sherlock hadn't rinsed his mouth yet. Really not used to the taste of some stranger's blood in his mouth, he quickly turned to the kitchen sink to rinse away the taste of iron in his mouth. Great, that had surely done wonders for their relationship...

"Huh..." Sherlock said and frowned at John, "I can't help noting that you running off to rinse your mouth after kissing me doesn't exactly feel good." he said and walked over to the sink as well to grab the mouth wash, rinsing his mouth too. "Sorry about that, I should have thought of it." he mumbled and sighed.

"No, I'm sorry." John said with a sigh. This was the reason he usually didn't initiate kisses unless he was absolutely sure Sherlock had rinsed his mouth beforehand. He hated the prospect of making Sherlock feel like he didn't accept him completely. "One more time?"

Sherlock smiled, "Sounds good to me." he said and pulled John into his arms again, kissing him passionately without giving either of them a chance to talk more about that incident. It wasn't worth any more addressing.

John smiled into the kiss and brought a hand up to caress Sherlock's cheek with his thumb, closing his eyes. When he eventually pulled back, he rested his forehead against his boyfriend's. "So, dinner?"

Sherlock chuckled, "Is that code for something or do you actually need mortal food?" he asked and smirked, slipping his hands into the back pockets of John's jeans-

" 'Mortal food?' " John asked with a chuckle, though he couldn't help leaning into his boyfriend's hands a little. "You know what, on second thought I'm going with code."

"Sound good to me." Sherlock said and chuckled, taking John's hand and leading him into the bedroom, kicking Harry's bra out of the way that was still lying on the floor in the bedroom.

John followed him into the bedroom and began to take of his shirt, finding that the day was coming along very nicely. He really didn't know which time of the day was the best for a good shag, but afternoon sounded very good. Once he'd send his shirt on the floor, he kissed Sherlock once more and pulled him gently into bed.


	30. November

John shifted when the morning light hit his face and woke him right up. He was still right next to his boyfriend, an arm loosely draped over his chest. A glance at his watch told him it was already late morning, so there was no point in going back to sleep. "Good morning, love." He rasped, his voice still thick with sleep.

Sherlock smiled as he cracked one eye open, "How are you up earlier than me?" he asked with a tired chuckle, letting his eye fall shut again, cuddling up to John. "That's ridiculous.." he mumbled and smiled to himself, "I'm the one that needs nearly no sleep here.."

John pressed a kiss on top of Sherlock's head and smiled running a hand down his boyfriend's bare back. "Well, it'd be boring if I were that predictable, wouldn't it?" He said with a light chuckle. "And I'm hungry, so that might be part of the reason."

Sherlock chuckled lightly, sitting up, and blinking his eyes open, "I should probably go out to do some grocery shopping.." he said and yawned, still feeling tired, "Sorry, I'm not used to living with someone that requires solid food on a regular basis." he chuckled again.

John shook his head and sat up as well. "It's fine. I was going to pop over to Corner's anyway, remember? So, croissants?"

Sherlock smiled, "I'm kind of in the mood for donuts.." he said and stretched his arms, "Two please. Both with chocolate topping." he said with a smile, "I'll have some liquid breakfast meanwhile." he said as he crawled over John to get out of the bed.

"Alright, two chocolate donuts coming right up." John said with a smile and got to his feet to throw on a shirt and a pair of trousers. He didn't bother to take a shower for that short a walk. "Could you put on the kettle in the meantime, please?"

"Sure." Sherlock said and yawned, shaking his head, "Maybe I should go for coffee and blood today." he said and grabbed his morning gown, slipping into it. "How about I also prepare a bath.." he said with a smirk, strolling over to John and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

John smiled and ran a hand through his boyfriend's tousled curls. "Sounds bloody perfect. I'll make sure not to waist any time." He said with a chuckle and went on to get his coat a little reluctantly after a few seconds; but the earlier he left, the earlier he'd be back.

Sherlock smiled at John as he took on his coat, "Don't forget my donuts." he said and chuckled, "Although I would choose making out with you over donuts, just for the record" he said as he put on the kettle, watching John from the kitchen.

"Good, that's noted. And I'll try my best not to." John said with a chuckle and grabbed his keys, before opening the front door. "Love you, Sher" He called into the kitchen, before turning back around.

"I love you too." Sherlock said and turned back to the counter as John walked out the door, starting to make some much needed coffee, before he poured himself a glass of blood.

John went out of the flat and closed the door behind himself, before checking if he had his wallet (which he did). With a sigh he went down the street to the cosy bakery.

Sherlock smiled, "Right... croissants and donuts.." he said and stretched his arms, "Don't forget the chocolate topping for the donuts." he said with a smile, "I'll have some liquid breakfast meanwhile." he said as he crawled over John to get out of the bed.

"Alright, chocolate topping, I'll make a note of it." John said with a smile and got to his feet to throw on a shirt and a pair of trousers. He didn't bother to take a shower for that short a walk. "Could you put on the kettle in the meantime, please?"

Sherlock smiled as he nipped at his glass, before it hit him. Oh no. No, not the dream. Not again. Why was he dreaming the exact same thing again? This time though, he knew. He knew it was a dream and he wasn't going to make it that easy for it this time as he without bothering to put on more than his pyjama pants and morning gown rushed after John, the glass still in hand as he caught up with him on the street, "Stop no. Dont do that. Don't go to Corners. Just.. don't." he said and felt a bit foolish, but also kind of gleeful that he had beaten the nightmare.

John turned around to look at his boyfriend (not as the only one, because he was really quite a sight right now). "Sherlock, it's /November/! What were you th-" He stopped himself, because it really wasn't Sherlock's fault. This had obviously been too soon. He took off his jacket and draped his over his boyfriend's shoulders, placing a hand on his back. "Come on, we'll go back inside and you'll decide when we try this again, okay?

Sherlock frowned as he looked around, his cold feet and the way people stared at him kind of tipped him off that maybe he wasn't dreaming after all. "Oh.. oh my god, I'm sorry.." he said and sighed, blushing as he ran a hand through his hair. "It was just .. it was almost exactly like my dream started... the exact same situation.. and even nearly the same dialogue... I just thought.. I thought I was dreaming again."

"It really seems to have been a realistic dream; you know me well apparently. And it's okay, we don't have to do this today." John said and kept his hand on Sherlock's back. "Now, it's practically freezing outside. Unless you want blood ice cream, I suggest you go back inside." He commented looking at the glass in Sherlock's hand.

Sherlock shook his head, "No.. no go." he said and smiled lightly, shrugging John's jacket off along with his hand, handing him the jacket, "Go.. I'm fine." he said and took a breath as he turned and walked back towards the house, he had to force himself to do that, but he didn't want to mess this up. It was just a 10 minute run to the bakery and this wasn't his dream - last time he checked at least.

John nodded and went towards the bakery, ignoring the looks from the people on the street. Once he was there he was glad to find he didn't have to queue for very long and was quick to order the donuts and croissants. In case Sherlock had sent him a text, he checked his phone and began to walk back.

Sherlock had forced himself to sit down in the kitchen with his glass, pointedly not looking at his phone as he nipped at his glass, his leg bobbing nervously. He was still not sure if this was just an altered version of his dream. But at least he would know, so it couldn't surprise him.

Ten minutes later John had arrived safe and sound at their flat, the only exception being that he'd forgotten his keys. Well, there was worse. With a sigh he knocked on the door so that Sherlock would let him in (hopefully he was okay) and they could have breakfast.

Sherlock froze when he heard the knock at the door. No. No, no, no, no. He swallowed as he stood up and walked over to the door, bracing himself for those policemen he was expecting and hoping John would wake him up any time soon. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and visibly sagged in relief at seeing John there. "Oh thank god you're okay.." he said and walked over to pull him into a hug. "One of these days I'll staple your key to your forehead.." he murmured.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sher.'' John apologised, remembering what had happened in Sherlock's dream at this. Wrapping his free arm around his boyfriend as well, he kissed his boyfriend's cheek. "And they didn't have chocolate glaze, so I hope chocolate sprinkles are okay as well."

"Yeah.. works for me..." Sherlock said and pulled back a little, looking at his boyfriend, "Just start taking your key with you, okay?"

"Yeah, of course, I'll pay more attention in the future." John promised. "I'm sorry for scaring you just then." He said, feeling bad about it in earnest. "Go back upstairs?"

Sherlock nodded, "Should we see if there's anything about British lunatic runs out in pyjamas in November drinking /tomato juice/ on YouTube?" he asked and chuckled a little to light up the mood.

John chuckled a little and pulled the door closed. "Maybe after breakfast. Speaking of which, I hope you've warmed up in here a bit in the meantime." He said, sounding a bit concerned; Sherlock must've been almost five minutes out there in the cold dressed like that.

"I have yeah.. I'm fine. Good immune system remember?" Sherlock said and smiled at John as they walked back into the flat.

"Right, right." John said and took Sherlock's hand with his free one. "You did really well by the way, if I may say so." He commented.

Sherlock chuckled, "I really didn't..." he said and shook his head, now feeling incredibly stupid about being so anxious about this. "I hardly doubt running after you in panic counts as really well..."

"I was talking about the part where you went back inside the flat and waited there for me. That can't have been easy." John said and gave Sherlock's hand a squeeze.

"Well.. it was necessary, I guess." Sherlock said and smiled at John. "And.. well, you came back so..." he shrugged lightly, pulling John after him into the kitchen.

"So, breakfast?" He asked with a smile, checking if Sherlock had already put on the kettle in the meantime as he got out a two plates for them

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah breakfast sounds good." he said and chuckled again, "I'm just glad I looked ridiculous enough for people not to mind the contents of my glass." he said as he got out milk and sugar.

"Well, you did look eccentric enough for it to be actually some kind of juice in a wine glass for breakfast." John teased with a chuckle and began to lay the table.

"Yeah speaking of that.. one of us should do the dishes." Sherlock said and chuckled again, looking at the pile of dirty dishes next to the sink. "Have we even done that since you moved in?" he laughed.

John thought about that before beginning to laugh as well, shaking his head. "Shit, well, we didn't have to resort to the plastic cups yet, so I think technically we haven't hit rock bottom yet."

Sherlock smiled, "I suppose so." he said and chuckled, "But drinking from wine glasses for breakfast is pretty close." he said and smiled as he sat down.

"Now we have something to do after breakfast." John huffed a laugh and but the paper bag from the bakery, the tea and some jam onto the table, before sitting down as well. "You haven't got anything planned today either, have you?"

"No, why?" Sherlock asked, grabbing the bag and pulling a donut out, picking a few sprinkles off to eat them, "Seems like its gonna be a quiet day."

"True.'' He commented and grabbed a croissant to spread some jam on it. ''Nothing, I was just wondering; I can use the study time though, I suppose... Could you maybe help me a bit later on? I've got a chemistry exam in two weeks."

Sherlock smiled, "I knew it.." he began and chuckled, "You only moved in because I can help you with your exams." he said with a smirk, taking a bite off his donut.

"Prick." John huffed a laugh. "Yeah, and the private chef was another plus." He joked, though he purposely didn't mention the fact he was basically living rent-free there.

Sherlock smiled, "It's a pleasure, though." he said and leant over to peck John's lips, "I really do it gladly, you know.."

"I think you underestimate me, love." He chuckled softly and brushed his thumb along one of his boyfriend's prominent cheekbones.

Sherlock smiled, "Trust me, I don't.." he said and smiled up at John, frowning when his phone vibrated in his pocket, before he pulled it out to check it, "Oh.. that's.. unexpected.." he said and held the phone out for John to see. "Your dad invited us over for tomorrow..." he said and smiled lightly.

"Oh, wow, he did. And I'm pretty sure he isn't about to murder either of us too." John huffed a laugh, before taking a bite of his strawberry jam-covered pastry. "Looks like Dad likes you." He commented with a bit of a smile.

"Well.. yeah I suppose so.." Sherlock said and smirked, "And that even though I told him I intend to marry you." he said and chuckled, taking a bite from his donut. "But.. knowing that he knows about vampires.. it seems like a good moment to tell him about Richard.."

"Yeah, that's true. I'm glad Vanessa and Paul have already taken away the edge from that one." John commented with a smile. "Oh and he must've talked to Harry too, if he has your number."

"I'm just not sure if we should bring Richard right away or not.. he'd be the proof that we're telling the truth.. but that might be more of a shock.." Sherlock said with a frown, nipping at his glass.

"Well, I mean we could always ask Richard what he thinks of that." John said with a shrug. "I mean, after all he probably knows how his son is going to react... But yeah, in case they want to tell us something important tomorrow, it is probably best to postpone that..."

"What could he have to tell?" Sherlock asked eating the rest of his donut, before taking the next one. "I mean... you think you'll get a little sibling too? Because that would be kind of fun." he chuckled.

"Yeah, 'fun' wasn't exactly what I was thinking. They're probably a little past that age." John commented and shook his head, before asking after a moment. "Do you want to tell Richard then? And I don't mean about possibly more grandchildren."

"Maybe it's better if we wait to tell him until we know how your dad reacts?" Sherlock said and shrugged, "Lets not get Richard's hopes up.." he mumbled nipping at his glass again, before finishing the second donut.

"Yeah, best not. And it might also be too big a shock for him if Richard just showed up on his doorstep." John said with a nod. "I still wonder why they've invited us though."

"Who knows perhaps your dad has been wondering and wants to know now if I really am a vampire." Sherlock said, "Like a 'son is your boyfriend a vampire because we'd be cool with that' dinner.." he said and chuckled, shaking his head.

"That would actually be a really nice thing." John said and shook his head. "I feel like everything's about being a vampire in our lives right now, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah I guess..." Sherlock said and sighed, "But I suppose in a while, when we're all used to it, it will become less about that. You'll get used to it. I mean.. you only know for two weeks now, and it's not exactly an easy thing to get used to."

"Yeah, I guess so. It's strange though... That it's only been two weeks I mean; or that I moved in with you maybe a week ago. It just, I don't know, feels much longer than that to me." John shook his head and chuckled slightly. "To you two weeks must seem like a ridiculously short time."

"Doesn't feel like that. It sounds weird, but you don't lose your normal sense of time.. it passes fast, yeah, but it does for everyone." Sherlock said and shrugged, "It's not like ten years feel like a blink of an eye. They do looking back on them but living them, it's still the same."

John nodded at that. "It's so strange to imagine your that old already. I mean, I think I've already told you, but most of the time, well, practically all the time, I don't realise it." Unless they talked about it, age really was just a number; at least for John.

Sherlock chuckled, "You probably never envisioned yourself marrying an old man." he said with a smirk, "Neither of it, old or man." he said with a laugh.

"Not really to be honest." John said, laughing a little as well, before smirking. "And I'm sure you never envisioned yourself marrying a young and handsome soon-to-be doctor." He paused and frowned slightly, before starting to laugh again. "Wait a second, you've already done that. I'm just your type, aren't I?''

Sherlock laughed, "I suppose so, but I liked you already before I knew you want to be a doctor, so..." he said and chuckled again, "You make it sound like I've got some sort of out of control doctor kink."

"Nah, I guess we're just irresistible, that's all." John teased with a smirk, before taking another bite from his croissant.

"You are irresistible, but I wouldn't include all doctors on that." Sherlock chuckled, emptying his glass and standing up to pour himself another.

John chuckled at that. "That's probably true. It's good that we found each other, before others could snatch us away; irresistible as we are."

Sherlock chuckled again, leaning at the counter as he took a sip of blood. "I keep getting the feeling that there was never any need to worry about that. As entwined as our families are... It feels like we'd have met one way or another."

"Yeah, it's really a little strange. Though, you've got lots of family events to catch up on... Do you want to maybe look at Harry and Clara's wedding pictures? They looked beautiful that day. I'm sure I've got Paul and Va-Violet's somewhere on my phone as well."

"Call her Vanessa, it's fine." Sherlock said and chuckled, "It's the name she goes with now, it would be weird to suddenly call her Violet in public." he said and laughed, "At least she looks old enough to be my mother, even though that would mean she started pretty young." he said and chuckled again, "Which she did, Mycroft will have a more difficult time starting to call her mum or mother. He looks about her age."

"But she didn't look any older when you two turned." John said with a slight frown. "Did no one ever find it weird that she and her oldest son look the same age?" He asked, taking out his phone to look for Harry and Clara's photos.

"Not really.. Mycroft always acted and looked older than he was so..." Sherlock shrugged, walking back over to the table and sitting down to look at the photos.

John put his phone on the table and leaned it against his mug so they could look at the pictures together. "Here, there they are in front of the registry office." He commented and swiped to show Sherlock a photo made right after their civil wedding. Clara was wearing a white, thin-nit jumper and a pair of jeans. Her was open and you could see she was wearing relatively expensive earrings. Next to her stood Harry in a similar attire; a light blue blouse and a pair of white trousers as well as some dark brown boots. They were both smiling happily and holding hands, their two rings winking at the camera. The next photo showed them kissing and the one after that had been taken in a diner afterwards.

"We're going to force them into dresses, right?" Sherlock asked and chuckled, "They deserve a big fancy wedding just as much as everyone else does." he said and smiled at John. "And I'd just love to see the faces of passers by when the brides kiss each other and the grooms do too." he said and laughed.

John chuckled. "Yeah, I'm sure Harry would totally agree with that. I'm sure she'd love to have Dad walk her down the aisle, you know, wearing a big poofy dress and all. But don't tell her I said that."

Sherlock smiled, "You do realise we'll have to go with them picking the dresses out, though?" he asked and chuckled, "And they probably will come with us picking out the suits, since they should at least match a bit."

"Great, I'm sure I'll be of much help with that." John said, not very keen to go dress shopping with his sister. "We four will just look like two hetero couples together, you know that?"

"That's why it'll be funny when people find out we're not." Sherlock said and chuckled, "And I think it'll tip people off if we're standing next to each other and they do as well." he smirked, leaning over to peck John's lips, since he wasn't exactly proper kiss ready.

"By the way, seeing as so many in our families (and almost everyone that's getting married) are vampires, we could ask for instance Mrs. Hudson to maybe bake a 'red velvet' cake." He said with a chuckle; though that would mean he wasn't going to kiss his soon-to-be fiancé after he'd eaten cake.

"I'd actually prefer getting to kiss you on our wedding." Sherlock said and chuckled lightly, "Although... if you have decided by then, we might not have to keep worrying about that when we get married."

"A gay vampire double wedding with Red Velvet Cake and Bloody Maries, hm?. Sounds just about perfect, doesn't it?" John said with a chuckle and shook his head a little. "Yeah, maybe."

Sherlock smiled, "Well you heard what Harry said.. don't do it in the wedding night." he said and chuckled again, "Which sounds like solid advice actually."

John chuckled at that. "Hm, so How about you get to bite me in the wedding night? I'm starting to get curious at this point; or is that dragging it out in your opinion?"

"No... that.. actually sounds good." Sherlock said and chuckled, "It's something to look forward to." he said with a smirk, "And I know what it's like, so you're the one that will keep wondering how it feels." he chuckled, "Well at least how it feels during certain activities, you might get a bit of the endorphins rush if Amy ever gets the idea to bite you." he chuckled.

"Hold on a second, if it really feels that good, that might actually become a problem with her." John said with a huff and shook his head. "Yeah, I probably won't have to wait that long for it in that case."

"No, I think you misunderstood something, John." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Biting someone normally doesn't feel particularly good for the vampire... but it does feel really very good when you and the person you bite have sex while you're doing it, I figured you've realised that even if I didn't say it so clearly before."

"Well, I hadn't. It's not really like I've got any first-hand experience with that kind of thing. Basically assume I know nothing in that department, except for the things you've explicitly said." John said with a bit of a sigh. ''Anyway, it's reassuring to know that my little cousin won't go around biting people for fun.

Sherlock smiled, "No, she won't.. but we all have a bit of a biting instinct.. it usually isn't something that goes out of control, but I don't know how it is with kids." he said and shrugged, "But if she starts doing that we can easily just make her understands that it hurts other people." he said and shrugged.

"Yeah, that's true." John agreed, before adding. "It's a good thing they're smart enough to understand concepts like that already; well, at least better than you'd expect. So you and Mycroft were like them when you were little?"

"Kind of.. we were smarter than other kids our age anyway." Sherlock said and chuckled, "God it's so hard to believe I've just gotten two year old sisters..." he said and shook his head, he still hadn't quite processed that. "I mean.. that's the very last thing you imagine when you're more than 200 years old."

"Yeah, I mean even I would be shocked by that, I guess. For you that must be stranger by a tenfold." John commented with a bit of a huff. "And I suppose that that may just keep happening throughout your lifetime."

Sherlock smirked, "Actually, I probably won't even mind that so much." he said with a laugh, "But honestly, I don't think she's gonna pop out babies every year now." he said and shook his head.

John laughed a little at that. "I doubt that too. Speaking of which, what would you think of having children? I mean, later on, obviously."

Sherlock smiled at that, "Well.. I told you I'd like that.." he said and laughed softly, "And in fact, I more or less even told your dad that he doesn't have to worry about not getting grandchildren." he said and chuckled.

"Ah, good to know. And now he's invited us over for Sunday, yeah?" John asked, shaking his head a little. "Wonders do apparently still happen."

Sherlock chuckled, "I'd really like to know why exactly he wants us over." he said and looked at his phone again, realising that he should probably text David back. "I mean.. I really do think he likes me, but I doubt he likes me so much that he just wants us over to watch football with him or something."

"I can't really remember the last time we did something like that to be honest. But well, we'll get to surprise each other, I guess." John said, still finding that text kind of fishy, but there was hardly much he could do about that.

Sherlock chuckled, "Or maybe he just decided he wants to improve your relationship.." he said and smiled, "He seemed pretty concerned when I told him that you were all but scared of him lately."

"Hey, I'd say 'scared' is the wrong word. And he seemed concerned?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, finding kind of hard to imagine that; it just didn't fit with how they usually interacted.

"Well, it definitely seemed like that was not the kind of father he wants to be.." Sherlock said and shrugged, "And you were scared, John... if you worry he won't approve of who you really are... that is pretty equal to being scared."

"Okay, I might be- have been a little intimidated by all of that." John said and cleared his throat. "But anyway, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what tomorrow will bring." He took another sip of tea, before he looked at his boyfriend.

"It was probably good someone finally told him what he's doing to his kids by being like that." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "You think I can come in my normal clothing style or do I need to dress up again?" he asked with a laugh, "Just in case he really has figured I'm a vampire, though.. I think I'll take the first world war tags with me too this time."

"I think you can dress normally, now that you've made an impression. And do you really think they've figured it out yet? I mean it would partly explain why he's been that okay with us."

"I think they might actually. It's not a big leap when they already know vampires exist." Sherlock said and shrugged lightly. "And he did become a lot more... open to this after we talked about 'my grandfather'."

"Well, if that's why they want us to come, it will be a bit easier to talk about Richard. By the way, has your mother already told anyone in the family about you? I mean that's another revelation right there."

"I guess she's told Paul and Amber.." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Or maybe Amy and Ally did." he said with a smirk, "But I don't think they'll have told anyone else. She'll leave that decision to us."

"Do we want to tell them tomorrow? It might be a bit much at once, but on the other hand it'd sure be nice to have most things off the table." John signed with a shrug. "I mean it's your decision really."

"If they ask about me being a vampire, I think we can tell them about Richard too." Sherlock said and shrugged, "After all if they've already figured I'm a vampire that'll take the edge off and then it's only one big revelation anyway."

"No, I agree with you there. I was actually talking about telling them about you being Amber and the twins' brother. I mean, that really only concerns you, so I think you should decide that."

"I don't mind. I'm actually kinda proud of that.. if that makes sense?" Sherlock said and chuckled lightly, "And well.. for those two, it's really a stroke of luck that half of their family are vampires. Especially for Amy. And it'll take a weight off of your parent's shoulders. If it really comes that far and they need a guardian, pretty sure we, or Harry and Clara would be the better guardians for them. Or at least have an easier time with all of it."

"Let's tell them then. Looking at it from that perspective there's really not much that'd speak against it." John ate the last bit of his croissant. "I'm sure Clara and Mycroft will be incredibly happy too. Do you think she's already contacted them?"

"Probably... although I'm not sure if she's contacted Mycroft already. I should probably warn him, if I was a good brother." Sherlock said, emptying his second glass of blood and standing up to put it into the sink and rinse his mouth, "But if he was a good brother he shouldn't have forcefully exposed me to you.. or tried to get me away from you.. I'd say he and I are even."

"Didn't you already say that when you made him tutor those children?" John asked with a chuckle. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I think he totally deserves it for that." He gathered their dishes and came to stand next to Sherlock, putting their plates and wine glasses on the pile of dirty dishes next to the sink. "Okay, yeah, we really need to do the dishes."

"Or..." Sherlock began and wrapped his arms around John, pulling him close up against him, "We could go back to bed..." he said with a smirk, resting his arms on John's shoulders. "That sounds a lot more fun than doing the dishes if you ask me." he chuckled.

John smirked and leaned into him, turning his head to kiss his cheek. "That really does sound more fun. Just what are we still doing over here, if I could be taking your clothes off right now?"

Sherlock chuckled, "An elementary question, my dear Watson." he said with a smile and pulled out of their embrace to take John's hand, leading him into their bedroom.


	31. "Tea, water, blood, or juice?"

The next morning John awoke slowly and nuzzled back into his boyfriend's chest at first without opening his eyes. Breathing in Sherlock's familiar smell, he took his sweet time to wake up properly. Even after two weeks of living together, waking up next to each other was still as precious a moment as it had been the very first time.

Sherlock smiled as John woke up, he'd been awake for a couple of hours already, which had calmed him a little if he was honest, waking up later than him was still reminding him too much of that dream, but waking up and just watching him sleeping and feeling his warm breath on his chest was more healing than any talk or therapy could be. "Morning.." he murmured softly, wrapping his arm tighter around John.

"Morning." John smiled tiredly against Sherlock's chest, before pecking the spot in front of him. He appreciated the fact that his boyfriend always waited for him in the morning to wake up. It was so much nicer than waking up to an empty and already cold other half of the bed.

Sherlock smiled at the kiss, shuffling a bit down on the mattress so they were face to face, "Guess what.. another night without nightmares.." he said and chuckled a little, "Perhaps it's got something to do with half of my family resurfacing all of a sudden..." he said and chuckled, "Never thought I'd be the kind of person to marry his cousin.." he joked quietly.

"No, me neither. You're a much better catch than Mark by the way if I dare say, so I don't mind." John joked with a soft chuckle. " I'm glad you've been able to sleep better better though.

"I should very much hope so." Sherlock said, finding the comparison kind of insulting on an intellectual level. "But for the record, you're also a way better catch than Clara." he said and chuckled a little. "Or Harry."

"Good to have that on spelled out." John said with a chuckle; it wasn't as if that was that surprising an answer. Running a gentle hand through Sherlock's hair, he leaned in to kiss him properly this time.

Sherlock smiled against John's lips, moving his arms around him as he rolled on his side to press himself closer against his boyfriend, "We probably shouldn't get carried away, we should start to get ready soon, your dad texted me back when you were already asleep and we're brunching with them.." he murmured into the kiss.

John sighed a little and pulled eventually away, resting his forehead against his Sherlock's. For a moment, his eyes glanced wistfully at his boyfriend's lips. "Bloody shame that." John murmured after that.

Sherlock smiled and pecked John's lips again, "It really is.. and thank god for my fast healing... After those two weeks I'd really have some major troubles walking and sitting if it wasn't for that..." he laughed, running his hand down John's side.

Feeling quite satisfied with himself, John chuckled at that. "You know how I love to make you squirm on your seat." He said and covered the hand on his side with his own and smiled and him. "I suggest you drink something beforehand by the way, just in case."

Sherlock chuckled and sat up a bit, squirming a bit more than he really had to from last night's activity. "You get some liquid breakfast too?" he asked and cleared his throat, "Coffee, I mean. I wasn't trying to get you to drink blood."

John chuckled a little, before sitting up as well. "Yeah, I figured that much. And I could really do with something to wake me up." He remarked, before stretching with a quiet groan.

"Well, I'd offer to take the challenge of waking you up on myself, but then we'd never arrive in time at your parents place." Sherlock said and chuckled, before climbing out of the bed and walking over to the wardrobe pulling out a pair of pants for himself, taking them on, before he threw a pair of John's over to him.

"Great, now I almost wish Dad hadn't texted you at all." John commented with a bit of a smirk. "Oh and thanks." He said with a look at his underwear and got to his feet to get dressed.

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah.. thinking about it, I'd prefer waking you up my own to seeing your parents too.. but we can't call them off now. Don't want to ruin the small progress I've made with them." he said as walked into the kitchen to make coffee and have some blood.

"No, wouldn't want that either." John commented, wondering what this today was going to be about. After getting dressed and already taking his black jacket with elbow pads out of the closet, he joined Sherlock in the kitchen. Standing behind his boyfriend, the med student wrapped his arms loosely around him and kissed his neck briefly.

"Keep doing that and I might call your dad off after all..." Sherlock said and chuckled as he leant back against his boyfriend. "Are you nervous about today?" he asked after a moment, nipping at his glass.

"I am slightly, to be honest. But I always am with them, so that isn't something special." John said, resting his head on Sherlock's shoulder and letting out a soft sigh. That thing with Richard was going to be quite the revelation. "What about you?"

Sherlock smiled, "I don't know.. no. Not really. What I was mostly concerned about when it came to telling your dad about this was getting him to believe there are vampires. Let's face it, there was a pretty good chance he'd chase me away with his gun and stand watch to make sure 'the lunatic' isn't going near his son anymore." he said and took another sip, "Without that sword hovering over me.. it doesn't feel so complicated anymore."

"Yeah, that's been something I'd been thinking about too. Hopefully he'll take the news about his father not too badly either." John said into Sherlock's neck, before pecking it once more and pulling away to drink some of the coffee Sherlock had made.

Sherlock smiled, "Well, I'd say that's definitely easier news than accepting something you considered to be a fantasy creature does actually exist.." he said and shrugged. "At the very least I doubt he'd chase me out if his house with a gun." he chuckled.

"I'm not so sure to be honest. I think it'd be easier for me to accept my loved one's a 'fantasy creature' rather than that they've faked their death and haven't contacted me ever since... I mean that's downright awful in any situation. But yeah, I'm pretty sure by now dad's not gonna kill you anymore, so I'm very grateful for that." John said and took a sip of his coffee.

Sherlock smiled, "So am I." he said and chuckled again, nipping at his glass. "And I hope he won't be too mad at Richard.." he said and sighed.

"Yeah, hopefully. Though, in my opinion he'd be entitled to some anger" John said with a shrug and put his coffee down. "I really like Richard, you know. He really is a good man."

Sherlock rolled his eyes with a smile, "Well, I'll make a note to let you know then when I'm gonna fake my death the next time." he said and chuckled lightly.

"You'd better, otherwise you won't have to fake it." John commented, before adding after a few seconds. "And I don't care about logic here."

Sherlock chuckled, "Don't worry, if I really have to do that again, you'll be the first to know since we'll have to fake yours too, I'm going anywhere without you." he said and smiled, "But these days it's unlikely we even have to do that. Especially given the fact that most of your family know anyway. And social ties don't go that far nowadays.. just moving and disappearing off someone's radar would do the trick too."

"Good, now I feel a bit more reassured." John said with a soft chuckle and leaned forwards to kiss his cheek (he didn't really need a repeat of yesterday, frankly), resting his hand on Sherlock's thigh.

"Only /a bit/?" Sherlock asked and chuckled, emptying his glass before he poured himself another one."By the way... We should go and get a Christmas tree soon, I don't want to end up with a veteran tree.." he said and chuckled lightly.

"Right, I almost forgot; it's almost December again... Maybe let's get it next Saturday to have that out of the way. By the way, I usually spend Christmas Eve at home, so if today goes well, I'd love for you to join me." John said with a smile. "Paul and Vanessa often come too, but I'm not entirely certain if they have guests this year." He added after a moment, having almost forgotten Sherlock had family himself.

Sherlock smiled, "I have the feeling they'll join.." he said and chuckled a little, "At least there's no force on earth to stop my mother from spending Christmas with her kids." he said, finishing his second glass, before putting it into the sink. "We'll probably have them over with Mycroft in the afternoon as well. Not entirely sure Mycroft would want to join a big family Christmas."

"I'll finally meet your brother then, if he should decide to come, I mean." John remarked, emptying the last bit of his coffee and putting his glass away as well. "By the way, I don't think we can have people over at this point, considering we've only got a few more wine glasses and plastic cups left. We really need to do the dishes when we come back, even if there are things that are more fun that we could do.

Sherlock chuckled, "Hm.. we could throw them away and buy new ones." he said with a grin, before he rinsed his mouth with mouthwash.

John laughed a little at that and shook his head. "You're impossible, Sher. We'll do the dishes when we return; End of discussion."

"It was worth a try, although I am a bit offended that an all but alive pile of dirty dishes is okay for you, but moulding thumbs aren't." Sherlock said and chuckled. "Feels like your priorities are a bit askew there." he smirked.

"Why do you say that? It's the dead and mouldy stuff I don't like. I'm fine with living things in the flat. So, as a soon to be doctor, I decides that every chance at resuscitation will be taken in here." John retorted and returned the smirk.

"Mould is technically alive as well, since it's a fungus." Sherlock said and smirked, "Therefore, by your moral codex, you must not hurt it." he said and chuckled, moving over to John and pulling him into a kiss.

"Oh, shut it." John muttered, trying to keep the smirk off his face just before he kissed Sherlock back. Running a hand briefly through his boyfriend's curls, he chuckled infinitesimally into the kiss.

"Just did." Sherlock murmured, chuckling along with John, "If we keep that pace though, we'll arrive approximately tomorrow afternoon at your parents place." he murmured against John's lips.

"Well, it'd put off doing the dishes." John said with an amused little smile and pecked Sherlock's lips once more, before going back to being a (fairly) responsible adult. He gave a little sigh and went into the living room to retrieve his jacket. "I think your jacket's still in the bedroom, love."

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah.. I need to grab the tags too, just in case I really can speak openly." he said and walked into the bedroom to grab his jacket and the tags from the bedside drawer, before returning to John. "Okay let's go then." he said, taking his keys and wallet from the coffee table.

John, who was already ready to leave, took Sherlock's free hand hand lead them out of the door and onto the street. "I feel like we could hire Harry as our chauffeur, considering how often we take cabs." He said with a bit of a laugh.

"Well... we could technically do that." Sherlock said and laughed, "We could also hire someone to do our dishes." he said and smirked as he looked around for a cab, "Although we'll probably have to pay them a bonus to do /those/ dishes."

John chuckled at that with a pained expression. "I guess Mike's doing a fine job avoiding that with him only using plastic cups and plates, but that's not exactly a path I want to go down either." He said and huffed a laugh.

"Yeah.. blood from a plastic cup.." Sherlock began and scrunched up his nose, "That sounds like a vampire college party." he chuckled, shaking his head, finally hailing a cab. "But a housekeeper doesn't sound like a bad idea and before you say no, it /would/ also give one poor soul a job at least. And we'd pay well..." he said and chuckled.

"First of all we're students and I earn hardly enough to pay my share there and second of all" He furrowed his brow as he thought of a jobless person they both knew, opening the cab door to let Sherlock in first. "Wait, you're hopefully not talking about Mark, are you?"

Sherlock laughed, "No. I'm not letting your tattletale cousin.. or.. our.. cousin? Whatever I'm not letting him snoop around in our flat." he chuckled, shaking his head as he got into the car.

John got inside after him and told the driver his parents' address, before continuing to talk to his boyfriend. "Well, good that we've found some common ground there. Who were you thinking of instead then?"

"I don't know.. just someone.. there are people." Sherlock chuckled, "We have the money and it'd save us from that pile of dishes.. although on the other hand, the bloodstains in the glasses might be difficult to explain." he said, his last words so quietly that only John could hear them.

"Well, I mean we could always say that we favour people with blood diet disorder. You can come up the newspaper ad for this one though.'' John commented under his breath and keeping himself from chuckling.

Sherlock chuckled, shaking his head, "I suppose we stuck with doing it ourselves after all.." he mumbled and rolled his eyes, "We could still buy new dishes though... just.. think about it." he laughed.

John began to laugh as well and shook his head. "I'd almost agree, but it's hardly sustainable. Besides, it'd feel like a new level of defeat in terms of our laziness."

"Well we're not lazy.." Sherlock said and smirked, placing his hand on John's thigh and giving it a gentle squeeze. "We just have better things to do.." he chuckled.

 

"Cheeky, but true." John said with a smirk when he heard something on the radio //Germany: same-sex marriage approved by MPs in snap vote. A clear majority of German MPs have...// Pleasantly surprised, he looked over at Sherlock and pulled him into a deep kiss, not caring at all about the cabbie. Even though he didn't live there, the thought that Europe as a whole was changing was exhilarating. It reminded him of how he'd felt when it had happened three years ago in England, when he'd called a more than elated Harry.

Sherlock smiled against John's lips, "Was about time." he said and shrugged, "Though... you're so happy about this.. was it your secret wish to get married in Germany and now you're elated because you can?" he teased.

"Of course, who wouldn't want to get married in that beautiful a language. No, but seriously. It's the first country to legalise it - jesus, that sounds like this is about drugs - since I've come out, so yeah, feels a bit different. And it's a sign for other countries too."

"You came out last week." Sherlock deadpanned and chuckled as he kissed John again, "Also, just for your information, Deutsch ist eine sehr schöne Sprache." he said with a smirk.

"Seriously, why am I even surprised?" John asked with a chuckle, because really, it made complete sense for his boyfriend to speak German. " 'Ich bin ein Wassermelon.'That's about the only German I know."

“You just said you're a watermelon with bad grammar." Sherlock said and laughed, "You're more of a hedgehog though." he said and smiled, kissing John's cheek.

“Is my hair really that spiky?" John asked and huffed a laugh. "And if I'm a hedgehog... you're.. an otter. Yeah, an otter." He said with a warm chuckle.

Sherlock raised a brow, "I do not look like an otter." he said and frowned at John. "That's ridiculous." he said, but couldn't help but chuckle.

John's smile widened and he pressed another kiss to Sherlock's cheek. "No, it's just really accurate and you know it." He teased lightly and chuckled.

"So hedgehog and otter." Sherlock said and grinned, "Well.. it fits." he said and chuckled, "I have to admit that."

John chuckled at that and opened his mouth to reply, when the cab came to a halt in front of the Watson's house. Looking at them through the rear view mirror, the driver suppressed a chuckle of his own. "That's £27.70, then, fellas."

Sherlock smiled and handed the driver a fifty pound note, "Keep the change." he said and got out of the car, holding his hand out for John, "So... lets see what they have to tell us then.." he said, "Either way.. after today I at least won't have to fake a migraine anymore, so that's good." he said and chuckled.

"Yeah, there's that." John said with a chuckle and got out of the cab, lacing their fingers together and walking towards his parents' front door. After ringing the doorbell he stepped back and looked back at Sherlock, already hearing feet approach the door. "Here we go then."

Sherlock smiled as the door opened and Emma stood in front of them, smiling at the two of them, "Hello, dear." she said and moved to hug John first, then Sherlock, "Hello, Sherlock, it's so nice to see you again." she said and smiled at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Hi Emma." Sherlock said and smiled back at her.

"Hi mum. Have you been alright here?" John asked Emma with a smile, glad to see his boyfriend and mother still were on good terms with each other.

Emma smiled, nodding, "Oh yes. Your father has been alright too.. after a couple of days." she said and chuckled, "We had Harry and Clara over, you know." she said with a bright smile, clearly happy to be on good terms with her daughter again, "And Clara is lovely, David thinks so too." she hummed as she led them into the house.

"I know, she's great. I'm glad dad has finally come around." John said gladly following his mother into the living room, where his father was already seated on his couch. "Hello John" David said and got up to give his son a hug. "Hi dad. Good to see you again." David moved on to hug Sherlock as well, with just the slightest bit of hesitation to his credit. "Hello Sherlock. Take a seat you two. Your dear mother has already brewed some tea for us." He said, the last part addressed to John, before sitting back down.

"Right, so Sherlock.." Emma began, still smiling as Sherlock sat down, "What would you like to drink? Tea, water, blood, or juice?" she asked sweetly and Sherlock actually wasn't quite sure he'd heard correctly. It wasn't quite unexpected that they called them here because they figured he was a vampire, but addressing it that casually startled Sherlock a little. "Uh.. well, since you're offering.. I wouldn't mind some blood..." he mumbled sheepishly and Emma chuckled, "Oh don't be so shy dear, we know all about vampires. My sister in law and one of my nieces are vampires too, you see." she said and smiled at Sherlock.

John laughed a bit surprised at that and David tuned in. "Your grandfather, hm? It really was a bit obvious from then on. Though it is even more remarkable that you've apparently served with John's grandfather." John nodded a little and glanced at Sherlock, since they had a few more surprises in stock for tonight. After clearing his throat, he said. "Well, actually mum, we already know about Amy and Vio- Vanessa. Had a bit of an incident a few days ago where Amy really wanted to drink Sher's 'tomato juice'

"Yeah.. that was quite frankly terrifying." Sherlock said and chuckled a little. "Oh, you met Vanessa and the girls already? They're very cute aren't they? And Vanessa is such a such a lovely woman." Emma chirped and Sherlock smiled, "Yeah.. that she is." he said with a happy smile and Emma raised a brow, "Oh, careful, Sherlock. John is the jealous kind." she teased and laughed along with Sherlock as he started to chuckle, "I've noticed that, already." he said with a smirk, "But well, he's got no reason to worry there, since I'm 100% gay and even more importantly... Vanessa... she's my mother, actually." he said and bit his lip, "I didn't even know she was still.. alive until she just suddenly showed up at our flat.." he explained and Emma covered her mouth with her hand, "Oh dear.. that's wonderful.. So you're one of the boys she told me about? She must have been so happy, she's missed you and your brother so much, you have no idea. Even after all this time.."

"I believe congratulations are in order." David said with a smile, already relatively used to this whole vampire-idea, and gave his new nephew back a few hearty pats on his back. "Family is the most important thing in life, don't you two forget that. And not all of us get the chance to see their family members again." David said and sat back a bit. Meanwhile John braced himself, because that was probably the only transition he was gonna get this evening. "Actually dad, there was something else we wanted to talk to you about. You remember how Sherlock met Richard 75 years ago?" David raised an eyebrow at that. "Well, yes. It's still a strange thought, but that's life I suppose."

"Actually, Mr Watson.." Sherlock began and cleared his throat, "Could I maybe talk to you alone for a moment?" he asked, it just felt like something David should have some privacy to deal with first.

David's frown deepened a little, but he nodded and stood up. He sensed it was something important and shot his son and wife a short glance. "Please excuse us for a moment, Emma dear. Let's go upstairs then."

Sherlock smiled, standing up as well and giving John an apologetic smile, he did feel a little bad about leaving John out of this, but it felt right like that. He was rather nervous though, he really didn't know how the man would react and if he'd be mad at first like John had figured.

John wasn't happy at all with the prospect of having to leave Sherlock alone with this and tried to make the way he returned his boyfriend's gaze convey exactly that. The only reasons he didn't actively object were really that he trusted Sherlock to know what he was doing (Ha) and he knew he tended to be a bit paranoid at times. David walked out of the living room and up into their bedroom, expecting Sherlock to follow him into it.

Sherlock followed and closed the door behind them once they were in the room, allowing for some more privacy, "Right.. I actually don't know how to start this.. and it might not be my place to tell you in the first place.. but like this it's probably less of a shock." he said and cleared his throat again, "Still, I felt like you might want some privacy first with this kind of news.. what John referred to just now... it's the fact that.. Richard.. he's still alive."

Despite the lack of any kind of emotion on it, David's face managed to fall. A dangerous quiet settled in the room, as David slowly began to visibly tense up. He swallowed and looked at his son's partner. It took him a few moments, before he unclenched his jaw enough to speak with a rather toneless but clear voice. "Explain."

Sherlock took a breath, "Well.. when I served with him.. he got severely injured at some point. He would have died, I knew that.. and so.. I turned him." he said and bit his lip, "And that's where my part in the story ends, I don't want to say too much, he should explain it to you yourself. John and I just wanted to let you know that he's alive before he actually comes to see you. If you want that, I mean.."

David's attempt to pull himself together could only be called meagre at best. He had a hard time to fully comprehend the immensity of what the teen had just said and didn't say anything at first. Nevertheless a few moments later something in him flicked and he managed to force at least his expression from an utterly shocked one back into his usual neutral one. Clenching his fist, he exhaled slowly, his voice low and dangerous. "Leave. Now."

Sherlock was about to ask if he was supposed to leave the room, or the house, but decided to just return to John and Emma, so he just nodded and made his way out of the room, going back downstairs and giving John a wary look as he returned, not sure what to say, really. He had no idea if that went well.. or not? Had this just gone horribly wrong? There was the possibility that David would throw him out of the house when he'd come back downstairs.

Once the door was closed, David looked after Sherlock for a few seconds, before sitting down on the bed. He rested his hands on his knees and slumped down, breathing more heavily and looking down on the floor beneath him. No. This couldn't be... He glanced up at one particular family picture on the commode in front of him, before shutting his eyes hard. After all this time... 

John looked up when Sherlock returned and raised an eyebrow at him coming back alone. "How'd he take it then?"

"I don't know.." Sherlock said and frowned, "Maybe.. go upstairs and talk to him.. he seemed angry but.. I really don't know. Just go and ... support him?" he asked, looking at John. "I'll explain what's going on to your mum meanwhile." he said and looked over at Emma who looked understandably confused.

 

John nodded. "Yeah, do that. I'll check on him." No sooner said than done, he rose to his feet and walked upstairs to his parents' bedroom. Not quite knowing what to expect, he knocked three times on the door to be greeted a few seconds later with something that sounded much like a mumbled 'Emma?'. Did... did he sound choked up? His tough-as-nails dad?  
The med student opened the door by an inch, not looking inside yet, and answered instead. "No, dad, it's John. I'm sorry we ambushed you like this. Can I come in please?"  
For a few seconds he didn't hear anything, before his father's voice eventually cut through the silence. "Yes," David cleared his throat. "come here, John."

Sherlock turned to Emma once John was out of the room, "Sherlock, tell me what's going on please." Emma said worriedly and frowned at Sherlock. "Well.. you know that I served with David's father.." he began, figuring that calling him Mr Watson was unnecessary here, "Yes, I've gathered that, even if it's a bit strange to imagine, quite frankly." she said with a small smile. "Yeah.. But.. What you don't know is that Richard is still alive.. that's what I've told David." he explained and Emma's eyes grew wide, "How.. how is that possible? He must be what, 92 now?" she asked and Sherlock shook his head, "Well.. technically yes.. but.. he's a vampire. I've turned him decades before David was even born.. it's a long story." he said with a sigh and Emma nodded, "Oh dear.. That must be hard to take for him..

 

John came into the bedroom and saw his father sitting on the edge of the bed, looking straight ahead. He was visibly tense when John came to stand next to him.  
After a few moments of awkward shuffling, David glanced at him. "Sit down, son."  
Without another word John obliged and looked down on his feet, after glancing shortly at his father. He had no idea what he could say to make this situation better for him.  
"How long?" David asked after a few minutes of shared silence; it was clear to John what he meant. "Two weeks. Sherlock told me right after you showed us that photograph of them. We'd have have told you sooner, if it hadn't been for this whole vampire stuff." He said, the both of them still looking at the commode in front of them. David nodded numbly, before repeating. "Two weeks." /44 years/ was what he thought.  
John nodded quietly in response.

 

“Do you think he's going to be okay?" Sherlock asked after a few moments of silence between him and Emma. "He seemed quite.. out of it." he said and sighed, watching Emma shrug, "I really don't know.." she said, sighing herself. "I think he'll need some time before he can be happy about it, but eventually, he will." she said quietly, "He wouldn't admit it, but he's missed him badly." she mumbled and Sherlock just nodded, "Will he be.. mad at me?" he asked, still not quite sure if David's words before had meant out of the house rather than out of the room. "I don't think so... You didn't make him leave after all.." she said, but sounded more like he wanted to soothe Sherlock, than really believing what she said.

John remained still and just waited for his dad to make the next move, hoping his company was somewhat helping. After a few more minutes had passed and it still didn't look like David was going to say something, John broke the silence. "I met him that evening, after Sherlock had asked him to come over. He recognised me immediately." He said and paused shortly, figuring the implications of that were clear. "And he said he really wants to meet-" He was cut off by his father's look. Now that David had turned his head and John could, for the first time since he'd entered, really see his face. Especially his usually sharp eyes stood out, now that they were red-rimmed and just... tired, hurt. 'Weak' wouldn't have been the right word to describe David; that was really the last one on the list. 'Wounded' seemed more fitting.  
When he spoke again, his voice was gravelly, but didn't lack its usual bite. "I don't want to hear it. Now take the man you've come with and leave."


	32. In Which John Needs To Sit Down After A Phone Call

Sherlock and Emma didn't say more as they waited for either John, or David, or both to return to them. Sherlock still couldn't shake the thought that he was going to be kicked out, which made him even more anxious for John to return.

"Yes, dad." John said after a few moments of just looking at his father and forced himself stiffly onto his feet. Going out of the room, he didn't look back and closed the door quietly behind him. He couldn't say this reaction had come as a surprise, but it had still felt like a punch to his gut. When he was back in the living room he walked up to where the two were sitting and laid his hand on Sherlock's shoulder, signalling him to stand up. "Let's go, Sher." He said, trying to sound casual about it.

"What?" Emma said and rose to her feet along with Sherlock, who just quietly accepted this, he had expected it in a way, after all. "You're not going." she said sternly and looked upstairs, "Neither of you two is to blame for this. As far as I understood it, Sherlock did not make Richard leave, did he? There's no reason for him to throw you out. Either of you. Let me talk to him, I will not just sit and watch while he rips my family apart again.." she said and Sherlock shook his head, "Emma, it's fine. I don't think he means it like that, actually.." he said and frowned, looking at John, hoping he'd be better at soothing his mother.

"I think he needs some time to process this, mum. This... has hit him hard. I can understand that he doesn't want the two of us around when he's like that. I doubt he'll blame any of us once he's had the chance to think." John told Emma calmly. "We'll drop by again as soon as he's come around, okay? It would be great though if you could talj to him about it in the meantime."

Emma sighed, thinking about her son's words for a moment, before she nodded, "Fine.." she said with another sigh and moved to hug John and then Sherlock, "You're still welcome here, both of you. Don't doubt that, alright?" she asked, clearly still worried the situation would go back to how it was before with Harry. "And I'll talk to your father.." she said, looking at John.

"Thanks, mum. I appreciate it. And we two will stick around." John told his mother with a nod, taking Sherlock's hand instinctively (though he was careful not to use it as a stress toy this time). "See you soon."

"Take care.." Emma said as the two of them started to walk to the door. "See you soon Emma." Sherlock said and gave her a reassuring smile even though he didn't know how this would turn out himself. "Well.. that didn't go so well.." he said as they were out of the house, looking at John. "Maybe it was a mistake to talk to him about it alone.. I just thought he wouldn't want to have too many people around when he first hears about it."

John sighed and shook his head. "Yeah and you were obviously right with that. He needs space and time and that's really all that was. We'll give him that and let mum talk to him." He said with a weak smile, making sure to sound more convinced of that than he actually was. "By his standards that wasn't all that bad a reaction, alright?"

Sherlock huffed a laugh at that, "He only kicked us out.. not a bad reaction at all.." he mumbled and really feared that he had lost all progress he'd made with being accepted by John's father.

"No yelling, no cursing, no violence and no gunshots; believe me, that could've gone worse." John told Sherlock and gave his hand a squeeze. "You know, just because I've never seen him cry in twenty years, doesn't mean he never does. Just that he prefers to keep it that way, I guess. And that probably goes for a wide array of emotions. Especially with you, I'd imagine." John certainly didn't feel good about what had just happened, but he wanted to avoid that Sherlock would give himself a hard time for that.

"I suppose..." Sherlock said and shrugged lightly, "I guess we'll see how he's going to act around me the next time we'll visit." he mumbled and sighed again, he had admittedly secretly felt a little smug that he was able to make John's father overlook the fact that he was his son's boyfriend and see him an otherwise somewhat likeable person (which was more of an achievement than it sounded like), but now he felt like that he had just ruined that.

"Yeah, we will." John replied with a nod and a bit of a smile, before kissing his cheek and walking with him to the street to hail a cab. At least the fact that he was trying to make Sherlock feel a bit better about the situation made him feel a bit more sanguine as well.

Sherlock smiled lightly at the kiss, "I suppose it really could have been worse.." he mumbled and got into the cab once one stopped in front of them. "So.. what do we do with the rest of the day?" he asked and looked at John while the driver waited for them to tell him where to go. "We could start to buy Christmas presents..." he said and the thought of his two baby sisters did cheer him up a little. "There are two toddlers that expect some presents from their big brother."

"How about Covent garden? They've got a cute toyshop there and don't ask me how I know that." John said with a smile; his last girlfriend had helped him get a present for the twins there for their second birthday there. And he could really do with a nice distraction like that.

Sherlock chuckled, looking at him, "You realise that now, I have to ask how you know?" he asked with a smile, before turning to the cabbie who looked relatively impatient already, telling him to drive to Covent Garden. "So?" he asked as he turned back to John.

"Okay, fine, I had that coming I guess. So, almost one year ago the twins were about to turn two and as you can imagine I didn't really have much of a clue what to get them. My then-girlfriend Sarah though had a younger brother who was I think six at the time. So when she had to look after her brother one afternoon, I went with her and she took us to that toystore and helped me pick something out for them. I got Amber a gift for them there as well. It's her turn this year, but if we're already there, I think we can get something for their birthday too."

"Right.." Sherlock said and changed the subject, not really wanting to talk more about his ex girlfriend right now. "I hope there's a shop with furniture too.. I haven't started on the room for them yet and I did promise them to have it ready when they visit the next time." he said and smiled, "I'd rather like to keep that promise."

"Let me guess, it's gonna be a glittery, pink princess room, yeah?" John asked with a fond chuckle. "I refuse to furnish a room like that for your other sibling though." He added with a laugh.

"Don't worry, I'd refuse to do that too." Sherlock said and chuckled, shaking his head, "That would suggest that I'd want him near me for a considerable amount of time which is definitely not the case." he said and smirked at John, "And what's wrong with a pink princess room when it's a room for two little princesses?" he asked with a laugh.

"Jesus, you three are definitely related. All so bloody adorable. And I wasn't trying to say that there's anything wrong with that." John smirked and wrapped an arm around his boyfriend's waist to pull him a little closer and kiss his cheek.

"The only problem is that we won't have space for a nursery whenever we need one." Sherlock said and chuckled, "We can hardly wait until they're grown up and don't really need their own room anymore." he said and frowned, "Well.. Unless you make a certain decision.. then we can wait as long as we feel like waiting."

John opened his mouth to say that he had no idea yet, because he didn't know yet if he was going to turn. And if they decided to have kids, they'd quite likely end up as vampires. And then John wouldn't really have a choice but to become a vampire too, because as a parent he knew he'd feel obliged to look after his children as long as he possibly could... It would feel like abandoning them in the worst way possible... He'd be willing to do that to his bloody husband, wouldn't he? John swallowed; he probably needed to re-evaluate his priorities, didn't he?... "Let's get married first, alright?"

Sherlock smiled, "Sounds good to me. I didn't mean to rush you anyway, I was just saying that could turn out to be a problem whenever it happens." he said and shrugged, "I don't really want to take their room away from them until they decide they don't need it anymore, so we might have to renovate the basement." he said with a chuckle.

"You'd like that, hm? A house full of squealing little kids?" John asked with a chuckle. "And we could always move into a house if we're deciding to have a family. Although... that would feel a little strange; imagining us anywhere but 221.”

"Well it's not like we'd lose 221B." Sherlock said and chuckled, "And we still have the house in Sussex. That'd be big enough." he said and smirked at John, "And imagine my mother's reaction if I'd raise my kids in that house.." he said and raised his brows with a smile as he imagined her reaction to grandchildren in the first place.

"I can imagine she'd like that quite a lot." John smiled, looking out of the window to see that they'd pretty much arrived. And a few the cab stopped right in front of Covent garden. After he'd pulled out his wallet to pay the cabbie (before Sherlock got the chance to do so this time), he slipped out of the cab and onto the street.

Sherlock rolled his eyes as John paid the cab, before he got out of the car himself, "So... What exactly do two-year-olds play with these days?" he asked and raised a brow, "I suppose toy theatres and penny plains aren't up to date anymore..." he said and looked at John, "Oh, penny plains were figures printed on paper with black ink, which you could colour and play with in your theatre. I actually had one of those."

John chuckled at that and shook his head a little. "No, that sounds a little outdated to be honest. Girls their age will usually play with dolls, Barbies, Legos and things like that." He said and thought a bit; it really wasn't like he was an expert on this. "And children are really into merchandise, so right now I think they'd be excited about anything that has got 'Frozen' characters on it."

"Right.." Sherlock said and smiled, "You think they'd like practice violins though? I could teach them to play let it go." he said and thought about the melody, he had heard it often enough for a while, since it seemed to be everywhere. "That shouldn't be too difficult to figure out."

"Wait, you want to figure out how to play the violin for them? That's some commitment right there." John said with a chuckle, frowning slightly. That seemed a bit random, but if Sherlock wanted to do that.

"Well... I'd figure out how to play the song.. I already know how to play the violin." he said and chuckled. "I've been playing since I was a child." he said with a laugh, "Didn't I tell you about that?" he asked with a frown.

"Erm, no. Hadn't come up yet apparently." John said, frowning a little himself. In fairness though, their flat was a bit of a clutter, so it was easy to overlook things. "So you actually play the violin, yeah?"

Sherlock nodded, "Yeah.. I compose too, actually." he said and chuckled, "And actually I usually play a lot. Guess something or.. someone was distracting me." he said, smirking at his boyfriend.

John smirked right back. "I take that as a compliment. Though, I insist on hearing you play when we get back home." Sherlock was apparently much more 'artsy' than what you'd think on first glance.

"Oh, if you insist.." Sherlock said and chuckled, "So what do you think about practice violins though? Is it too early for that?" he asked as they entered the toy shop. "I started to get lessons when I was four, but maybe giving them violins already is good though, they can play with it and figure out what string makes what tone and finding out if they're even interested in the instrument.." he said and shrugged.

"Since I don't have that much experience with playing an instrument, I'm probably not the best person to ask." John said with a shrug. "But, I mean, they'd definitely love you for it, especially once they find out you can play it as well. We might want to ask their parents for permission first though." He added with a chuckle.

"Guess who encouraged and taught me to play..." Sherlock asked with a laugh, shaking his head, "Pretty sure mum won't have a problem with that." he said and still found it weird to talk about her in the present tense.

"Right, and uncle Paul plays the piano." John said with a chuckle. "Granted, that seems like a great gift for them. But I won't have them practicing upstairs during my exams."

Sherlock laughed, "Yeah, I can see how that would be counter productive." he said with a smile.

A few hours later they're sitting in a cab again on their way back home, a couple of big shopping bags placed around them and next to their feet. John didn't even really know how they'd managed to buy that much. Towards the end he'd just trotted along and helped carry the bags until Sherlock had been pleased with what they'd got. Looking over what they'd bought once more, John couldn't help finding that Sherlock had gone a little overboard on their shopping trip. "So... have fun?"

Sherlock frowned, looking over their bags, "I did yeah, although I wish there had been more.. variety to choose from. Why do all toys have to be electric or digital these days?" he asked, shaking his head, "I do understand the usefulness of educational computers, but for toddlers, it seems kind of important to use their imagination rather than having an electronic voice coming out of a doll."

"I really don't know, but it probably sells better." John said with a shrug. "And I don't think variety was that big a problem, considering that we still bought half the toyshop nevertheless." He added with a laugh.

"Hardly.. a third.. at the most." Sherlock said, laughing along with John but blushing a little, "It's my first Christmas with them... I am entitled to spoil them." he said and pulled out the two sets of plastic cups, three pink ones and three red ones. "And you have to admit that those will come in handy with..." he paused glancing at the cabbie before looking back at John, "With Ally's tomato juice allergy..."

"Yeah, I think Vanessa and Paul will be more grateful for that particular present." John said with a chuckle. "Now we only have to get something for Amber and Mark and then our cousins will be off the list. Amber has told me she wanted the piano arrangement of some musical, so we can give that to her from the both of us."

"The cups are for us at home, actually." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I'd rather not have Ally accidentally drink tomato juice..". he said and rolled his eyes, he still hadn't forgotten the shock of Amy drinking blood when they hadn't known she's a vampire.

"Jesus, I nearly strangled you when I first saw her twin drinking that juice ." John commented and shook himself a bit. "I can't wait until they're old enough to understand... allergies."

"Yeah.. that certainly is going to make it easier.." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I didn't even know /allergies/ can be so complicated." he said with a frown.

John hummed in agreement. "Good thing Vanessa explained that to us in great detail. Speaking of which, have you two been in contact in the meantime?"

"Yeah.. I'm getting a text every morning from her asking how I am..." he said and chuckled again, "It sounds like it should be annoying but it's actually quite nice after so long without any kind of contact."

"Yeah, that sounds sweet." John said with a smile. "And has she seen Mycroft again as well the past couple of days?"

"She has, yeah. Don't think he'd admit it, but she said he cried a bit." Sherlock said and for some reason he didn't feel like making fun of it. "He missed her more than I imagined, I guess.." he said with a frown.

John nodded. "I mean, I don't know him, but I can't think of a single person, who wouldn't miss their mother a great deal in a situation like that."

"Well.. it's part of life, I guess.." Sherlock said and sighed a little, "But.. well the circumstances were a bit different with us, I suppose." he said with a shrug, they couldn't really discuss this in too much detail with the cabbie listening.

John chuckled inwardly at the vaguest answer he had ever heard in his life and took the hint to change the subject. "Have you already plans to meet Amber and Paul by the way? I mean they definitely remember you but I doubt you got the chance to form an opinion."

"Not really no, but.. maybe we could invite all of them over once Amy's and Ally's room is ready." Sherlock suggested as the cab stopped in front of the flat. "Perhaps we could invite Harry and Clara too and .. I can't believe I'm saying that, but we could invite Mycroft. He should probably meet his siblings as well."

"Yeah, that's a good idea.'' John said and climbed out of the cab. "I mean the flat is definitely big enough for that and I can imagine your mum will be more than happy. And it's probably about time that I meet my step-cousin and cousin-in-law and soon-to-be brother-in-law too."

"We should probably not mention that all that is the same person." Sherlock said and chuckled, shaking his head, "It still feels weird that we're technically related."

"Yeah, but only because your mum eventually married my uncle. And your cousin married my sister... This could be much weirder, is what I'm trying to say." John added after a moment with a laugh.

Sherlock laughed, pulling his keys out of his pocket while trying not to drop the bags, "It's weird enough. I'm not sure I'd support another Watson Holmes wedding." he said and smiled, "Apart from ours, obviously."

John chuckled. "Even though my dad would be more than proud to hear a statement like that, mum's side of the family is actually called Berkeley. By the way, do we want to make it Watson-Holmes or should one of us take on the other's last name like Clara did?" John asked; it wasn't urgent, but they hadn't talked about it yet.

"Well, I'm not sure what you're going to do, but I'll be going with Watson-Holmes." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "I mean.. It's stupid and sentimental, but I'd really like to wear your name." he said and blushed a bit, "But I also don't want to let go of the name I've been having for more than 200 years. It's kind of a connection to my past, you know."

"I like that reason. It'll be an honour to bear your name." John smiled and kissed Sherlock's cheek. "Besides, I would like to have the same last name as my husband." He said and walked into the building, holding the door open for Sherlock with his shoulder.

Sherlock smiled, walking past John into the house and up the stairs, "So it's Watson-Holmes for both of us then?" he asked and looked back at John. "Well let's hope I will never have to write down my full name again once we're married. William Sherlock Scott Watson-Holmes is pretty long." he chuckled.

" 'Mr. William Sherlock Scott Watson-Holmes & Mr. John Hamish Watson-Holmes and Mrs. Clara Watson & Mrs. Harriet Gabrielle Watson Request the pleasure of your company at their marriage' Is certainly too bloody long and something we definitely won't put on our wedding invitations." John said with a laugh.  
"Clara Emilia, actually." Sherlock said and chuckled, shaking his head, "We need A4 invitations if we put it like that." he said and smiled, "But.. wouldn't it be 'William Sherlock Scott Holmes and John Hamish Watson' on the invitations?" he asked.

John thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think you're right... Not sure though, unsurprisingly this is kind of a first for me. Seriously though, I don't want to make anything with my middle name on it public. And not having to order A4 invitations that way will save money too." John said with a chuckle.

"Oh no, we're doing this properly. With Middle names." Sherlock said and smirked, "And we don't have to worry about money, you know that. And no backtalk on this one. We're going to have a proper wedding with everything we and Clara and Harry want, it's our first wedding, we can make compromises for the possible next ones, but not here." he said and laughed.

John sighed in mostly feigned exasperation and began to carry his bags up the stairs. "Fine, but only the invitations." He agreed. Only though, because he could see how much Sherlock wanted everything to be as close to a storybook wedding as possible.

Sherlock smiled, "And in the ceremony." he said and chuckled as he sat the bags down, "We should probably stock up on wrapping paper as well." he said and frowned as he looked over to the kitchen where the pile of dishes had disappeared. Walking over he looked at the empty sink, chuckling as he picked up the note in Mrs Hudson's handwriting. "I only did your dishes because I was worried the pile would become alive and attack me, don't get used to it. I'm not your housekeeper."

"Erm, yeah, that might be a good idea." John chuckled and put the bags down in the living room, before following Sherlock into the kitchen. "Don't tell me they actually grew legs and ran away." He said with a frown, noticing the note in Sherlock's hand. "Mrs Hudson's an angel."

"That she is." Sherlock said and chuckled again, placing the note on the counter, before he moved over to hug his boyfriend, "You want to call your dad? I'd really like to know if he's feeling better.." he said and pecked John's lips.

John nodded and sighed. "Yeah, that'd probably be best." He pulled out his mobile and gave Sherlock a short smile. "I'll just be upstairs, love. See you in a moment." Just in case his dad hadn't calmed down completely, he wanted some privacy.

Sherlock looked after John for a moment, before he started to carry the bags over into their bedroom, storing them in their wardrobe - or at least some of them, he really started to think that he might have been going overboard with the presents after all as he looked for a place for the other half of the bags. But you didn't get a whole new family everyday, especially not after you thought your family was already dead.

 

John stood in the spare bedroom and dialled the number of his parents' landline. Once someone on the other side picked up, he didn't wait long to start the conversation.  
"Hi, this is John again."  
The other person, apparently his father, cleared his throat. There was a bit of a pause before he responded. "Hello, John."  
"I, erm, wanted to ask how things are right now. After the initial, erm, shock, you know."  
It was quiet for a moment and John cursed himself for not broaching the subject a bit more gently.  
Eventually, David sighed. "I have a lot to think about."  
John nodded in agreement, not immediately remembering that his dad couldn't see him. "Mmh."  
"You're mother has made it clear to me that this won't affect the fact you're welcome here.''  
His tone of voice sounded suspiciously defeated yet still reluctant - mum was sitting right next to him, wasn't she?  
John ran a hand through his hair. "Good, I'm very glad to hear that. I assume that goes for me /and/ my partner?"  
"John, you're my son." Okay, that could mean a number of different things, but John wasn't in the mood to make this up to chance.  
"So that's a 'you're my son, so naturally I accept the both of you'?"  
David gave a not particularly happy sounding grunt, but John would take that any day.  
"Dad, about Richard, he really wants to meet you again. In case you want his number-" He was cut off by David's clipped voice.  
"Yes. And I appreciate your effort."  
John nodded again. Quite thrown off by that, he didn't know what to say next, but didn't dare to ring off. It was quiet for a while, except for the faint sound of footsteps.  
"John?"  
"Yes, dad?"  
"Are we... good? The two of us."  
"Erm, course, dad."  
"Because, you know, I'm trying for you. You and Harry. I really am."  
"I- I know." John was a little confused by the direction this was taking.  
"Listen, John. I know I've made mistakes, but I'm your father and I want to be there for you."  
Another pause.  
"I'll always have your back. You know that, right?" ...Now that was unexpected to say the least.  
"I- yes, dad."  
There was a little pause and it felt like everything that had been needed to be said was out there now. Almost.  
"I love you, son."  
"Love you too, dad."

After a few moments David hung up and sat down with a heavy sigh. 20 kilometres away from him, in the upstairs bedroom, John did the same.


	33. Introducing Lowell

When Sherlock had finally stored away all the toys, he walked into the kitchen, starting to prepare dinner for John and himself while having the liquid part of his dinner on the side. He really wanted to know if David was alright and he wanted to know what to tell Richard. He 

After a few minutes of sitting on the bed and processing what the hell had just happened, he opened the window to let some fresh air inside. There he was greeted by a guy just standing in front of the building and watching... strange. He closed the window again and went downstairs into the kitchen, coming up behind Sherlock to rest his chin on his shoulder. He kind of felt obligated at this point to wrap his arms around his boyfriend when he walked in on him cooking. "Hey, love."

"Hey.." Sherlock said and instinctively leant back into him, "How's your dad?" he asked curiously, even though his relationship to David wasn't exactly the best and far from being a stable one, but he was still part of his family now. "Is he feeling better about the whole thing?"

"Erm, he said that he's still figuring things out, but he didn't hang up when I mentioned it, so there's that, I guess." John said, smiling wryly. "He's not willing to call him, but two of us are still welcome to visit them. And he, erm... was, well he said some... nice things to me." John said with a slight smile.

Sherlocks smiled, "Well.. that doesn't sound so bad.." he said as he flipped their steaks, before he turned around to John, "I'm just not sure if I should tell Richard about it.." he said and frowned, "I mean.. he sort of has the right to know we've told David, but.. he won't be happy when he hears about his reaction."

"I mean, I've told dad that I'll give him Richard's number when he wants to talk to him again." John said and shrugged lightly. "I guess we'll just have to wait until that happens. And truth be told I don't think telling Richard would do any good; even though he is entitled to know "

"Well.. I trust you on that matter." Sherlock said and chuckled lightly, "You're definitely the one with an insight on how male Watsons work so.. I won't tell Richard for now." he said and wrapped his arms around John, "Just to warn you, I'm having dinner and I didn't rinse my mouth yet."

"That's a shame, but I appreciate the warning." John commented with a smile, leaning a bit more into Sherlock to at least kiss his neck lightly. Working his way up, he only stopped once he'd reached Sherlock's earlobe to nibble at it.

"That is not helping with sticking to our rule, you know that, right?" Sherlock asked in a low voice, biting his lip. "Also... this might lead to burnt steaks.." he chuckled, pulling John a little closer against himself anyway.

John chuckled and gave Sherlock's earlobe one last suck, before pulling back to look Sherlock in the eye. Running a hand through his curls, he pecked his boyfriend's lips and smirked at him. "Such a gorgeous thing... It's bloody hard not to go for a metaphorical dinner right now."

"Well.. I wouldn't mind a metaphorical desert though.." Sherlock said and chuckled, turning around to check on their food, "But you should really eat something.. we skipped mortal breakfast and didn't get to eat anything at your parents' place either and then I've dragged you through all the shops." he said and sighed, "Sorry about that, by the way..."

"It's alright. With all the drama going on today that bit of distraction was a good thing. But now that you've mentioned it, I'm actually famished. And I didn't even notice... So yeah, desert it is."

Sherlock smiled, "Something to look forward to." he said and chuckled, taking the steaks off the stove and filling their plates.

 

"True." John smirked and began to lay the table quickly. "Thank you for cooking by the way. It looks and smells delicious." He said, doubting he'd get used to Sherlock cooking for them any time soon. "Not really a comparison to Ramen noodles."

"Told you, you won't ever need to eat those unless you really feel like having some." Sherlock said and smiled, pecking John's cheek, before he set the plates down.

John sat down and chuckled. When Sherlock was sitting as well, he began to dig in and really noticed that he hadn't eaten at all today. Looking out of the window he remembered that bloke from earlier. "Erm Sherlock?" He asked in between bites. "When I was upstairs saw some guy on the opposite pavement just staring at this building. He looked kinda familiar. Have you seen him too?"

Sherlock smiled, watching John start to eat, he really felt a bit bad for .. well for several things today. He still felt like he could have been more sensitive about telling David about Richard and he really should have thought about the fact that John needs to eat. When John started to speak he frowned, "Tall-ish, brunette and... well.. not exactly ugly." he asked.

John's jaw tightened just a little at the last part, but since he knew that was ridiculous, he swallowed another bite before saying. "Yeah, that's him. Any idea what he's doing there at this time of the year?"

Sherlock shook his head slowly, "No idea, but I've erm.. noticed him a few times now.." he said, still frowning. "Well.. maybe you have a stalker."

"I kinda doubt it, but I don't think a discussion about who's a better person to be stalked makes much sense." John huffed a laugh. "Seriously though, I've never seen him on campus or anything."

Sherlock sighed, "Well.. there is an easy way to solve this." he said and shrugged, standing up, "I'll just go out and ask him what he's up to." he said, emptying his glass.

"You know what, I'd actually rather ask him myself, if that's alright with you." John said and put his cutlery back onto his plate, before getting up to his feet as well. "I'll be back in a minute."

Sherlock couldn't help but chuckle, "As you wish.." he said and chuckled, "But keep your jealousy in line." he said and smirked as he sat back down.

"Yeah, I'll try not to punch him at the first snarky remark." John teased, before turning to put his coat on and walk outside. And when he opened the door that stranger was actually still standing there. Without much of a preamble, he walked up to him to talk. "Hi there. I couldn't help but notice your interest for our house."

Lowell cracked a small smile as the blonde approached him, "Actually.." Lowell said and pushed his hands into his pockets, "I'm more interested in one of it's residents." he said and looked up at the house again, "You're living here with Sherlock Holmes, aren't you?"

"Yeah, he's my boyfriend." John said with a nod and cringed inwardly at how that had sounded. "Most people knock when they want to talk to the residents of a house."

“Yeah I figured that." Lowell said and hummed a laugh, "I've seen you two a few times now, trust me, you two are awfully sweet, it's like watching a Disney film." he said with a friendly smile, "However, I wasn't quite sure how to start this conversation.." he said and shrugged, "That's why I didn't just /knock/. I know he's in possession of a portrait I'm interested in... it shows one of my.. ancestors. Victor Trevor."

John raised an eyebrow at that, because surely Victor couldn't have direct ancestors with him being Sherlock's boyfriend his whole life... John also made not of the slight hesitation before the word ancestor. What was this guy onto? "Yeah, he does actually... So you're like his great great grandson, yeah?"

"Something like that." Lowell said and smiled again, "Look.. I suppose it would be better if I'd talk to your boyfriend directly?" he asked and looked at the house again, "If now isn't a good time, I can come back another time, though."

"Hm? No, now's as good a time as any, I guess." He said and began to walk back into the house, expecting the stranger to follow. Right, he hadn't even asked what his name was. "I'm John by the way." He said and gave the man a polite smile.

"Lowell Trevor." he replied as he followed this John guy to the house and into it, "So.. your boyfriend.. what's he like?" Lowell asked curiously, still trying to puzzle out if that Sherlock Holmes was just a relative of his brother's partner and inherited his belongings at some point, or if he really was the same, which he knew was possible, even if chances were low.

"Well, he's passionately studying chemistry; he conducts a few of his experiments at home, so that's why the kitchen smells a bit like hydrogen peroxide." John said as they walked up the stairs. "He's also into artistic stuff, likes to perform, you know."

"Right.." Lowell said and so far that fit with the descriptions Victor had given him about William in his letters. Sherlock frowned as he heard John talking to someone. He really hadn't expected John to invite him in. Not with how unhappy he had been about him being there in the first place. Quickly hiding his glass of blood in the fridge - memo to self he really needed to tell John to warn him if he surprisingly brought someone over - he walked into the living room and to greet the two man. "Uh.. hello." he said and looked questionably at John. "Well.. that's a surprise.."

"That's Lowell Trevor, one of Victor Trevor's descendants." John said and walked over to Sherlock, giving him a look when that stalker-bloke couldn't see his face. "He saw the portrait in the gallery and now wants to talk to you. I thought since he's already here, there's no point in putting it off. Wouldn't want him to catch pneumonia over the course of the next week anyway." John said with a mildly sarcastic tone of voice. He didn't like the fact he'd just invited a stalker and a liar into their home himself, but he thought it best to deal with the matter as soon as possible.

Sherlock raised a brow when John called the guy a descendant of Victor - which couldn't be. If there ever had been a wholeheartedly gay man, it was Victor. But the name wasn't unfamiliar. "Lowell Trevor, you say?" Sherlock asked and Lowell gave Sherlock a - he had to admit that - quote dazzling smile. Not that he was any competition for John, but he was very nice to look at. "Do you by any chance have a brother?" he asked and Lowell's smile grew brighter. "As a matter of fact, I do, yeah." Lowell said and Sherlock smiled a little, he really did look and acted exactly like Victor had told him all those years ago.

John watched them and kept his hands deliberately relaxed. He had no idea whether they were referencing something John didn't know or if they were flirting. What he did know was that he didn't like the way this guy was smiling at his boyfriend. (Nor the way Sherlock was smiling back.) So that's what he'd left his dinner for?

Sherlock chuckled at that, "I see..." he said and frowned, "Would you like to .. drink something?" he asked and felt that it was relatively safe to offer him some blood, "Maybe some... /tomato juice/, or /red wine/." he said emphasizing the two cover terms for blood he knew others used too. "Sure, I wouldn't mind either.. but.. some wine in the blood would be nice." Lowell said bluntly and Sherlock raised his brows at that, "Okay.. you're not a fan of tiptoeing around things then." he said and chuckled, shaking his head as he walked into the kitchen, gesturing Lowell to follow.

John raised an eyebrow and followed Sherlock into the kitchen, wondering just how old Lowell was. Sherlock's age would make sense, if he's Victor's brother or cousin. "Want me to leave you alone?" He asked Sherlock, even though he really didn't like that idea too much.

"Hm?" Sherlock asked having been a bit too busy with the idea that Victor's brother had just showed up at his flat. "Oh! No. No, I'm sorry, love.." he said and smiled at John, walking over to him and pecking his cheek as he remembered his tendency to get jealous. "I should probably introduce you two.. John.. this is Lowell.. who's.. well, I suppose my brother and law seems fitting.. even though Victor and I couldn't get married."

John was definitely more soothed by Sherlock's reaction that he'd like to admit. "Oh, alright. That explains a lot actually. You two have never met in person then, I take it?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. Victor told me a lot about your boyfriend though." Lowell said, looking at John while Sherlock grabbed three glasses and opened a bottle of wine. "He told me a lot about his brother as well.. he was crushed when he heard about your death.." he said and looked at Lowell with a frown. "Honestly, with all the confusion and unnecessary loss that could have been avoided by just being more open about the whole vampire thing, I'm nearly tempted to just tell the world about us." he said, handing John a glass of wine before he started to make a blood wine mixture for Lowell and himself.

John took the glass and sighed at that. "Yeah, tell me all about it. Just learned that half my family are planning to or have already faked their deaths because of that." He shook his head at that. "The lack of communication is tragically ridiculous."

Sherlock nodded, as he handed Lowell his glass, "Wait.. how many vampires exactly do you know?" he asked and looked at Sherlock as he said down at the table, "Well.. the number is steadily increasing since I met John. Currently.." he frowned, counting in mind. "Eight so far.. plus three who might decide to turn, including John. And well another two who know about vampires, but haven't considered turning yet or at least it hasn't come up yet." he said and was a little surprised himself how many vampires they were all of a sudden as he waited for John to sit down, planning to sit on his lap, hoping that'd appeal to John's possessive side and keep the jealousy on an agreeable level.

John huffed a laugh and sat down at the table as well. "And a month ago I didn't even know vampires existed..." He said and drifted off a little into his own musings. Well, if he'd taken gran Mag seriously back then, he might've learned about it a lot earlier. Hell, he might've even met Sherlock earlier, though it was probably a good thing they hadn't met when John had been sixteen; the age difference would've been much more prominent. He quietly wondered if Clara and Violet would've met each other eventually, since without Sherlock, she and Harry likely still wouldn't be invited to family events. After a while they'd have faked their deaths and even though their family knew about vampires they'd have lost each other...

"That's.. a lot.." Lowell said and frowned, "How did you meet all of those?" he asked and Sherlock shrugged, sitting down on John's lap and moving one arm around his neck for support. "Well.. it's kind of a long story to be honest.. and we had sort of a long day.." he said, looking at John with a small smile, before he looked back at Lowell, "Look, I'm way too tired to go into all of this at the moment.. you could just give me your contacts and we meet up another time?" he asked, he really wanted to talk some more to Victor's brother and he could understand his curiosity, but the day really had been stressful enough. "Oh. Yeah, sure, I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to intrude, really.. it's just.. well.. it's intriguing to have found someone from my past.. or at least who knew someone of my family back then."

John brought one arm around Sherlock's waist and settled his free hand on his boyfriend's thigh. It had really been one hell of a day, so he had absolutely no problem with wrapping Lowell's visit up. Spending the rest of the evening alone with Sherlock close to him like this sounded just about perfect.

"I completely understand that." Sherlock said and smiled at Lowell, pulling his phone out of his pocket and handing it to the other man, just give me your number and I'll send you mine." he said and Lowell smiled, "Thanks." he said typing the number in, "You know.. maybe it would also be a good idea to introduce to some of our friends. For instance my friend Jane. She actually introduced Victor and me." he said and smiled, leaving the Jane /Austen/ revelation for another day. "That would be great, actually." Lowell said and emptied his glass before standing up, smirking at John, "Oh and John..." he began, "You really don't have to worry. I'm very much straight. So no need to keep shooting daggers out of your eyes." he chuckled and Sherlock couldn't help but laugh as well.

John rolled his eyes a bit at that, but chuckled nonetheless in good humour. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. And you're more than welcome to use the doorbell in the future now that we've got to know each other." He teased lightly, before withdrawing his arm from Sherlock's side so they could get up and to the door.

Sherlock smiled, standing up and holding his hand out for John. "Well, even if you weren't straight, I'm very much John-sexual, so.. there's that." he said with a chuckle and Lowell chuckled, "That's very obvious." he smiled and looked at them, "You're like a real life Disney film, I already told John that." he said and Sherlock huffed a laugh, "What's the deal with people comparing us to Disney films all the time?"

"Yeah, I think you're the third person in two weeks to say that. But I mean there are worse comparisons." John said with a chuckle and took Sherlock's hand, before standing up as well and giving it a squeeze. "It was nice to meet you, Lowell." John told their guest with a short but genuine smile.

Sherlock smiled, "There really are.. they could say we remind them of of Beth and Gareth." he snickered and smirked at John while Lowell looked a bit lost at that joke, "Am I supposed to understand that or...?" he asked as they walked over to the door.

"They're my violently homophobic aunt and her pet husband." John explained and shook head at the thought of them. "A lovely pair as you can imagine." He commented, giving Sherlock a look and opening the door for Lowell.

"Ah they sound like people you want to have around.." Lowell said with a raised brow, "At least when you're standing next to a well you can push them into and chain them to the bottom. Both of them, people that just go with people throwing footless insults are just as bad." he said with a shrug.

"Yeah, that's true. Deciding not to act on something is still an active choice. " John said with a sigh. He didn't want to let the thought of certain family members ruin his evening. Though the longer he spoke to Lowell the more sympathetic he became to John.

Sherlock smiled, "Well luckily the progressive and supportive family members in our family outweigh the arseholes." he said and smiled at John, before looking back to Lowell, "Anyway, I'll text you, alright?" he asked and Lowell nodded, "Yeah, of course. Well.. See you then." Lowell said and turned, "See you." Sherlock said, quickly closing the door before the chilly air from the staircase could seep into the living room.

John let out a heavy sigh when the door fell shut. Today had been quite a lot and he couldn't wait for it to come to an end. The med student wrapped his arms around his boyfriend to kiss his cheek lazily. "Mind much if we skip dessert tonight?" He murmured with a chuckle into the other's ear.

"It's fine.." Sherlock said and frowned, wrapping his arms around John, "There's a lot to think about for me anyway.. I don't think I've really processed that this was Victor's brother yet.." he said with a frown.

John pulled back to look at Sherlock, watching his face. "Are you alright by the way?" He asked, because even though John couldn't speak from personal experience, but he figured that being confronted with someone so close to his dead husband wasn't an easy thing to wrap your head around.

"Yeah I... Guess." Sherlock said and sighed, "Is it weird for you if I'd like to become friends with Lowell? I mean.. I don't know.. we would be talking a lot about Victor.. so.. I don't know how you'd feel about it."

"No, I really don't think that. I mean I know that that's a major part of your life, so I get that you want to talk about him. Besides I think he's an alright guy, so I wouldn't mind having him over every every now and then."

"You only think he's alright because he made clear that he's got zero sexual interest in me." Sherlock teased, leaning in to peck John's lips.

"Well, I can't deny that it's a positive factor." John chuckled faintly, before leaning in to kiss Sherlock, just in time remembering the wine and running his hand through the other's hair instead.

"But you've got to admit that he does look pretty good." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I've got to admit that you're not the only one who's a bit relieved he's straight." he said and rested his forehead against John's.

"Yeah, good-looking he certainly is." John " chuckle, before smirking as he remembered something Sherlock had said. "And you're very much John-sexual, yeah?"

Sherlock smiled and nodded, "I am, yeah." he said and grinned, "Which is why you don't have to worry about women or men no matter how pretty they are.. they never compare to you." he smiled.

"That's profoundly sweet." John smiled, brushing his fingertips over Sherlock's scalp. "I don't know if we're still in the honeymoon period, but sometimes I do wonder what in the world I did to deserve you. Just... god, I love you so much."

Sherlock smiled, "I love you too." he said, holding John a little tighter, "But.. you know.. in case this is our honeymoon phase.. maybe we should have some low-carb desert in the shower?" he asked with a chuckle.

John chuckled at that and pulled back to look up at his boyfriend's face . "Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking there." He returned with a smirk. Taking Sherlock's hand, he walked a few steps towards the bathroom. "I still want to go to bed early so lets not waste time out here."

"Hang on.." Sherlock said and smiled, "As much as I hate to delay the desert..." he said and sighed dramatically although he was smiling, "You should eat the rest of your steak, you'll be starved tomorrow morning if all you eat in one day is a third of a steak."

"Right... I've really been a bit distracted today." John huffed a laugh and as if on cue his stomach gave a rumble. "I guess the most practical thing about marriage'll be that we won't be able to accidentally starve ourselves."

Sherlock chuckled at that, pecking John's cheek, before he sat down at the table, nipping at his wine, "Maybe I should call mum tomorrow and ask her if she can talk to David.. what for do we have a vampire therapist if we don't use her for situations like that."

John dug into the rest of his steak and nodded. 'Yeah that might be a good idea... and at the very least he already respects her. I doubt anything has changed about that."

"So being a vampire is all good, but being homosexual is a problem..." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, "You know what's the worst about that? I feel like even if we make vampires commonly known.. being gay would still be worse for most people."

"Yeah, probably... though I still know a good number of people who'd have quit a a hard time being okay with vampires living amongst them." John sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess for my dad it's just another illness. I don't think there's any other way Violet and Paul could have explained that to him."

“Well actually I think he sees it as more of a cure given that it was the only way for a newborn to survive." Sherlock said and frowned, "Although I don't know what he thinks about it now, knowing it's the reason his father left him."

"I doubt the fact gran lied to him too doesn't make it much better..." John shrugged. "Is it much better that Richard only really left him?" He sighed. "How did he react to that?"

"Well.. he told me to leave.." Sherlock said and shrugged lightly, "I wasn't sure if he meant the house or the room, but.. well, we know how that ended..."

"Yeah.." John said with a sigh and took the last bite of his steak. "It would be great if your mum could talk to him some time in the near future."

"Well at least she's got some more insight in vampire related problems." Sherlock said and frowned, "Perhaps it's really time to set up some sort of secret society.. it's just so difficult to separate the nutters from actual vampires. But.. since we're kind of connected to a few of them, plus that vampire orphanage which must have some connections as well.. I suppose it would be helpful to build up some sort of community if everyone tells the other vampires he knows about it. It would be good for well, pregnancies or psychological problems."

"Hm, that's true. Didn't Lowell say he hadn't come across many vampires? And I guess Richard doesn't know too many either.." John commented and drank some wine. "I guess until now the one big advantage of living in that orphanage is that when you're grown up you already have 

"Yeah true.. in some ways.. it's fortunate that those kids exist.." Sherlock said and felt a bit uncomfortable saying that, since there really was nothing good about slaughtering their parents and leaving them helpless, "I mean.. they'll have connections, they'll have jobs.. some of them might become doctors, or even teachers. I assume school is also a lot easier if it's a special vampire school." he said and took their plates, putting them into the sink and just to avoid another dish drama quickly cleaned them and put them away.

John stood up and walked over to Sherlock and sighed. "It's a good thing that orphanage exists. I don't know what would've happened to those kids otherwise... I mean... if they'd got picked up by some criminal ring instead, it'd have been even more difficult to escape that than for 'normal' children." He shook his head a little and took Sherlock's hand once he was done cleaning.

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah.. very true.." he said and sighed, "But I have a suggestion now, let's postpone all problems and complications until tomorrow.." he said, letting go of John's hand with a small sigh, remembering he still had to rinse his mouth.

“You know I could really do with some shower sex." John remarked with a smirk, finding the euphemism not half as fun as the actual phrase and ran a hand up Sherlock's neck.

Sherlock chuckled, "Aren't you a romantic.." he said and rolled his eyes in mock annoyance as he closed the mouthwash bottle, before turning around and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend.

"Mmh, a horny one with an absolutely stunning boyfriend." John said with a smirk before bridging the gap between their mouths to taste the familiar flavour of Sherlock's mouthwash.

Sherlock chuckled against John's lips, wrapping his arms around him, "Well those two things we have in common." he murmured, breaking the kiss and chuckling as he grabbed John's hand and pulled him after himself into the bathroom.

John grinned and followed Sherlock into the bathroom only too willingly. He closed the door behind them (just in case a certain landlady might turn up for whatever reason), before turning around to take care of his boyfriend.


	34. Mummy's Tea's The Best

When Sherlock woke up the next morning, he felt like he was hit by a bus. Everything was hurting and he couldn't remember to have swallowed barbed wire, but that was certainly what his throat felt like as he sat up and was shaken by a coughing fit.

John stirred, when he heard the wet coughing next to him and was awake in a matter of seconds. It took him a few seconds to realise that the noise came from the man sitting next to him. The med student rubbed his eyes and squinted sat up as well. "Jesus, Sherlock. You sound awful."

"Accurate description of how I fee.." Sherlock paused, realising that his voice was barely a whisper and a raspy one at that. Groaning he flopped back onto the bed, his hand going to his forehead as his head wasn't too happy about the sudden movement.

John looked down on his sick boyfriend before replacing his hand gently with his own to feel his temperature. "You're feverish. Are you experiencing any other symptoms?" He asked more tenderly than the words would suggest.

"No the coughing and the headaches are just a hobby." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, rolling on his side to turn his back to John.

John rolled his eyes at that. "I'll let that slide because you feel like shit. So, anything else? Pain in the limbs, nausea,...?" He flicked on the lights and took Sherlock's wrist to feel his puls, looking at his watch.

"Yes to the first.. not entirely sure to the second." Sherlock murmured, burying his face in a pillow. He didn't feel good stomach wise, but he didn't feel exactly nauseous either.

"Add weak and rapid pulse to the list." John commented and look up from his watch again. "If you want to hear my medical opinion, I'd say you've come down with the flu."

"Thank you Captain obvious." Sherlock grumbled, coughing again and pulling his knees up to his chest. "Can you call my mum by any chance?" he asked, blindly feeling for the duvet to pull it over himself.

John chuckled a little at how dramatic Sherlock was making this look and covered him with the duvet, before getting out of bed to get the thick woollen blanket they kept in the wardrobe. "I doubt she'll be able to do much against that."

"She can she's mummy." Sherlock insisted and coughed again, kicking the duvet away again as it was just too warm under it, the problem was that without it, it was too cold.

Sherlock must've really been feeling awful, he thought, suppressing another chuckle. John came back to Sherlock side and covered him once more with the duvet, setting the additional blanket down on his feet. "Come on, you're sweaty; I don't want you to freeze. How about I'll call her at a less ungodly hour then?"

Sherlock sighed, "Fine.." he murmured and wiggled a bit under the blanket, still feeling too warm. "Guess why I'm sweating though.. can I at least have a fan or something?" he croaked

"You can have a fresh t-shirt, some warm pyjama bottoms and a thinner blanket. How does that sound?" He asked, smoothing a hand down the shoulder and arm under the duvet.

"Well it sounds not horrible.. which would be a step up." Sherlock said and sighed again, pushing the blanket away since he had the excuse of getting changed now, if that got him out of this hell fire cocoon he was game.

John helped his lover up into a sitting position so that he was leaned against the headboard, before standing up to get those clothes. "That's a start then." He commented with a bit of a chuckle and sat down at the edge of the bed. "Arms up"

Sherlock lifted his arms obligingly, "You know, normally it's way more pleasant when you undress me." he said and sighed, resting his head against John's chest.

John brushed his thumb over Sherlock's neck a couple of times in a soothing manner. "Yeah, I have to say, last night's dessert was pretty great. Any idea how you might've become ill?"

"Might have something to do with me acting like a lunatic and running after you to stop you from going to the bakery.." Sherlock murmured and coughed again, lifting his head to look up at John. "Can you go and grab some liquid medics? As I told you before, for them to have any effect I need to mix them with blood, which is just more simple if it's liquid."

"Course, love." John said and rose to his feet, before grabbing the pyjama bottoms. "Let's get you into these first though, alright? Does being a vampire affect the dosage of medication? "

"No, but I need you need to add the same amount of blood, so it's practically half and half.." Sherlock said and frowned, "But I can mix it up, you don't have to do that."

"Hm? No, that's fine, if that's all I need to do." John replied and held out the pair of trousers beside the bed so he could step into them. He wanted him to lie back down again fairly soon after all.

Sherlock smiled faintly and yawned, holding his throat as he did so. "Maybe bring a truck load of aspirin too."

"Consider it done." John took the thinner blanket to cover Sherlock's legs and went to the door. "I'll be back in just a mo."

"I'd say I want a goodbye kiss but..." Sherlock sighed, pulling the blanket up a bit more as he was starting to feel too cold again.

"Mmh, I don't get to kiss you nearly as often as I'd like to." John remarked, before asking. "Are you sure you don't want a scarf?"

"Scarves are actually just supporting the bacteria since it gives them extra warmth a priessnitz compress might be better, but really, I'd very much prefer the aspirin over everything else." Sherlock said, figuring that he could at least get some work done if the headaches would stop.

"Sure, love." John replied. With anyone else he'd try to get something solid into them, but luckily with Sherlock that wasn't a problem. With that he went into the kitchen to fix his boyfriend a cocktail of blood mixed with liquid medicine, aspirin and blood.

Sherlock laid back on the bed when John walked out the room and curled back up under the blanket, wishing it was already evening. He knew by then the worst would be over, but unfortunately that didn't help him right now.

John returned about five minutes later with the drink and some rusk, just in case Sherlock did want something to eat. He put both on the night stand and sat down on the edge of the bed to help Sherlock to sit up. "Hey, Sher. Can you sit up again?"

Sherlock sighed again and sat up, "I knew it was a good idea to date a doctor." he said and smiled lightly, eagerly reaching for the aspirin blood cocktail.

"Yeah, we do have our perks, don't we?" John asked with a chuckle and handed Sherlock the glass, though he kept his hand on the mug for support. "And it's still soon-to-be."

"Well your already my doctor." Sherlock said and smiled up at John over the cup. "Next time I chase after you in panic, I'll try to remember to at least put shoes on."

"And I'll try to remember to bring my keys before I leave in the first place." John responded with an apologetic smile. He still felt bad about the way Sherlock had looked when he'd opened the door.

Sherlock smiled lightly, before coughing again, "Don't worry we're not that far away from fingerprint locks anymore. That's gonna save you that trouble."

"Thank god for technology then. Well, not literally, I guess." John said with a smile, before asking. "The blood-meds cocktail's fine like that?"

Sherlock nodded, "Another very welcome side effect of mixing it with blood is that it goes straight into the system." he croaked, his head feeling better already, although that didn't go for his throat. "Where's my laptop? I should start planning Amy's and Ally's room. I promised them to have it ready for the sleepover."

"Good thing we don't have a date for the sleepover yet." John commented "I think they'll understand that their brother can't work when he's sick. Besides, I'd much rather like you to lie down and rest a bit."

"I can lie down /and/ work on my laptop." Sherlock said, covering his mouth as he coughed again, although it really sounded more like barking than coughing.

"Yeah, but you can't rest and work on your laptop at the same time." John said, resting a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. "You definitely sound like you could do with some rest."

Sherlock let out an unhappy huff, "Looking at toddler beds and wallpaper is not that straining." he mumbled, but the more the headaches faded away the more tired he felt, instinctively sliding a bit down on the bed and giving a small yawn. "And really what else am I supposed to do?”

"Hm, just an idea, but you could close your eyes for a start." John stifled chuckle, because he had had no idea how grumpy Sherlock could get when sick. Besides, it was quite obvious that Sherlock's body was practically screaming for sleep.

Sherlock mumbled something in protest along the lines of, "I don't need to sleep.." which was barely understandable though as he drifted off into sleep.

John shook his head, because really that was such a Sherlock thing to do. After covering his boyfriend's sleeping form with the blanket, he went back into their kitchen to fix himself some breakfast.

Sherlock woke up after a couple of hours, thankfully without headaches but instead with an additionally stuffy nose. "Jaaaawn!" he called as loud as he could with a raspy voice and with barely enough air, even he noticed he I was sounding miserable.

Figuring that the miserably sounding command had come from their bedroom, John quickly poured Sherlock another cup of blood, since it didn't sound like an emergency. A minute later he returned to his boyfriend. "Hey there, sweetheart. How are you feeling?"

"What took you so long." Sherlock murmured with a nasal tone, glancing up at John and lazily reaching for the blood John was holding, nipping at it. "Why do you look like you're enjoying this?" he asked, sounding slightly offended.

"I'm trying to be nice, grumpy. But I did get some work done." John chuckled lightly, before sitting down next to Sherlock's hip and taking his free wrist to take his pulse again. In fairness though, he did like taking care of people and feeling needed, especially when it was his boyfriend; though that should hardly be a surprise be a surprise. "Anyway, you're feeling better then?"

"If feeling bad another way counts as better then yes." Sherlock said and pouted a little, setting his glass down and moving to rest his head on John's lap, "Did you call my mum?" he asked, sniffling a little, trying to suck air through his blocked nose.

"No, I haven't yet, but if you still want me to I'll do it in a few minutes. You want me to ask her to come over?" John asked and weaved his fingers through Sherlock's damp curls.

Sherlock nodded, "Yes, please.." he murmured, cuddling up closer to John and wrapping his arms around him.

"Course, love." John replied and began to scratch Sherlock's head the way he knew he liked it. He then reached into his pocket and got out his phone. "I'll just call her then, alright?"

Sherlock nodded, before leaning a bit more into John's touch, it did help a bit to distract him from how miserable he felt.

John continued with his ministrations and went on to call his aunt. "Hi, Vanessa. Yeah, good, thank you. ... No, it's about Sherlock actually. ... No, he's come down with the flu. ... Yeah, he's quite miserable frankly and he's been asking for you. Could you maybe- ... yeah? Great, he'll be glad to hear that." John smiled, before he looked over at Sherlock. "Sher, do you want to talk to her over the phone?"

Sherlock didn't answer as he had fallen asleep on John's lap, still clutching him.

"Erm, okay, he's begun to snore. ... Yeah, he really is. ... Yep, see you." John hung up and put the phone away again. Christ, Sherlock was bloody adorable right now; Half mucus, by the looks of it, and half precious. Since he didn't want to wake him up right away he stroked his hair for a few more minutes before untangling himself from his boyfriend.

Sherlock stirred when John moved away from him, glancing sleepily up at him, "Where you going?" he murmured and yawned, "Didn't you want to call my mum?"

"I've already called her and she's probably on her way here by now. I'll be next door if you need me." John said and went over to the door.

"Don't leave.." Sherlock said and frowned, "It's incredibly boring just lying here.." he said with a sigh.

"Alright, I'll sit with you until the doorbell rings." He said with a smile and returned to Sherlock's side. "Wanna talk or think?" He asked and returned his hand to Sherlock's curls, lifting the duvet with the other to check whether he'd already sweat through his shirt.

"Hm.. you could help me collect ideas for Amy's and Ally's room.." Sherlock said and smirked at John, he hadn't forgotten about that.

"Erm... well, pink and princessy sounds probably right." John guessed, not really having much of a clue how to decorate a room for two toddlers

"How creative." Sherlock said and chuckled, which turned into another coughing fit. "Maybe.." he cleared his throat, "Maybe go a little more into detail?" he asked, holding his sore throat.

John was just glad he'd precautionarily taken some medicine himself. "Hm, how about two white twin beds with various colourful cushions and stuffed animals." He suggested.

Sherlock smiled, "I have he feeling if we do have kids, I'm gonna be the one decorating.." he said and coughed again, rolling his eyes, "That is considering I'm gonna survive this."

"That might be best. And I'm fairly certain that you of all people will survive the flu." His boyfriend really was a bit of a drama queen, wasn't he?

"Doesn't feel like I will.." Sherlock said and cuddled up to John again, "You got some more of that aspirin?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"Mmh, but you'll have to release me for that first." John said and ran a hand down Sherlock's back a few times.

Sherlock pouted a little, but let go of John and sat up a bit, holding his forehead to cool it a little.

John got up to his feet and made quick work of mixing some aspirin with blood. When he was back in Sherlock's room, he could not so much as greet Sherlock, before being cut off by the doorbell. "Oh, here's your aspirin. I suppose that'll be your mum."

Sherlock smiled, "Thanks." He said and took the glass, starting to nip on it. On the upside, at least with his nose stuffed he didn't really taste the aspirin, it really wasn't so tasty mixed with blood.

“I'll just let her in." John said and left the room as well as the flat to open the front door. "Hi Vanessa, Sherlock'll be glad you could make it that quickly." Sherlock's mother smiled and stepped inside the building. "Of course I've come. My sick son's asking for me, so what other choice to I have?" She said with a soft chuckle and inquired about Sherlock's health as they both went into the flat. John showed her the door to their bedroom (thank God, he'd put the lube and condoms away) and decided to give them some privacy and go back into the kitchen. Violet opened the door to the bedroom and sighed softly when she saw Sherlock lying there. "Hello, darling. How are you feeling?"

"Like a train wreck.." Sherlock mumbled and sighed as he looked at his mother with a smile, "Thanks for.. you know.. coming around." he said and felt slightly embarrassed about this after all. He was more than 200 years old, he probably shouldn't ask for his mummy anymore at this point.

"Well, I could hardly say no, could I? I'll always come around when you feel like a train wreck; that's how this works." She replied with a smile and sat down next to him on his bed. "Are you taking medicine with your blood?"

"Aspirin.." Sherlock said and smiled, shuffling a little closer to his mum and leaning against her, resting his head on her shoulder. "You don't by any chance have the indigents for that tea you used to make for us when we were I'll with you, do you?"

Violet chuckled and got out a small bag from the inside of her blazer. "Paul and Amber like it too, so from time to time I'll make a good stack of teabags for the few times the house falls ill." She chuckled and put it on her lap. "I thought I might bring a couple."

Sherlock smiled widely at that, before he sat straighter up again to cough properly.

Violet laid her hand on her son's back while he coughed. "How about I make you a nice hot cuppa then?"

Sherlock nodded and coughed lightly again, really not feeling like talking after that coughing fit as he drank the rest of his aspirin.

"Alright, darling. I'll be back in a few minutes." She said, before taking Sherlock's empty glass and carefully standing up to go into the kitchen.

Sherlock laid down again as he watched his mother leave the room, wrapping himself into the blanket again.

Several hours later, John was sitting at the kitchen table, studying, while Violet was preparing an early supper. Sherlock had been dozing for the past hour but for the sake of taking his medication in time she'd wake him in case he was still asleep. After knocking o the door, she walked inside, carrying a tablet. "Hello, Sherlock."

Sherlock smiled lightly as his mum walked into the room, having been awake for a few minutes already. "Hey..." he said, sounding much better as he moved to sit up a bit.

She'd made a sandwich with homemade ketchup and another medicine cocktail, which she both set down next to him. "You look much better already. Here try to eat something."

Sherlock couldn't help but smile at all the effort that went into the food, when thinking about it, she could have just given him a glass of blood with the medicine. "Thanks." he said, incredibly glad to be past the worst of it already, not having to go through a week or more of feeling like he had was definitely one of the perks of being a vampire.”

"Did you get any sleep while I was away?" She asked and sat back down next to him. She still thought it was interesting (especially with the twins) how much quicker it was to recover from illnesses as a vampire.

"A little." Sherlock said, before taking a bite of his sandwich, "You know.. you should meet my landlady she's pretty big on figuring out recipes with blood too.. maybe you could exchange them.. probably a cooking book would be nice.. like you could print it privately and give it as a goodbye gift when kids leave that orphanage." he suggested.

"That sounds like a lovely idea actually. I've got lots of those, but you know, with children you get incredibly creative to get them to eat their vegetables or blood." Violet said with a chuckle. "From what Ally and Amy have told me she must be very good with kids."

Sherlock chuckled, "She is. Don't get this wrong but.. she filled in as some sort of mother substitute the moment we met her." he said and looked up at his mother. "Not that she ever was a full replacement, mind you."

Violet smiled at that. "Well, I'm glad there was someone to stand in for me." It still hurt her immensely that she'd missed out on the vast majority of her boy's lives. She hoped there'd been someone else in Mycroft's life as well. "I think I'll stop by her flat on my way back."

"Pretty sure she'd love that." Sherlock said and frowned as he thought of something. "By the way.. is there any chance you can talk to David? We told him about Richard and well... his reaction was... concerning."

"Oh. I see... Concerning in what way exactly?" She asked, since she could imagine a number of different ones with her brother-in-law.

"Well.. I suppose John can describe it better.. given that he's been the one talking to him after he threw me out of the room..." Sherlock said and shrugged, "John!" he called, coughing and realising his throat might not be ready for shouting already.

John appeared not half a minute later in the doorway. "What's the matter, Sher? Oh, you're looking better than this morning."

"Well.. mummy's tea's the best.." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "However, I've just told mum about .. uhm.. the situation with your dad.. but I guess you can describe his situation better."

"Oh, well, erm..." John scratched his head a bit. "Yeah, right now he doesn't want to have anything to do with Richard. Like, at all. I think he feels betrayed and abandoned by him, the way he talked to me on the phone afterwards. He said a proper father should act differently, well, I'm paraphrasing here. He's not really great at talking about emotions; even threw Sherlock and me out after we'd told him." Violet nodded slowly at that. "Yes, that sounds much like your father... I'll try to talk to him."

Sherlock smiled at his mum, "Thanks." he said and chuckled, "And again, I can't help noticing how convenient it is to be surrounded by doctors. I mean.. I've got the flu and have two doctors at my service.." he smirked, looking at his mum, "Of which one is trained for physical and psychological problems."

"That's very convenient indeed." Violet chuckled. "Speaking of which, I'm going to go back to Paul and my girls soon, so tell me if you still want to talk about something today, honey."

"No, I'm good." Sherlock said and smiled, "It's really gotten better.. I'm a lot less .. paranoid." he said, taking another bite of his sandwich, "Although I'm not sure if that's because except for uni John and I are doing practically everything together."

"I'm glad to hear that. Especially that you two don't get on each other's nerves. I mean, I love Paul, but we do need breaks from each other here and there." Violet said with a chuckle. "I think with every other person that'd be the case for me too." John commented, a smile flickering across his face.

Sherlock smiled at that, looking up at John, "Glad I'm not any other person then." he chuckled, "I don't get tired of being around you either." he said with that dazed smile he sometimes got looking at John.

Violet smiled a bit and the two of them, before saying. "I think I'll pay Mrs. Hudson a visit then. I've given John the rest of the teabags and you can call me whenever you like, alright?" She stepped forwards to pull her son into a hug.

Sherlock hugged her back, "Yeah, I know.. thanks for coming over." he said as he pulled back a bit, "And thanks for the tea.. I've really missed it.. I mean.. I had the recipe.. but.. it just wasn't the same when I made it, figured it was because the herbs were different due to environmental changes, but I suppose it was because of the fact that it wasn't /you/ who made it.."

John, who felt like he was intruding a moment, stepped quietly outside again, closing the door behind him. "I love you so much, darling. And I'm glad neither of us have to worry about you getting your tea anymore." Violet smiled and ruffled her hand tenderly through his hair, before pulling back.

Sherlock smiled happily, but then thought of something. "Oh.. by the way.. you don't mind if I .. erm.. kind of spoil Amy and Ally... a bit? John and I were shopping for Christmas present and well.. we might have gone a bit overboard, by which I mean I left a relatively high three digit sum at the toyshop.." he admitted and chuckled, "Oh and speaking of Christmas in general.. I can't believe I'm saying this, but considering that Mycroft won't like to spend Christmas with the whole Watson clan.. I thought we could spend the afternoon of Christmas eve over here with him, Paul, Amber and the little ones and later go over to John's parents since he wants to spend the day at home."

Violet chuckled at that. "Maybe don't give them everything on Christmas. There's still their birthdays and that sleepover of yours. They're going to be thrilled though." She said with a smile. "Yeah, I agree on the thing with your brother. And that sounds like a good compromise; Paul and Amber will be excited to have you over."

"Actually.. John and I were thinking we'd spend the afternoon here with everyone.." Sherlock said and shrugged, "If that's okay, I mean.. if you'd rather stay at home we can come over."

"Oh, okay. That should be no problem. I'll talk to Paul and text you in the morning, alright?" She replied and got to her feet.

Sherlock nodded, "We were thinking about inviting Harry, Clara and Jane too.." he said and sat up a bit, starting to stand up to walk his mother to the door.

"That'd be lovely. We haven't had a big family Christmas in way too long." Violet replied and went with him to the door.

"Not that I used to be a big fan of those.." Sherlock chuckled, "But I suppose you don't appreciate some things until they're gone " he said and smiled again, still glad that his mother really was here.

"Neither did your brother but I'm sure he'll enjoy himself more than he'll let on." Violet said with a smile and pulled Sherlock into another warm hug. She still hadn't come over the fact she had almost all of her 'little ones' back.

Sherlock chuckled at the hug, "We're becoming true hugging Watsons after all." he said and smirked, "Or well.. Berkeleys in your case." he said with a laugh. "But I think the hugging comes from both sides."  
"I can tell you it certainly does. But I think times have thankfully changed in general. But yes, look at us: A Berkeley and a soon-to-be Watson, yeah?" She asked with a chuckle?

"Well soon is a relative term here." Sherlock chuckled, "Still waiting for a proper proposal.." he said with a smirk, pointedly looking at John.

"What do you mean 'still'? It's been two whole weeks, love. Two." John said, holding his hands up in mock-defence. "You two settle that among yourselves. Though, personally, after your birthday still sounds like a reasonable period of time." Violet told Sherlock with a chuckle.

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah, I know, I know." he said and rolled his eyes, "Still feels like an awfully long time to wait." he smirked.

"I'm sure you'll make it until then nevertheless." Violet replied with a laugh. "Anyway, I'll be on my way then. Goodbye you two." She said and reached for the door. "Bye Vanessa."

"Bye mum." Sherlock said and watched her leave, before turning to John, "Come on, give it to me. Tell me how ridiculous it is that a 240 years old man calls for his mummy when ill." he laughed.

"It's kinda endearing actually, you know. And the way you've acted this morning, I'd have thought you had mere hours at best." John teased with chuckle.

Sherlock chuckled too, "Certainly felt like it." he said and rolled his eyes. "It's nice that I can ask her to come over in the first place though."

"Yeah, I'm so happy for you, love." John said with a smile. Even though John was not going to ask his mum over when he was sick, he knew he wouldn't know what to do if he lost her.

Sherlock just smiled, coughing lightly again, "Guess some more of that tea won't hurt.." he said and started to walk into the kitchen. "You want something too?"

"Nah, I'm good. Vanessa was nice enough to make supper for me as well." John said and followed Sherlock into the kitchen where his study material was splayed out on the table.

Sherlock smiled at that as he put the kettle on. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me." he said and stifled another cough.

"Come on, I'll make tea and you lie back down before you can contaminate the kitchen. I'm here anyway." John said, because really, if he picked up the flu, Sherlock would have the great pleasure of sleeping on the couch and putting up with a sick John for a bit longer than a day.

"Fine." Sherlock said, clearing his throat. "Well... I'll be in the bedroom then.." he said with a sigh, grabbing his laptop on the way, he was definitely well enough to do some planning now.

"Yeah, I'll bring you your tea in five." John replied and sat back down at the table to study some more in the meantime.

Sherlock smiled, quickly rinsing his mouth, before he walked into the bedroom, figuring that'd increase his chances of a kiss dramatically. He felt like he was all but ready for rehab with the kiss withdrawal, this was probably the longest they have gone without even a peck.

Five minutes later John went inside their bedroom with a steaming cup of Vanessa's tea. He passed his boyfriend the drink and sat down next to him. "Here there you go. I should probably change the covers this evening."

"Sounds reasonable.." Sherlock said and placed the tea on the nightstand. "You know what you should also do? I'm starving for a kiss.." he said and chuckled lightly, kiss withdrawal is almost worse than having the flu.

John chuckled at that, before asking challengingly "Almost?" He didn't give him a chance to answer though and leaned in to kiss him, because really he'd missed that. Besides, Sherlock was almost healthy again and had a more than excellent immune system for a normal person.

Sherlock sighed into the kiss, feeling actually relieved as he felt John's lips against his own again, although he kept the kiss chaste, not wanting to allow too much bacteria to travel over to John.

John pulled back eventually and smiled at his boyfriend. "That was way too long. Good thing you're almost well again."

"Good thing you've got half of a vampire immune system." Sherlock said and smiled, looking up at John, "Don't think I could have gone much longer without kissing you."

"Yeah, me neither. I haven't the faintest how we'll manage more than a couple of hours apart." John chuckled; luckily they wouldn't have to spend time apart anytime soon. "But I still can't wait to have dessert with you again, so you'd better get well damn soon." He said with a smirk.

"Aye Captain Watson." Sherlock said and chuckled, leaning up to steal himself another kiss, "Don't worry, I should be fine tomorrow morning."

"Good." John said with a smile. "Now, I still want to make the bed, so I need you out of it for a few minutes."

"That's the first time you want me /out/ of bed." Sherlock smirked, "I hope that's not going to become a habit." He said getting out of the bed.

John chuckled at that. "I've got a slight feeling it's not, at least not very soon. Besides I want you back /in/side the bed in about ten minutes."

Sherlock smiled, "Into the bed, out of the bed and back in.. you need to find out what you want." he joked as he leant against the wardrobe, watching John.

John pulled their blanket out of its covers to change them, chuckling at the comment. "Well, if I could snap my fingers to make you lie in a clean bed, I'd do it."

"Well if there are vampires.. who says you can't become a wizard? Nothing's impossible." Sherlock chuckled, getting fresh bedding for John.

"Sure, I'd always prefer Hogwarts to med school." John chuckled and tossed the sweaty bedding into the hamper on the other side of the room. "But with 20 I guess that horse is out of the barn. So you don't have an excuse to give me a branch for Christmas now that you've practically wiped your bank account for the twins." John teased with a smirk

“First, it's /our/ account, your card should be in the post soon." Sherlock said and smirked at John, "Second.. we could by the whole retail chain and it wouldn't even nearly wipe our bank account."

"Wait, /what/? Am I just supposed to blame your flu-addled mind for those statements?" John asked and turned around to look at his boyfriend because he didn't really know what to even say to either. But yeah, especially the former. (Or the combination both)

"Did you think I was kidding when I said you don't have to worry about money anymore?" Sherlock asked, raising a brow, "I'm talking about a nine digit sum here.. told you it piled up and we have some valuable stocks..."

John outright stared at Sherlock for a few seconds. "Hold on a second, how much? ...Jesus Christ." He muttered and sat down on his bed

"631.856.217 pounds and 32 pence last I checked.." Sherlock said and couldn't help but laugh at John's expression.

"Come on you can't be serious." John looked up, unsure if Sherlock was laughing because he'd bought his joke. "But that aside, you can't possibly want to share your bank account with your boyfriend of less than a bloody month."

"I am serious." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, "And you're more than my boyfriend of less than a month. You're the one I want to marry and spend the rest of preferably both our lives with.. I love you and it's just money." he said with a shrug, "You're way more important to me than my bank account."

"I love you too, but this is still a huge deal. And if it concerns me, it would be nice if you could at least tell me before talking to the bank, you know." John said, finding it still finding it incredible how Sherlock just expected him to be just okay with certain concepts. He rain a hand through his hair. "Jesus, Sher, that's quite a bombshell you're dropping on me there."

"How is it a bombshell?" Sherlock said and frowned, "I mean.. I just thought it wasn't worth mentioning.." he said and sighed, "I just figured it's part of sharing our lives..."

"Look, I'm pretty sure people usually wait until marriage before they do that." John said and sighed. "And just to be clear, all of this was really worth mentioning. How did you think I was gonna react to that?" Had Sherlock thought John just expected that from him?

"I don't know.." Sherlock said and bit his lip, "I really didn't expect any kind of reaction.. or.. I don't know.. something in return if that's what you're thinking. I just wanted you to be better off money wise.. and not to speed up your proposal or something.. I still expect you to work for that because you expect it from yourself but for uni and other things.." Sherlock sighed, sitting down on the bed, "I just wanted to take one weight off your shoulders."

John turned to look at him and shook his head in disbelief. "Wow. I appreciate that, thank you, but... you know I can't accept anything like that. Not until we're at least engaged. No, make that married. It'd just fee like I'm scamming you for money. And if you think /that's/ ridiculous I don't want to hear it."

Sherlock snorted, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're not scamming me, given that you stayed with me knowing what kinds of things are in my fridge more often than not and after I've let you know that I'm a vampire.." he said and shrugged, smiling at John, "Let's say, I'm pretty damn sure you're not just staying with me because I have money."

"It's a good thing you're sure about that, otherwise marriage might not be the best call for us." John said and huffed a laugh. "At the very least it'd feel like that to me. I'm as sure about us as can be, but there are some things I feel we need to do as slowly as other people. At least kind of."

"Well.. at the very least take the card and keep it on you for emergencies.." Sherlock said and gave a small shrug, "And well.. so we don't have to go through the process of ordering a whole new one next year." he said with a smirk.

"Okay, fair enough." John said with a bit of a chuckle. "You're so impossible you don't even know you are, Sherlock Holmes." He muttered with a shake of head and wrapped an arm around his waist.

"Isn't that why you like me?" Sherlock asked and smirked at John, turning a bit around to him and putting his legs on his lap. "You'd be bored out of your skin with someone normal." he chuckled.

"Yes, I definitely would." John chuckled and pecked his lips once more. "But it's only one of the many reasons I like you." He smiled said and rested his hand on Sherlock's leg.

"Oh if there's a list, I'd like a copy, please." Sherlock said with a laugh, lying back on the bed and looking up at John. "I'll give you a copy of mine too."

"Sounds good to me. Only after my speech though or I'll have to talk about our mouldy fridge." John said with a smirk.

"Oh god a speech.." Sherlock said, suddenly realising he might be expected to hold one too. "That.. really isn't my strong suit.."

"Really?" Considering how much Sherlock usually talked it was hard to imagine him not jumping at an occasion like that. "Well, it'll only be close friends and family."

"That kind of makes it worse." Sherlock said and frowned, he should probably start planning already. "Where's my laptop? I need to ... look up a few things." he said, sitting up with a start and looking around for his computer.

John had a feeling Sherlock wanted to check wikihow etc on how to write a wedding speech tonight. "I know it sounds like I'm brushing this off, but I know you and it's going to be fine. You really don't need to start on that tonight." He said rested a hand on his thigh.

"Nope, not a chance. If you embarrassed yourself, I'd leave the room right then and there." John said with his poker face he sometimes pulled when he was kidding and raised a bit of an eyebrow.

Sherlock had to look at John for a second longer than he normally had to figure out he was kidding, but then lightly punched his shoulder. "That's not funny, I'm serious. There's a good chance my vows and or speech will be hideous."

"And that's fine. I'm not marrying you for what you're gonna say on our wedding day. " John said and rubbed his shoulder with a smile even though it didn't hurt. "I certainly don't expect it to be perfect and if we're doing things right, I'll probably be half-pissed by then anyway."

"Might be a lot to ask, but any chance to could be sober for the vows at least?" Sherlock asked with a chuckle, shaking his head, "I mean I can see how alcohol would help to marry a nutter like me, but... I'd still prefer you to remember the ceremony part."

John chuckled. "Fine that sounds reasonable. And about the vows and the speech. Since I guess having me proof-read them is a little too unconventional even for us, you can ask Harry and Clara for a few tips. Theirs were really great."

Sherlock sighed, leaning closer and resting his head on John's shoulder. "I'll save that for when I'm really desperate." he said with a small chuckle.

John chuckled and put his arm around Sherlock. He himself was focusing on tge proposal before anything else. "Yeah, you do that."

Sherlock smiled, "Well I've at least got some time to write the speech and the vows since you'll need ages to save up for that ring.." he teased with a giggle.

"Oh, shut it, you we can't all be rich." John replied in good humour. "If that's not fast enough I could always make one out of aluminium or string."

"Honestly, it doesn't matter if it's from a jeweller's shop or gumball machine.." Sherlock said with a smile, "Or even just a plaster... I'll say yes to whatever you come up with.."

"Comforting to know that however badly we do at getting married we won't leave the other one for it." John smirked and squeezed the arm around Sherlock's middle a bit.

Sherlock chuckled, "I guess after all the wedding itself doesn't really matter.." he said and had one of those dreamy looks on his face again as he looked at John. "As long as I get to marry you."

"Yeah, that's true." John smiled back at him, before shaking his head a little. "You know, looking at you I get why people compare us to Disney films."

Sherlock frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, sitting up again to look at John properly.

"Just..., at least when you look at me like that it, well, it makes me realise how besotted I am with you. You look so, I don't know, content, dreamy?" The fact that he could make him look like that, really was one of his favourite things in the world.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "And yet you don't want to share my account with me." he said teasingly, leaning in to kiss John again.

"Nah, I'd much rather share your germs with you." John commented, before kissing him back, knowing fully well Sherlock wasn't all that contagious anymore at this point.

Sherlock smirked, "Well.. it might help that you'll get a whole lot of vampire saliva.. in various ways." he said as he moved himself into John's lap, wrapping his arms around his neck. "That, plus your immune system should be good enough.."


	35. Holmeses and Watsons Having A Talk

John woke up the next morning when his alarm clock went off torturously loudly, an arm draped over his boyfriend's chest. Reluctantly he rolled to his side to turn it off. "Morning." He muttered, stifling a yawn.

Sherlock smiled, looking up at John, "How are you feeling?" he asked, slightly worried he might have caught the flu despite immune system and his saliva, even though it seemed unlikely, but he couldn't help worrying about him.

"Bloody tired. But healthy, if that's what you mean." John replied and let out a groan as he stretched, before looking back at Sherlock, who looked considerably better. "What about you?"

"I'm fine." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "That moment when you're really very glad you're not functioning like a normal human being." he said with a chuckle. "What's on the agenda for today?"

"Well, I've got four hours of biology and then I'll be off to work. I should be back around half past ten." John told Sherlock with a smile. "What about you? Do you think you can fit lunch with me into your tight schedule today?"

"I can fit you into much tighter things than my schedule, so that shouldn't be a problem." Sherlock said with a smirk, snuggling closer up against John.

That made John outright laugh. "God, you're one horny bloke." He said and laid and arm on Sherlock's back to hold him a little closer. "Already looking forward to seeing you later then."

"It's just a fact." Sherlock said and chuckled, "A fact I've proven again last night." he added and pecked John's lips.

John chuckled and smirked back at him. "Yeah, you did. Makes you great boyfriend material if I dare say." He said and brushed a strand of hair from Sherlock's forehead.

Sherlock huffed a laugh at that, "Ah so that's on the list of reasons you like me? Probably better not mention that in your vows or your speech for that matter." he smirked.

"Why not, it might keep a certain lovely family member away. And I couldn't imagine anyone else who that might feel weird for." John said with a laugh.

"Except for your father who is only reluctantly accepting this at this point and who we shouldn't provoke." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes as he leant back in to kiss John again. "Although I think Mark would high five you." he laughed.

''Yeah, I did mean that sarcastically, Sher." John said with an amused smile after pulling out of the kiss again. "And yeah, he definitely would. He's family, but his ignorance towards some things, especially other people, is astounding. And I'm already used to high levels of ignorance." He teased with a smirk.

"I think it's quite entertaining, though." Sherlock said and chuckled, "And ignorant as he is.. he's still got a good character.. I mean, he did stand up to his mother for us."

"Yeah, he's really a good guy at heart. Nevertheless, I've got good reasons not to make him my best man. I mean the speech would be entertaining for sure, but, you know."  
Sherlock chuckled, "I'm not sure, it might loose things up a bit." he said and smirked, sitting up, "But as for my schedule, I was thinking I could invite Richard over. Maybe he has an idea what 

"Yeah, that's probably a good thing to do. Your mum wanted to talk to him anyway, didn't she?" John asked, looking up at Sherlock and propping himself up on his arms.

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah.." he said and shrugged, "Maybe it's better for Richard to prepare too in case mum gets David to at least want to talk to his father."

"Yeah, hopefully she does." John said and sat up to stretch a little. "Anyway, I don't want to think about that anymore this morning to be honest. I want to be able to focus on my lecture... You don't happen to have bio too, do you?"

Sherlock chuckled, "Officially, yes. But.. actually, no, because I'm gonna skip, I should take some time for that talk with Richard and I want to actually start working on the nursery.. at least clean out the room upstairs already and maybe paint it."

"Then I expect to come home to the lovely smell of pink paint. I'd help you with both, but I can't really afford to cut it. Thank you for talking to him by the way." John said with a short smile.

The rest of the morning passed uneventful, mainly because John went out soon, leaving Sherlock with the usual anxiety he had when he wasn't with John, though something had taken the edge off of it, making him less panicky about it. Perhaps the fact that he had actually talked about it with his mum and John made it better. Richard had agreed to come around later in the morning, so that left some time for Sherlock to go out and buy some paint and wallpaper.

Violet had called Emma that morning and asked her if she could come over for tea in the afternoon with her and David. Of course she told her sister-in-law the actual reason for that and Emma gladly agreed to get her husband to talk to her. Emma really was brilliant.

When Sherlock returned home with paint in various shades of light pink and a few rolls of matching wallpaper, Richard was already waiting in front of the door, looking at his bags with a raised brow as Sherlock approached him, "You never struck me as the do it yourself type.." Richard said instead of a greeting and Sherlock chuckled, "Nice to see you too. And.. well, I grew up in the 18th century, we always did it ourselves." he said as he unlocked door for them.

After some lunch with Emma and David, who looked like he already knew why she'd come, Vanessa was left with a rather passive David at the dinner table while Emma was making a call somewhere else. "So, our sons have asked me to come and talk to you. I suppose you already know what this is going to be about?" David cleared his throat and nodded; he appreciated that she went straight to it. Though he certainly wasn't sitting here on completely voluntary terms after that talk with his wife. "Yes, Emma's told me. My father." He said, careful not to show any emotion (and succeeded besides the low-level anger he unconsciously exhibited most of the time.) "Good. Let's get to it then, shall we."

"So why did you call me over?" Richard said as Sherlock put on the kettle, glancing suspiciously at the bags on the kitchen table, "Did you just lure me here so I'd help with whatever renovation plan you have?" he asked and Sherlock smirked, "Unless you're offering, no, you don't have to have. It's.. about David." he said and Richard stiffened, "Is he alright? Did something happen?" he asked and Sherlock shook his head, "No, no, he's fine.. more or less. We uhm.. we told him about you." he said and Richard blinked, "You.. oh. So.. he knows I'm .. alive?"

David remained silent, waiting for whatever Vanessa was going to tell him. He was only sitting here because of his family and because he respected his sister-in-law, not because he wanted to discuss or talk to his father... But he was a grown man and he'd sit this one out for the sake of the others. "So, I've really only been told the basic outline. Richard was turned during the war and left when you were a child. Did I get that right?" David simply nodded. When it didn't look like he was going to add something to the story, she went on, before he'd shut her out completely. "Good. Would you mind telling me why you're refusing to talk to him?"

"Yeah.. But.." Sherlock began hesitantly, not sure how to say it, but Richard cut him off, "He kicked you out, didn't he?" he asked and Sherlock frowned, "Well.. yes. How did you know?" he asked a little startled and Richard cracked a small, sad smile, "Because that's what I'd do in a situation like that."

David clenched his jaw. "I'd say that's quite obvious, isn't it?" Vanessa gave him a mild smile. "I can tell you that it's really not. And I know you're not into this 'therapy talk', so I really just want to talk to you. No hidden agenda." She said, giving a bit of a smile. "But for that to happen I need to understand your reasons." David gave a tense sigh and nodded; that sounded reasonable. She waited for patiently for his reply. When it came David did his best to sound angry rather than hurt. "He hasn't shown any interest in me my entire life. I don't want to see him."

"Remind me to never annoy John, okay?" Sherlock said and chuckled, "Reacting a little dramatic to these things seems to be a family trait." he said and Rich shook his head, "No, he's right. I'd be incredibly pissed off in his situation, he has every right to hate me. I messed up. I shouldn't have kept him in the dark like that."

"You know, one thing John told me about, is that near-car accident he had as a primary schooler. With that stranger who saved him and made a run afterwards." Realisation dawned on his face, shortly followed by an array of emotions (way too many for him to be anywhere close to his comfort zone) he'd felt back then like relief, gratitude, anger (at that bloody driver and himself for not teaching John better), though eventually he ended up wearing a grim expression. "He's practically immortal anyway, isn't he?" A comment solely intended to hurt somebody who wasn't even in the room. He was already past the point where he cared what Vanessa thought of him.

"Well you must have had your reasons. And I suppose one of them was to give your son a normal childhood." Sherlock said and Richard nodded, "Yeah.. but it was still a childhood without his father. I should have been there for him." he said and Sherlock shook his head, "You were, though, weren't you? You looked out for him. That must be worth something. You got hit by a car to save his son.." he said and Richard rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm practically immortal anyway, aren't I? There was no real danger for me." he said while Sherlock rolled his eyes, "So you're telling me saving someone's life isn't worth anything unless you're in danger of getting yourself killed while saving them? Sorry, but that's complete and utter bullshit."

"We still get sick and we hurt just as badly." Vanessa said simply. "I hope you don't have a similar attitude when it comes to my daughter." She hadn't taken that comment personal and with any other patient she'd have responded differently, but the way David was right now wasn't helping them to get their conversation anywhere. The mention of Amy did the trick though, since his expression visibly sobered now that he'd been put into a father-role. The thought seemed violently wrong now applied to his sister-in-law and especially his niece. "No, of course not. Never." Vanessa nodded. "Point I'm trying to make is that he's been there." David swallowed hard. "No." He said, too wound up to remember he could simply get up and leave the table. He stared at the table in front of him for a while, eventually speaking again though he sounded much quieter this time. "But he just left me."

Richard sighed, "No.." he said and frowned, "But.. he's right about being mad at me. I did leave him when he needed me.." he said and Sherlock sighed, "You don't really had a a good and a bad option back then, Rich. It was a decision between giving him a normal childhood without having to move around every few years when people get suspicious about you looking that young, or leaving him to have a stable life and home with long time friends and everything he couldn't normally have keeping a secret like that."

Vanessa was quiet for a while and David was definitely not the next person to say something. "What I can tell you after decades of experience is that no one ever 'just' leaves. No one." Vanessa's tone was gentler now though made sure not to sound pitying or even properly comforting. And that was good because David would've likely lost it if she had; He wasn't anywhere close to acknowledging his emotions. "Why then?" He didn't look up at her. His mind couldn't come up with a single valid reason that didn't hurt to his core. "There's only one person that can really tell you that."

"I think so.." Richard said and sighed, "Should I.. try to talk to him?" he asked and Sherlock frowned, "I don't know if just showing up is a good idea.. and well right now, my mother is talking to him, she's a therapist, apparently." he said and Richard raised his brows, "Your mother? Isn't she dead?" he asked and Sherlock remembered that Sherlock had no idea about the recent developments, "No.. turns out she isn't.." he said and realised that he and his mother were practically in a similar situation. Was it different because they both lied about having died? Or was it just because he and his mother were more.. logical? They were just glad they had each other back, without hard feelings.

David nodded. He knew that was true. Vanessa was about to stand up and leave David to his thoughts after he hadn't said a word in well over a minute, when he looked up again. He was more composed now than before and held her gaze easily. "So he-" David paused for a moment. "He looks like back then?" Vanessa nodded at that. "Yes, unless he's, ill he won't have aged a day." David nodded once more, though it looked more final. This time Vanessa got to her feet. "I'll leave you to your thoughts, David, unless you want me to stay." "No, goodbye Vanessa." He said harshly though he wasn't at all cross with her and she was kind enough to assume just that. "Thank you for giving this a try, David. Goodbye."

"Look... until David wants to see me, there's nothing either of us can do about it, so what do you say, I can help you renovate?" Richard asked and looked into the bag, "Oh wow.. I knew you were gay but..." he said and picked up a bucket of pink paint, "I didn't know you were a walking stereotype." he said jokingly and Sherlock rolled his eyes, "Well, I need to have something that goes with those pink heels I got." he deadpanned and laughed, "It's actually.. for a nursery."

Vanessa left the dining room quietly and walked upstairs where she figured Emma was to tell her David was quite shaken and to say goodbye. There wasn't much else she'd come for, so after that she'd leave for work. Once she was outside again she pulled out her phone to text Sherlock. "I've just talked to him. I can't make any promises but he seems a bit more open to the idea than before. VB"

Sherlock frowned when his phone vibrated while Richard and him had just started to clear out the room upstairs, "Oh.." he said, reading his mother's text, "Well.. mum says that David seems somewhat more open to the idea.." he said and sighed, "I guess it's better if John and I go see him some time soon, I'll tell you and you make sure you're free in case we get him to see you.." he said and Richard nodded, smiling lightly at Sherlock, "Thanks.. Look, Sherlock, I really appreciate what you're doing for me here." he said and scrunched up his nose as he pulled an old plastic bag with some unknown gooey substance out of a drawer, "Uh... Sherlock.. do I want to know what that is?" he asked and Sherlock tilted his head, looking at the bag, "Oh.. so that's where I put that lobotomised brain.." he said and let out a chuckle. "Lobotomised... didn't lobotomy stop being used on people some time in the fifties?" Richard asked, slowly putting the bag back down, "Er.. yeah... that one's been here for quite a while." Sherlock mumbled, not sure if he should let John know about this incident.


	36. A Bag Of Not Paint

At the end of the day John returned from work and was properly worn out. He'd been thinking about Richard and his dad a lot and wondered what had happened while he'd been away. "Good evening" He called after coming inside (yup, he'd brought his key) and went into the kitchen to find something somewhat edible.

"I'm upstairs!" Sherlock called back, still admiring his work and marking the floor with chalk lines, planning out the room like that.

"Okay!" John called back and scammed the kitchen for something quick he could eat. He eventually fixed himself a cheese sandwich and began to walk upstairs to join Sherlock, when he stopped in front of the window sill where some suspicious liquid inside a plastic bag... Judging by the state of the bag it was probably much older than himself. "Sherlock, what the bloody /hell/ is that stuff on the sill?!"

Sherlock looked up from where he was just beginning to mark where he would put the beds, "Oh that's .. uh.. erm.. would you believe me if I'd say that's just really old brown paint?" he asked with an innocent smile.

"Not in a million years." John said with a no-shit expression and stepped closer to it, careful not to touch the thing. "Chemical, rotten organ or a mixture of both?" Damn, that stuff looked worse up close, especially that bit of texture that was left.

"It's .. well.. it's a lobotomised brain in a chemical cocktail.. or it was.. it's just an experiment I forgot up here a erm.. while ago." Sherlock said and frowned, "Better not touch it." he said and cleared his throat, "I'll get rid of it soon."

"A /lobotomised brain/? Where on bloody earth did you get that from?! That practice has been illegal for as long as my dad's lived." John had been sure they'd disposed of rotten organs at this point. At least it looked like Sherlock was about to throw it away. "Where did Richard even find it?"

"And again the question should be when, not where." Sherlock said and looked back up to John, "And once again the answer would be 1953 in a sanatorium." he said, standing up and brushing chalk off his hands on the old pair of jeans he had put on for the renovating.

"What did you do in a sanatorium in the fifties?" John asked with a frown and turned his back on the window to turn around to look at Sherlock.

"I did what patients usually do.. passing the time and looking for a way to escape." Sherlock said and chewed on his lip, he didn't really like to think about that particular period in his life.

John looked shocked at the sudden revelation and his expression softened when he slowly began to realise what that could have all meant for his boyfriend. "Wait, you were a patient there?" He asked gently. "Why?"

"Oh.. I was suffering from a terrible condition called homosexuality.." Sherlock said dryly and looked at John, giving a shrug, "Not exactly uncommon back then to be sent there when you're gay." he said and shook his head, "It doesn't matter, it was a long time ago." he said and frowned, "I'll go take care of that brain now."

"Hold on a second, how long for?" John asked, because that did seem quite important to him. He seriously couldn't be bothered with the brain right now.

"Two and a half weeks.." Sherlock said and sighed, "Then I made a run for it." he said and sighed, leaning against the sill.

"Jesus..." John said quietly, he only knew roughly how sanatoriums had treated their patients and that from a textbook. "You didn't get to drink blood for over two weeks?"

"Oh no, I did.. a little." Sherlock said and cleared his throat, "For the first three days, I had like one swig a day from a guy that wanted to be a vampire real bad... it was why he was there. So he let me drink and in return he wanted me to turn him when we're out of there. He got too excited about it, though and one day, he told one of the nurses that I'm a vampire and that he's going to be one too."

"Shit, poor sod..." John commented, figuring that that had probably worsened the way he'd been treated. "And what about you?" He found himself asking, wondering what it had been like for Sherlock.

"Well.. what was I supposed to do? If I had spoken up I wouldn't have helped him.." Sherlock said and sighed, "All that would have accomplished would have been that I would have been put into a solitary cell as well and that wouldn't have been good, there is a good chance for vampires to get violent when they're deprived of blood.. just like everybody can get violent when they're losing their minds.. I had to get out of there.. I even had Mycroft check if he could do something to get Jim out of there, but when he did, all he found out they had lobotomised him, but they were complications and he well, he didn't make it. There was no family to take care of things so he was cremated.

"Shit." John commented yet again and was quiet for a while, because really that seemed to be an ongoing theme in this story. "And I didn't at all mean that as a reproach. I only wondered what the rest of your time there was like."

"Well.. most of it was trying to cure me in various creative ways.. like creating a Pavlovian reaction to images of naked men.. you know, torturing the subject while showing them certain images so whatever those images show will eventually be linked to discomfort and pain subconsciously.." he said and gave a small smile, glancing at John, "Can't say it worked."

"You know, if I ever came across the people who did that to you, I'd kill them painfully." John said quietly with sad eyes, sounding dead-serious. A few moments later he stepped forward to pull Sherlock into a warm hug.

"Well.. it was only two weeks..." Sherlock said and shrugged lightly, moving his arms around John in return. "And well.. they were going by the theory that every man is attractive to a homosexual, mostly Dr Moran showed me pictures of men I wouldn't even look twice at."

"Yeah, I'm actually more angry about the torture part. As a rule of thumb, people who hurt you are potential future victims of murder." John commented.

"You know for that I would kiss you.. but making out next to a liquefied 60 year old brain is a step too far even for me." Sherlock said and smiled up at John, "I'm alright, you know. Really. I mean, I don't really like to think about it, but it's been a long time ago."

"Okay, good. Both of those things actually." John said and gave Sherlock a bit of a smile. Looking at Sherlock's hair, he reached out to brush over some dried pink paint in his curls. "Nice contrast to the brown." He joked after a few moments.

Sherlock smiled at that, "Well you should have seen your grandfather, he had more paint on himself than on the walls." he said with a chuckle, before he let go of John, "Anyway, I think I should really take care of that brain.. Although I don't think putting it in the trash is a good idea..."

John huffed a laugh and shook his head. "How about the next one who's got bio puts it in three more plastic bags and sneaks it into uni to sneak it into their biohazardous waste? Or what do you normally do with those substances?""

Sherlock chuckled, "Ah, same thing actually.. another reason why it's fortunate to study biology and chemistry over and over again." he chuckled, shaking his head.

"Yeah, I believe that. So I'm due on Friday. What about you?"John asked with a chuckle, not really fond of the idea of carrying that brain into uni.

"Tomorrow." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, well at least he probably wouldn't get weird looks carrying obviously hazardous waste around, he was Sherlock Holmes after all. "Poor guy.. or.. girl, I don't know, whatever he was, he probably didn't expect to end up in a nightstand drawer.."

"Forgotten in a nightstand drawer." John added, before giving Sherlock a look. "Why did you put it there in the first place?" He couldn't think of a single situation where that made any kind of sense.

"Well my first concern after arriving was rest and blood." Sherlock said and shrugged lightly, "I had my bedroom up here back then. So I put it aside, it was winter after all, so I figured it should hold up pretty well for a couple of hours, because I really couldn't be arsed to move out of bed once I've had lied down.. I just kind of forgot about it while I was dealing with the aftermath and well... I wasn't exactly eager to think too much about my time there..“

"Right, that makes sense." John said with a nod and looked aroun the room. "Have you been up here the whole afternoon? The result is pretty good."

"Nearly." Sherlock said and smiled, looking at his work, "Richard helped quite a bit, though, otherwise I'd have never been that far already. But we definitely need a new floor in here.. maybe a carpet. Anyway, the old wood isn't exactly child friendly."

"I'll leave those decisions completely to you." John said with a chuckle. Interior design really wasn't his strong suit. "Have you already drunk something since lunch?"

At least you can admit that you're completely useless on this area." Sherlock said and smiled, taking the plastic bag with the brain and holding it as a healthy distance away from his body. "I think I might put it in a few more bags already.." he said and scrunched up his nose. Even he had gore limits and this was definitely bordering them.

"Yeah, I'd use like five." John commented and began to walk downstairs first, leaving a few feet in between them, since he didn't want to be too close to that stuff."

"Should we give him.. or her a name?" Sherlock asked with a chuckle, "It used to be a person.. feels rude to call well.. /them/ just the thing."

"Then let's hope Jamie had had a long and happy life before he or she ended up in your drawer." John said, purposely choosing a unisex name he wouldn't have liked for their own child.

"John... Jamie was lobotomised in a sanatorium in the 1950's.. I wouldn't put my money on long or happy." Sherlock said and looked at the bag, "You know maybe I could find out who they were if I extract..."

John was very quick to cut Sherlock off there. "/No/ way, Sherlock. We'll give Jamie their piece." 'in the biohazard bin of their uni' he thought to himself. "and not get them all over the kitchen worktop."

Sherlock huffed, rolling his eyes, "I'd just have to take a syringe and poke a tiny hole into.."

"Sherlock Holmes, you will /not/ under any circumstances open that bag of rotten lobotomised brain. Especially not anywhere we eat, is that clear?" John interrupted him exasperatedly.

"Ugh fine.." Sherlock said and huffed as he walked into the kitchen, murmuring, "Partypooper.." under his breath as he put the first extra bag around the old plastic bag, pouting a little.

John rolled his eyes at that kind of reaction and let Sherlock sulk. Remembering he was still holding that sandwich from before, he sat down on his chair and to wait until the thought of that bag wouldn't make him feel like throwing up anymore.

Sherlock eventually returned to the living room, walking over to John's chair, "Six plastic bags and I've put it into the fridge, so it's less likely to something leaks into my bag when I bring it to the university and the plastic bags rip for some reason." he said and straddled John's lap, smirking at him, "And I could have at least made a quick check on female or male."

"No you couldn't have. And thanks, I appreciate it." John replied, noticing this was the first time he'd ever thanked someone for refrigerating a brain. "So, how was your day?" John asked with more of a smile and rested a hand on Sherlock's thigh.

"You mean apart from the reminder of a rather dark period of my past?" Sherlock asked and smiled, covering John's hand with his own, "It was good, really. Didn't think renovating could be that fun. And well the talk with Richard was.. successful, I'd say. He at least wasn't mad at us for not telling him when we'd tell David. On the other hand.. he thinks your father is right hating him. He even said saving you from that car was worth less because he's immortal anyway, if you can believe it."

John huffed a laugh; that's exactly the kind of hurtful thing he could see his father saying in an angry fit. "Yeah, I can actually. I can also believe he and dad are closely related... I really don't think he hates him though. I mean you've seen first hand that he recognised your bloody name because you're Richard's friend..." John sighed. "I'm glad Richard's not angry at us though."

"To be honest, he seemed relieved that we told him and took that off of him." Sherlock said and shuffled forward to wrap his arms around John's neck, "Which reminds me, I'm really glad I never have to do that to you. No matter what happens."

"Fake your death you mean?" John asked and put his sandwich onto the armrest of his chair to lay his hand onto the small of Sherlock's back. "Because so am I. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You'd probably find a pretty woman everyone likes, have a few beautiful babies with her and all will be sunshine and roses." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I couldn't let that happen.. you'd go mad with how ordinary a life like that would be." he said with a smirk.

"Yeah, a life without refrigerated brains is one I wouldn't want. That explicitly doesn't mean I want you to bring home more in the future by the way." John added with a bit of a warning look that he mostly meant in good humour. "And anyway I kinda doubt that's how my life would go, if you left."

"No, it would." Sherlock said and smiled, "Which is why I'm terribly glad I've snatched you off the market when I still had the chance." he said and leant in to peck John's lips. "And one way or another we'll get those beautiful babies too." he said and sat up again, "Speaking of babies, though.. I was actually thinking we could drop by that orphanage tomorrow when I get back from uni.. I'd like to see it for myself, even though the idea of a whole bunch of toddlers and kids all drinking tomato juice is incredibly creepy."

"Yeah, let's do that. And I agree, but we should probably start to get used that sight." John said with a chuckle. "Do you already want to discuss a possible position as a teacher there?"

Sherlock shrugged, "Maybe.. if they want me. Although that would mean I'd quit uni.. I won't be much of a help there if I can only come there every now and again." he said and frowned, "Would you mind that?"

"I mean, obviously I'd rather spend the chemistry lectures and lunch breaks with you, but your what you do for a living is more important. I mean we were never going to work at the same place anyway." John said reasonably, admittedly partly because any objections he made could and would be used against him eventually when they'd talk about John's work.

"Well, I'll likely get lunch breaks as well.. if you don't mind me coming around every now and again to nip at my smoothie while I watch you eat.." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "And well.. thinking about your future profession and the fact that you more or less swore to keep me as far away from that as you can.. yeah, we're not going to work at the same place." he said with a sigh.

"Damn right, because if it weren't for me, you'd hardly even consider it." John pointed out, before adding with a slight smirk. "And I definitely wouldn't mind you coming round to watch me eat."

Sherlock smiled, "Well then let's do that.. the lunch breaks, I mean. And while we'll have more to do with the kids there.. doesn't hurt to look closer at their histories. Those murders have got to be linked. It's very unlikely there are multiple people killing parents and turning the children. It's pretty specific."

"Yeah, that's true. The institute must be keeping records on the circumstances the children were found and their parents' history." John commented with a slight frown. "Why would someone do that? Revenge on that many parents is probably out of the question?"

Sherlock smiled, "Pretty much out of the question, yeah. Especially given that there are more orphanage so it happens in various parts of the world and who knows how long it's been happening before someone noticed." he said with a frown, "Probably over generations."

"Jesus, that's a lot of work and effort for a single person only to fill up orphanages." John said with a huff and shook his head.

"Well.. it is also possible, if it's been happening for so long, that some of the kids that used to be victims are now doing the dirty work for the person that started it. But the question remains, why. It makes no sense just to fill the world with vampires." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Which sounds at first like a good idea, but thinking about it, it's a pretty bad one, since there's got to be blood for all of us. If the majority of the world's population would be vampires.. we'd have a problem."

"Yeah, I've thought about that before. Imagine every new vampire would turn just one person very close to them... I mean not even that's sustainable." John said with a frown. "But maybe some of the victims actually work for the person who started this." John said and ran a hand through his hair. That'd mean even more victims...

"Was that a subtle remark about me asking you to turn.. or my mum turning Paul, or Clara turning Harry?" Sherlock asked and didn't like that John was technically right. But if they were even close to an overpopulation of vampires, he was pretty sure he'd have heard about it - actually he was sure that everybody heard about it, because that would be impossible to cover up.

"I didn't mean it as a criticism. Just... it's a reasonable concern, that's all I'm saying." John said, especially since the number of vampires was only going to increase (at least John very very much hoped so) and that would likely become a problem some time in the distant future.

"Well.. perhaps we should start looking into alternative food sources." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Maybe we could try to find a way to create artificial blood.. our combined knowledge about chemistry and biology must be good for something."

"Yeah, that'd definitely be a good idea. I mean making a complete nutrient solution your stomach could absorb would 'already' be enough. I mean there must be something in the blood that helps absorbing for example medicine, but not food..." John commented, glad he was already taking basic bio and chem courses, so he at least kind of got the basics. "Well, that's one hell of a long term project right there."

"Long term has a different meaning for me." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, pecking John's lips, before standing up, "And before my doctor boyfriend gets angry again, I'll have dinner." he said and smiled at John.

"Yeah, I was just about to ask." John said and smiled back. Getting up to join him in the kitchen, he grabbed his sandwich and took a bite himself. "So we'll go the orphanage tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah." Sherlock said and smiled, "Is it weird that I'm actually quite eager to see those kids? I mean.. I'm really looking forward to it. Maybe it's just the fact that my.. well.. my /kind/ seems to take on a variety I haven't even dreamt about. It was just.. you know blood drinking, solitary and secrecy and now there's... well kids, organisations, actually meaningful things to do. It's nice."

"Mmh, now that you put it like that... Yeah, that'd drive me insane." John commented. "Good thing you've finally found out about that orphanage." He said, wondering how many similar vampire-run project there were out there.

Sherlock smiled again, nipping at his glass, "Well it's just.. better to do something that's got meaning, I don't know." he said, sitting down at the table next to John.

"Yeah, I think I know what you mean.." John said shifted in his chair to be able to look at Sherlock. "By the way, didn't your mum want to talk to my dad today?"

"Oh yeah, she did." Sherlock said and shrugged, "I don't know much, she just sent me a text saying that she thinks David is more likely to consider meeting Richard now.. but that's all I know."

"Hm, maybe we should go down there again in a couple of days or weeks. I think I'll give at least my mum Richard's number, so dad won't have to explicitly tell me before calling his father." John said with a shrug.

“Honestly, I kind of think he'd call me.." Sherlock said and frowned, "I mean.. It's not meant as an offence, but I really think he might rather call the person of which he knows that he has his contacts."

"Right, just when we were on the phone I was about to give him Richard's number, when he interrupted me, so that's why I said that." John explained. "Though, I can see he likely won't want me to know about it either way."

"That's not true." Sherlock said and shook his head, "I think he would rather talk to you about this than to mum or me. But.. well it's just the way things are.. but you can just shoot him a text and send him Richard's contacts now. It's still up to him to use them."

John sighed. "Yeah, you're right. There's no harm in that. And I highly doubt he knows how to delete texts on his new phone." John huffed a laugh and got his own one out to send his dad Richard's contact.

[Contact attached: Richard Watson] Hi dad. I'm just putting this out there in case you change your mind. -John

"You didn't send him his address, though, did you?" Sherlock said and chuckled awkwardly, "He still has that gun.. I don't want him to march in there and do something he'd regret.. or even without the gun.. I mean.. punching him would also be a not so good idea."

"No, I didn't. And even if I had his address, I still know my dad well enough to know that would be an incredibly stupid thing for me to do." John commented, before giving a dry chuckle. "For those exact reasons pretty much."

"I mean.. he'd probably survive either, but still.." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "At least his son dating a man probably doesn't seem like that big of a deal anymore."

"Yeah, still a bit not good. And it's a good thing that you know my dad's officially deceased but actually alive vampire father. Otherwise I'd have had to rob a bank to make my relationship seem less severe to him." John said with a bit of a huff.

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah reuniting him with his father definitely trumps him robbing a bank, I agree." he said and gave a small yawn, before he emptied his glass.

John yawned too, when he saw Sherlock doing it. He ate the last bite of his sandwich up and checked his watch. "I'm properly worn out, Sher. How about we go to bed?"

"I'm always going to say yes to that one." Sherlock chuckled and shook his head, "I don't even have to be tired for that."

John smirked and got to his feet; he could always muster some strength for that. "Good, let's go then, shall we?"

Sherlock chuckled, "You seem less worn out already." he said and smiled as he stood up, rinsing his glass before grabbing his mouthwash.

"Well, I thank you for that." John commented with a smirk and waited for Sherlock in the door frame.

Sherlock chuckled, "Oh you're /very/ welcome." he said, closing the mouthwash bottle and walking over to John, leaning in for a kiss, a proper one this time - the kind he only got without any traces of blood in his mouth.

"Yeah? Mind to show me just how much?" John smirked after pulling back again and leading Sherlock back into their bedroom.


	37. Binoculars

Sherlock smiled as he woke up the next morning, smiling as he felt John's arms around, still amazed to get to wake up next to him every day as he sat up a bit, stretching his arms.

The following morning unfolded quite unexcitingly. After some breakfast the two of them went to uni. Fortunately the brain bag didn't leak on the way and Sherlock managed to dispose of it during his biology class. Instead of going to lunch though they made their way to the orphanage which lay in a relatively central part of town. They took a cab and soon found themselves in front of the building Violet had described to them. From the outside it looked like any other old building in the quiet area.

Sherlock frowned at the house, "Well.. this isn't quite what I expected," he said as he looked the building over, chuckling lightly as he spotted a blonde little head mostly covered by a pair of binoculars, looking right at the two of them - but disappearing almost the very same moment Sherlock had spotted them.

Daphne Blake was a detective. A good one. Those men hadn't even seen her because she hid quickly enough, she was sure of that. She didn't think they were baddies though. They didn't look like baddies. They weren't baddies or pretending to be monsters. They did look familiar though, Daphne just couldn't really place it, but she was set on finding it out.

John nodded, before knocking on the door. "Yeah, I agree, but that's a good thing in their case." He said, before ringing the doorbell. "Excited to meet them?"

Sherlock chuckled, "Kind of.. especially about meeting whoever's been just spying on us from the window." he said and smiled, "She had binoculars.. at least I think it's a she.. or a boy with long hair.." he laughed.

"Really? I didn't even see her. That's some-" John began with a chuckle, before being cut off by a woman opening the door. "Hello, how can I help you?"

"Really? I didn't even see her. That's some-" John began with a chuckle, before being cut off by a woman in her early twenties opening the door. "Hello, how can I help you?" John stepped forward and gave her a polite smile. "Hello, I'm John Watson and this is Sherlock Holmes, Vanessa Berkley's son. She's told us about this place and said it could use some support." He explained warmly. "Could we come inside to discuss this with you?" The woman smiled at him. "Hi, I'm Rachel. And sure." She said and shook John's hand, looking at him a bit longer than strictly necessary, before glancing to Sherlock as if remembering the other man was there.

"Right, yes, Violet's mentioned her son might drop by." She said, and held a hand out to him as well. "Nice to meet you. We love your mother around here."

Sherlock gave the most polite smile he could muster after that scene and cleared his throat, "Right, well, nice to meet you too.. so as /my fiancé/ said..." he began, emphasizing the part about John being his fiancé - he found it entirely unnecessary to mention that they weren't yet engaged, "We were hoping we could help out a bit here. So.. we thought we'd drop by and take a look at the place."

John didn't so much as raise an eyebrow at that, but Rachel visibly backed off a little. Her smile froze a little when he said that, though she caught herself quite quickly. "Oh, yes, that's alright with us. We can use all the help we can get." She said and turned around motioning them to follow her. "I'll just give you a little tour then."

Sherlock smiled at that Rachel girl's change of attitude, taking John's hand for another clear message as the walked into the house, watching a familiar blonde mop of hair disappear into a room and he had the feeling they had been watched again.

So the two men were like in love. Daphne had heard that sometimes men fall in love with men and women with women, but this was the first time she's seen it. She liked it though. She always liked when people in films loved each other and those two were engaged, so that meant they loved each other a lot, right? As she hid again, she couldn't help but wonder which of them was supposed to wear the white dress though.

John gave Sherlock's hand a squeeze and followed Rachel through the building. "So this is the dining hall, the kitchen... classrooms are down that corridor over there and the science lab's are across the yard in that building there..." She kept up a happy chatter as she walked them through the building, eventually stopping in front of a staircase. "The girl's rooms are upstairs and the boys live in the other wing. I can only show you the hallway though. Would you still like to have a look?”

"Actually, I'm more interested in the classrooms and labs." Sherlock said and cleared his throat, "Apart from financial support, I was also wondering if you maybe need another teacher? Especially for biology and chemistry?" he asked and could have sworn that he had just seen that little girl peeking through the door again.

"Oh, we do actually. We're quite understaffed when it comes to sciences." Rachel said with a pained smile. "I'll arrange for you to get to talk to the head of our institute. You've studied both, I assume?" She asked, because even if they were desperate, they couldn't just take any vampire.

"About 56 times, yeah.. I'm on the 57th at the moment, but well, I suppose I can drop out of uni without any complications." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I'm just curious, how old are you?" he asked, knowing that it was considered rude to ask a woman about that, but there had to be other social rules for vampires, right?

"Oh, I'm 106 years old." Rachel replied with a smile, figuring she had to be the youngest of the three. "What about you?" She asked John, who replied. "I'm actually twenty years old; biologically as well as datewise." Rachel bit back a little giggle and looked a little stunned at John. "One can never tell. I was going to say you've aged well." John chuckled at that. "Well, thanks nevertheless." Rachel glanced back at Sherlock. "So it's only you wanting to work here?"

"I'm 242, actually. Oh, but don't underestimate him." Sherlock said and chuckled, "He might be human, but he studies medicine and is rather fit as you've surely noticed." he remarked, trying very hard not to grit his teeth, saying that, "So I'm sure he could help out with some tutoring, or maybe he could coach a rugby team." he said and chuckled.

John laughed at the first part. "Well, thanks a lot, love. And yeah, working here would be a great couple-activity, wouldn't it?" John joked lightly, partly to calm Sherlock a bit. "I can't really afford to drop out yet though, so I'll have to see about that." He said, before Rachel cleared her throat and nodded. "Okay, let's have a look at the classrooms then, shall we."

Sherlock smiled at that and grinned at John, "Well.. I meant you could do it on the side. I thought you enjoyed rugby and well staying fit like that is not the worst idea when you're planning to do a physically demanding job.." he said with small sigh, "Anyway, yeah, let's go."

John followed Rachel down the hallway and into a classroom. "So here we are. All classrooms have an overhead projector, five computers and internet access. Also,..." She began to list the equipment, when a young boy peeked inside. "Erm... Miiss?" She looked up at him. "Everything alright, Dean?" He shook his head a little. "Martin's been stealing Katy's dolls and then she screamed and tore pages out of his book and they're fighting and Sammy's crying and they-" He rattled off, barely remembering to breathe, before she came to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Okay, I'll come upstairs with you in just a second." She looked back at the two men. "I'll be with you again as soon as this is sorted out."

Sherlock smiled as Rachel left, which wasn't too unwelcome, she hadn't exactly made herself his favourite person of the year the way she was drooling about his boyfriend, he was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a small voice coming from behind them.

"Excuse me, Mister!" Daphne said, tugging at the sleeve of the taller one, "Are you Shaggy?" she asked, finally figuring out why they seemed familiar. They looked like Shaggy and Fred! "Are you detectives? Because I'm too! I've watched you the whole time and you didn't even notice!" she babbled on, chuckling happily.

Sherlock chuckled, crouching down to the little blonde, pretty sure she was the girl he had seen at the window and behind that door. "Actually.. I'm not Shaggy," he said and smiled at the girl, "But it's similar, I'm Sherlock." he said, holding out his hand for her, "And you did? Wow, you're really good, I didn't see you!" he said, pretending to be astonished, she looked so excited, he didn't want to disappoint her.

John watched the exchange interestedly, figuring that that was the girl Sherlock had seen earlier in outside. "Hi there." He said with a smile and crouched down too. "And I'm John. So you're an actual detective?"

Daphne grinned, "Yeah, I am! I've got tools too, I've got binoculars and a magnifier and a notepad and I know how to take fingerprints with ink! I've seen on tv how to make black powder stuff for fingerprints from a table or so, but Rachel says we don't have enough money for experiments like that." she said with a pout so similar to Sherlock's it even made himself laugh, "Right.. so, little detective, one step at a time, what's your name?" he asked and Daphne smiled, "I'm Daphne Blake!" she said and Sherlock smirked, "Well, Daphne... It's very nice to meet you. And you know, I might be starting to work as a teacher here, so.. if that works out, I'm quite sure we can do some fingerprint experiments very soon and of course, I'll need an assistant who already knows about fingerprints.. you know someone for that?" he asked and Daphne grinned excitedly, "Me! Me! I know a lot about fingerprints, I know that everybody has different fingerprints, it's like snowflakes everyone's different! And they have different kinds of lines too! I also know that ears are always different, they're like fingerprints and the colour part in your eyes is also always different and..." she rambled and Sherlock chuckled, "Okay, okay, you're more than qualified to be my assistant." he said and smiled at the overjoyed expression on her face, "Cool!" she squealed happily.

John chuckled a bit to himself. "You and Shaggy make a great pair, I can tell." He joked lightly, having an idea where those names came from. "So we've been looking around your home and school a bit. Is there any place you think we should definitely see?"

"Oh yeah, we have a bee hiff!" Daphne said and smiled, "Bees are my favourite animals, because they're cute and they're really important for all the plants because they pick up pollen with their butts and carry it over to the next plant! They're um... enda..endi.." she paused, obviously searching for the right word, "Endangered?" Sherlock suggested and Daphne nodded, "Yeah, that. And if they all die, all the plants would die too!" she explained and Sherlock smirked, "Tell you what, bee's are my favourite animals too." he said and smiled at the girl, standing up, "Well then, lead the way." he said and Daphne smiled happily as she started to walk.

John got to his feet again and took Sherlock's hand, before walking after Daphne. He nudged Sherlock's shoulder and gave him a bit of a look that said something like. 'You really like her, don't you?'

Sherlock smiled at John and gave a small shrug, not really wanting to admit, but yeah, he did like her, she had an impressive memory for a ... four year old he guessed and apparently enough curiousness to use that memory. "Did you know that bees make wax?`You can make candles out of that." Daphne explained as she led the two men outside. "Hm.. yeah, I know. Maybe I we can do that in class too some time." he said and smiled at the little one.

John chuckled to himself as they went outside to the beehive. "That's really a great beehive. Thanks for showing us, Daphne." He told her with a smile once they stood in front of it.

"Every bee hiff is a great bee hiff! Because it gives bees a home and like that more of them survive." Daphne explained and Sherlock chuckled, "Bee /hive/, sweetheart." he said and Daphne smiled, "Bee hive I mean." she corrected and Sherlock smiled again, he really couldn't help it, the little girl was a little sunshine.

John smiled again, finding her (and the way she talked to Sherlock) just adorable. "Do you come he-" John was cut off once again when Rachel came into the garden, obviously in search of the two men. "Oh, there you are. I've already been looking for you." She said and came over to them.

"Yes, sorry, we found a little cheery tour guide over he.." Sherlock cut off as he turned to where Daphne had just been standing and frowned, "Well.. seems like our tour guide decided the tour is over. Anyway, little blonde girl, named Daphne, about four years old?" Sherlock asked and looked questioningly at Rachel, really hoping that he'd hear a bit more about her.

"Daph- Oh, you mean Rosie?" She asked and looked at where Sherlock had looked. "Yeah, she does that with everyone. She pretends she's a girl from some crime cartoon series she likes." Rachel explained. "Normally she keeps mostly to herself though. Did she take you here all by herself?”

"Scooby Doo. Get your facts straight." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes, disliking the way she dismissed this. Like it was unimportant. "Anyway, yeah, she did. She was quite open though, she approached me on her own and well.. she's rather chatty too." he said and looked around, smiling as he saw Rosie's head poking out behind a large tree standing close, before looking back to Rachel, trying not to give away Rosie's hiding place, although he held back from asking too many questions about her background, knowing she was still in earshot.

"That's not how most people would describe her. She really lives in her own world." Rachel said with a frown, immediately alarmed those strangers might've made one of her children do something they didn't want. "Rosie, love, are you out here?" She called after a moment, looking around the garden, though she knew that if the little girl didn't want her to she couldn't find her.

Rosie took a few seconds, but then decided to come out of her hiding place, Rachel looked like she was about to get mad and she didn't want Sherlock and John to get in trouble, they were really nice, "Here.." she mumbled and walked up Sherlock, placing herself between Sherlock and John, before she looked up at the taller man, "I'm sorry, I lied to you about my name.." she said and Sherlock shook his head, "Don't you worry about that, I've played detective all the time when I was your age and I knew you're not Daphne, because I really like Scooby Doo too." he said and Rosie's lips curled up into a smile again.

Rachel was visibly relieved when she saw that the little girl was unharmed and eyed the two carefully. "Who's idea was it to go outside then? I won't be mad at either of you." She asked and crouched in front of her, just wanting to make sure that /she/ had really brought /them/ outside.

"Well John asked if there's something special they should see here and I said the bee hiff uh.. hive and then Sherlock asked if I could show it to them because they didn't know where it is." Rosie said and looked over at the hive, "Rachel, is Sherlock really going to be a teacher here?" she asked hopefully and smiled again, "Because you know he's really smart and he said I can be his assistant when he teaches about fingerprints because I already know a lot about fingerprints. Can he? Pleaaaaaase!" she said excitedly, bopping up and down on her feet as she dragged the word out.

Rachel smiled a bit at her. "We'll have to wait and see what Mrs. Hope thinks of that." She explained, before rising back to her feet, satisfied with that answer. "Speaking of which, would you like to meet her now? She should be in her office right now." She asked the two men.

"Psst!" Rosie said and waved at Sherlock, gesturing him to crouch down and he obliged, getting down on eye level with her, before she leaned over to whisper in his ear, "Mrs Hope really likes flowers," she whispered way too loud to really be secretive, he was sure the others were hearing what she said as well, "Bring her some so she likes you better and lets you teach here." she went on and Sherlock chuckled, shaking his head, whispering back just as loudly, figuring it didn't really matter since they had already heard what Rosie had said, "Thank you very much for the advice, I'll see if I can get some before seeing her, alright?" he asked and Rosie nodded, smiling at him. Really, he had the feeling all she needed was someone to take her seriously for her to open up to people.

"Okay Rosie, how about you go play a bit? Sammy could do with some company right now." She told her; she always liked to pair Sammy off with quiet children, since was a little timid. Rachel then continued talking to John again. "Okay her office is just over there. Let me just take you there." She said and motioned them to follow, before turning around once more to tell Rosie. "And don't ruin the garden, alright? Greg has put a lot of effort into the flowerbed." With that she left the garden, expecting the two men to follow.

Sherlock rolled his eyes when Rachel talked to John while it was about Sherlock possibly starting to work here. "Right then, let's go /love/." he said, pointedly taking John's hand and entwining their fingers.

Rachel was certainly not John's new favourite person and apparently his boyfriend seemed to agree. In a small gesture of affection he brought Sherlock's hand to his mouth and gave him a short smile. "Yeah, let's do that. Bye Rosie." He told her with a little wave, before following Rachel.

Sherlock smiled at the little girl, "Bye Daphne." he said with a wink and watched her smile even wider, "Bye Shaggy!" she squeaked before running off again. "Hey, Rachel.. Why is she here? Rosie, I mean. Were her parents killed too?" he asked and dearly hoped the answer was no. Everything would be better than having your parents slaughtered for no reason.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. There was a violent break-in two years ago at her home; little Rosie was the only survivor." Rachel said with a sigh; the backstories were on of the worst things about working here. "We haven't told her about the details of her parents death yet though, so please don't tell her of your own accord."

Sherlock frowned, "I wasn't about to go running to her and tell her all about it." he said and rolled his eyes, "Can we just settle once and for all that I'm not an idiot?" he asked and rolled his eyes.

"I thought you'd already done that when talking about your fifty university degrees." Rachel said with a sugary sweet smile.

Sherlock sighed, "That's fifty more than you." he murmured and let go of John's hand, wrapping his arm around him and pulling him a little closer as they walked, just to make it a little more obvious who scored the real prize here.

John didn't have at all a problem with his (soon-to-be) fiancé's reaction (he knew just all too well what that could feel like)and brushed a thumb over the hand Sherlock had put on his side. Rachel huffed a bit at that, but didn't talk again until they'd reached the office of her boss.

Sherlock couldn't help giving a small victorious smile, looking at John, "So.. you want to talk about the rugby idea already too?" he asked as they stood in front of the door.

"Yeah, I think I will. If it'd be only once or twice a week I could probably manage that." John said with a smile. "Especially if means I get to see you more often." Rachel gave the two a clipped smile, before knocking on the door and leading them inside when they were called in. "Hello Dorothy, these two men wanted to talk to you about working here. I've already given them a quick tour around the building. This one's Violet's son by the way."

"Guilty as charged." Sherlock said and switched on his charisma again, giving Mrs Hope a dazzling smile. "And uhm, this is my fiancé, John Watson." he said, glancing at Rachel, before he looked back at Mrs Hope, "It's not just working here, though. I was also thinking of supporting this organisation financially."

"Ah, wonderful on both accounts. Please sit down then. Thank you, Rachel." Dorothy Hope said with a warm smile. Her whole demeanour was more like that of a 60+ woman, despite her 32-year-old-looking appearance. Rachel nodded (she'd never managed to shake that bit of politeness), before leaving the room. "So, Mr. Holmes, I have a bit of an advantage here, since your mother has already told us about you. Congratulations by the way, it's always so wonderful when families are reunited." She told him with a motherly smile, before going to a bit more business-like tone of voice. 

Sherlock smiled, "You have no idea." he said with a laugh, "We've been having.. a /lot/ of family reunions lately." he said, looking at John, "Actually, it turned out half my living family is married to his, apparently. " he chuckled.

John ran a hand through his hair at that and couldn't help chuckling too. "It's really not half as bad as that might sound, but it makes for interesting double tags in terms of family relations. Vanessa for example married my uncle." He explained, which made Dorothy chuckle. "Yes, I can imagine how that might sound. Anyway, I'm certainly glad for all of you to have found each other."

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah, but on the other hand, I got two little sisters out of it, so .. a little confusion doesn't seem like much a cost." he said and smiled, thinking about Amy and Ally, he was actually pretty sure that they would get along amazingly with Rosie. Maybe he should ask his mother if he could bring the girls every now and then.

"No, I can imagine. I've heard quite a bit about the Violet's two little ones." She smiled, before going to a bit more business-like tone of voice. "So how about we talk a bit about your reason for coming here today?"

"Right, yeah." Sherlock said and pulled his chequebook out of his pocket, filling it out, really he wouldn't even miss ten million pounds and they could do a whole lot of good for this place, which was a lot better than having the money sitting around on a bank account. Signing the cheque, he handed it over to Mrs Hope. "So this was one of the reasons we're here. My brother and I made some fortunate financial decisions over time and trust me when I say this won't make much of a difference on our bank account. So I don't want to hear any nonsense about how you can't accept this, all I want you to do is getting in touch with the other orphanages around the world and split the money." he said with a smile. "And I don't want to buy my way in here either. This has nothing to do with you letting me work here or not, it's still entirely up to you."

Mrs. Hope had to look twice to make sure she really hadn't missed a decimal point there. She looked at the cheque for a few seconds, before putting it into an open folder of hers. "On behalf of all of our orphanages, thank you very much, Mr. Holmes. As you can imagine we don't get those kind of donations every day."

"Well.. when that money is up, you'll get another donation like that. It's just.. there was this little girl, Rosie, she told me something, she said that there wasn't enough money for an experiment she wanted to do, thank her for that extra 0 on the cheque. I just think the kids here should have the means to be able to use their talents, be it science, computers..whatever. All I really want in return for the donations is that when a kid shows talent for something, encourage it, get them what they need to work on it." he said and chuckled, "Even if it's indigents for a fingerprint powder recipe they saw on a kids show on TV."

"Yes, financially we haven't been in a situation where we could actually promote each child's interests. So we'll certainly take that to heart now that we've got the means." She said, still a bit shocked at that generous a donation. "Thank you again, I can't say how much this means to us."

Sherlock smiled, "Don't mention it." Sherlock said and smiled, looking at John for a moment before looking back to Mrs Hope. "Well anyway, about us working here, I was thinking about teaching chemistry and biology and maybe maths or some languages and well, if you need someone for sports John could do that, which means that you would have to make some space for mortal food and drinks in your fridge, though." he chuckled.

"Well the last one wouldn't be a problem. We've got a few mortal children here, since we avoid to separate families." Mrs. Hope said with a chuckle. "First you'll have to give me your credential though. What would qualify you to teach that wide an array of subjects?" She asked Sherlock, since she'd get to John in a few minutes.

Sherlock smiled, "Well, I'm speak a few languages fluidly and I've studied chemistry, biology and various other subjects along the way more than 50 times now.." he said and shrugged, "If you want diplomas I could go pick them up, but they're in my house in Sussex, so I could bring them over tomorrow."

"A single copy of one for each subject you want to teach is more than enough." Mrs. Hope said with a smile. Well educated vampire staff was incredibly tricky to find (even these days), so right now there wasn't much that'd speak against the young man. "Which foreign languages would you be able to teach then and why did you begin to learn them?"

"German, French, Latin and Italian, well and some bits of Spanish and Greek." Sherlock said and shrugged, "And I didn't learn them so much as picked up on them whenever I had to spend a couple of years out of town when I was looking too young for my age. I lived hear and there over time."

"Well, that certainly sounds very good indeed. What's been your experience with childcare or teaching so far?" She asked then, because really, Violet's son was substantially overqualified on an academic level to teach those children.

"Well... I might be lacking qualification there." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I've erm.. met my baby sisters once and I met Rosie.. that's about it." he said and cleared his throat. "But well, I guess you need to get to work with children to get experience on working with children."

"I'm afraid, that's not exactly how we handle things here. You'll understand that we require all of our teachers to have basic qualifications in pedagogy." Mrs. Hope explained. "If you want to acquire those, through for example a university course, we could certainly find a compromise for the meantime, since your other qualifications are quite outstanding."

Sherlock sighed, barely keeping himself from rolling his eyes, "Well, I suppose my professors will be kind of surprised if I change from chemistry and biology to pedagogy." he said unable to keep himself from raising a brow. "Any chance I can take back what I said about not buying my way in?" he joked, chuckling lightly.

Mrs. Hope chuckled at that. "I'm afraid that's not an option. In the meantime you could work together with someone from our existing teaching staff as a teacher's aid." She said, figuring he wanted to get to start as soon as possible and that particular job didn't require much qualification anyway. "So, you've met Rachel for example. She teaches English and German to all ages, so you'd be able to help her prepare and teach classes."

Sherlock sighed, "Does it /have to be/ Rachel out of all people?" he asked and cleared his throat again, "We're not exactly.. Ernie and Bert.." he said with a chuckle, "So if there's anyone else, that'd be great." he said and glanced at John, "Maybe I could work as a teacher's aid for the new sports guy." he said jokingly.

"Yes, we'll come to speak of that in just a moment." Mrs. Hope told John with a smile, before turning back to Sherlock to think about her fellow teachers. "Hm, well there's Greg Lestrade. He teaches Geography, maths and physics. I can't think of anyone here who's ever had problems with him." She said finally. "You can talk to him later on and he'll tell my what you two have agreed on. We can discuss your wage after that and obviously only after I have a copy of your documents. How does that sound?"

"Oh.. don't worry about a wage. Really. Not for me, anyway, as I said, my brother and I are really well off money-wise." Sherlock said and smiled, "If you really want to pay me something put it on top of John's wage." he said and smiled at him.

John gave him a look, clearly thinking of the bloody ring, before turning back to Mrs. Hope, who began to talk to him. "So, the same thing goes for you, Mr. Watson. As long as you don't have a degree in pedagogy I can't hire you as an independent teacher. At your age, I don't assume you have too many diplomas yet, am I correct?" John nodded at that. "No, I'm currently studying medicine, so there's nothing I'd have to show for. I've worked as a youth leader in a handful of summer camps, but that's really all there is. I really came here hoping that you might be able to use a rugby coach for your extracurricular program." Mrs. Hope nodded a little at that. "That sounds much more realistic and like a generally wonderful addition to our quite meagre sports programs. Though a word of advice, next time your applying for any job it's always good to bring your CV and certificates." She told John with a bit of a frown. "Lucky for you this isn't a state run facility, but I will need those documents. Arthur Dimmock is in charge of PE here, so you'll be able to discuss everything with him once you meet. Any remaining questions?"

"Well in our defence, we weren't really expecting a spontaneous job interview. We were actually just planning to take a look around and drop off the cheque and get an appointment for an interview like that." Sherlock said with a smile, "Either way, no, I think we're good. Where would this Greg Lestrade be at the moment?" he asked, standing up.

"Hold on a moment..." She said and went to her computer to check the teacher's schedule. "He's currently teaching ninth and tenth grade maths in room A203. It's right upstairs and the class should end in about fifteen minutes. Tell him to talk to me about your arrangement, please." She told Sherlock, now looking back at the two men.

"And Dimmock?" Sherlock asked, looking at John, "Assuming you want to talk to him already, that is." he said and shrugged.

"Right... He's teaching PE just about now in our gymnasium and should be done in fifteen minutes too. That's through the garden and behind our chemistry labs. You might want to ask someone to show you the way." John nodded at that and rose to his feet as well. "I'll gladly talk to him then. Thank you for your time, Mrs. Hope." She smiled back at the two of them. "Of course, Mr. Watson. I'll schedule an appointment on the formalities tomorrow for 10 am. Goodbye."


	38. "Tomato juice is my favourite!"

Sherlock nodded and took John's hand again as they left the office, "Well I'd say you go find Dimmock and I'll go and see Lestrade." he said and smiled, leaning over to peck John's lips.

"I'll text you once I'm done talking to him." John said with a smile and ran a hand through his curls. "I'd better find that gym then. See you, love."

"See you. And.. stay away from that Rachel woman." Sherlock said and chuckled as he turned to walk into the direction of the labs, eventually finding room A203 and leaning against the wall across it as he waited for class to end.

"... okay, well done, class. That's it then for today, if you promise not to tell me out to Mrs. Hope." After some laughter, shuffling and the noise of chairs being put onto tables fifteen students ran out of the classroom to get to their common room before the last years. Greg Lestrade chuckled as the last one darted out and ran a hand through his silvery hair, before beginning to wipe the blackboard.

Sherlock waited until the kids had left the room, before he walked in, knocking on the inside of the opened door as he did, "Excuse me, Greg Lestrade?" he asked and yeah, that guy was a hell of a lot more sympathetic than /Rachel/.

Greg turned around and smiled at the younger-looking man. From his appearance he could easily be a student of a similar school (or a former one?) "Yeah, that's me, mate. How can I help ya ?"

"Well, I was just talking to Mrs Hope about starting to teach here and since I have multiple degrees but apparently none in pedagogy yet, she suggested I'd start out as a teacher's aid until I do have that degree." Sherlock said and yeah, he did have to admit that Lestrade was rather good looking. John probably wouldn't be happy about this, but he'd rather take John's jealousy than having to deal with Rachel on a daily basis.

''Ah, okay. Are we talking just maths here or anything else?" Greg asked after a moment, because with their shortage in teachers he believed Dorothy would hire people even before they were teachers. But damn... this fellah reminded him of someone.

"Well, actually, a few languages, chemistry, biology and physics too." Sherlock said and gave a small shrug, "Oh, sorry, I'm Sherlock Holmes. You might know my mother? Violet.." he paused, "I mean, Vanessa. Vanessa Berkeley, that's what she goes by these days at least." he said, holding his hand out for the other man.

"Ah, you're Violet's boy! I could've sworn you looked familiar." Greg said with a bright smile and took his hand to pull him into a short one-armed hug, patting him on his back twice. "Pleasure to finally get to meet you."

Sherlock smiled, "Well, nice to meet you too.. sorry, how is it everyone already knows about my mum and me? I mean.. did she send a mass text or something?" he asked with a laugh.

"Well, the staff isn't big and good news spread easily. Besides most people here adore her." Greg said with a chuckle. "So you'll be working with us all, yeah?"

"Well if you'll have me." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I could probably work with Rachel but.. erm.. yeah, we didn't have a good start. She was a little too interested in my boyfriend." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Who's by the way, currently having a talk with some Dimmock guy, he's planning to start up a rugby team here." he said and smiled, for some reason he was quite content telling that guy John was his boyfriend and not his fiancé. Despite his looks, he didn't feel like that guy could be a threat. He just didn't seem like the type.

"Ah, yeah, Rachel.. She can actually be quite nice if you get to know her." Greg commented. "He's talking to Arthur? I'm sure he'll like the idea of a new sports team here after the football thing didn't work out.."

"Hm yeah, I'll try to get to know her when she stops undressing my boyfriend in her mind, thank you very much." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Anyway, you need an assistant then?"

Greg laughed a little at that. "Fair enough. Well, I wouldn't say I can't manage my classes, but I could sure use some help, now that you're offering... Hm, I mean I usually teach two years at the same time, since they're about five students each. So you could help the slower or the few special needs students with their extra tasks. Or you know help me help out during group work and things like that." Greg explained with a smile. "Have you done anything in that direction before?"

Sherlock smiled a little, almost sheepishly, "Uh, no. Actually, I didn't. I only recently noticed I'm sort of good with children.. at least they seem to like me and I like them. And when my mother told me about those orphanages, I figured teaching them would be more useful than studying the very same thing for the 58th time. I didn't even know there were vampire kids until my boyfriend and I watched my baby sisters and one of them grabbed my glass because she wanted some /tomato juice/ too..." he said, rolling his eyes, "That was a surprise.. to put it lightly." he said with a chuckle.

Greg laughed a little at that. "Oh god.. Yeah, I can believe that. I was turned at the age I look, so really, going down to the nursery at mealtimes is still a little strange. And by the way in my opinion you can have a doctorate in pedagogy and still be rubbish around children, so really at the end of the day that's by far the most important thing.”

Sherlock smiled at that, "I suppose." he said and shook his head, "So.. how old are you?" he asked, turning around as he heard a soft knock at the door and smiling as Rosie walked into the room, tugging at Sherlock's sleeve, "Shaggy, did Mrs Hope say you can teach here?" she asked hopefully, looking at Greg, "Can he, Greg?" she asked and Sherlock chuckled, "Well.. sort of." Sherlock said and crouched down to her, "But apparently I have to go to school myself for a while to become a real teacher, but I'll still be around." he said and Rosie grinned happily, "Cool!" she squeaked and Sherlock chuckled.

"Sounds like you two have worked on detective cases before. Is that how you've met?" Greg asked with an amused smile, now crouching next to 'Shaggie' and 'Daphne'. It wouldn't have been the first time she'd pretended to be in Scooby do.

Rosie nodded, "I watched them when they arrived because I had to make sure they're not baddies." she said and smiled, "But they're nice. I like them a lot!" she chirped and hugged Sherlock's arm, "Did you know that Sherlock and John are going to marry? I heard them say that! But I don't know which of them is wearing a white dress.." she said, sounding legitimately puzzled which made Sherlock chuckle, "Well, we're both not wearing dresses, because we're boys, but if you like, you can come to our wedding and wear a white dress and be our flower girl along with my sisters." he said and had to literally bite his lip to stop himself from laughing at how happy she suddenly looked, her eyes huge. "Woah, cool!" she said, hugging his arm again.

Greg was also quite stunned by Rosie's sudden change in demeanour. He really wouldn't have expected her to become that chatty and extroverted. (Especially not with a stranger). He then chuckled, because really the sight in front of him was extremely adorable. "Well congrats to the both of you! I can already tell you that I'll want to see pictures of that."

"Thanks." Sherlock said and chuckled a bit. "Lock, can you hoolahoop?" she asked and smiled, "Because I'm really good at it. I can show you how it works!" she offered and Sherlock looked questioningly at Greg, quietly asking if it was alright.

Greg fought the urge to grin. "Have fun then. We'll discuss the details tomorrow, yeah?" He asked Sherlock, before getting up to his feet.

Sherlock smiled at the other man and nodded, "Yeah, see you then." he said, standing up feeling Rosie pull at his hand, "Come on!" she said and Sherlock chuckled as he followed her into what looked like a play room, where she handed him a - too small looking - hoolahoop loop, before starting to hoolahoop herself, "See like that! You only have to do this." she said and Sherlock chuckled, taking off his coat, before he started started to follow her lead. Naturally the size of the ring made it impossible to work properly, but Rosie seemed to have fun, so.. so what, he thought.

John had had a good conversation with Arthur, who after some back and forth agreed to let him coach a rugby team, since John himself had been an active player until uni. When he couldn't find Sherlock at the exit, he figured he might go upstairs to the classroom Lestrade had taught. When he actually did find him there and asked about the whereabouts of his fiancé (He really hoped Sherlock would rather like to work with Rachel) and was given directions to a playroom by the smirking teacher. When he stepped inside (after knocking) he had a rough idea why Lestrade had almost laughed a minute ago. "Hey there." He said after a moment with a smirk.

"Uh.. hey." Sherlock said and blushed a little at being caught.. well being caught what? Being childish? It's not like that was a surprise for John, so probably there was no reason being embarrassed. "Rosie wanted to show me how to hoolahoop.." he said and chuckled, "But he's really bad at it!" Rosie exclaimed with a laugh, "Well she's right." Sherlock said and chuckled, "She's the hoolahoop champion.." he said and that made her smile even wider.

John chuckled and closed the door behind himself. "Well it's great you've tried, love. And yeah, I can definitely see that, Rosie. I didn't know you had that many talents. It's very impressive really."

Rosie smiled, "John are you going to work here too? Because Lock is!" she said and hopped excitedly up and down. "And you know what Lock said? He said that none of you is wearing a white dress when you'll get married, but that I can! He said I can be a flower girl!" she said and frowned, "What does a flower a girl do?" she asked, only now wondering about that.

"A flower girl has the duty to walk down the aisle - that means through the church down to the altar - and scatter rose petals on her way before the ceremony starts" John explained with a warm smile. "It's an important task, so we'd be honoured if you wanted to do that for us."

"Okay, I will!" Rosie said happily and smiled, "I'm happy you will work here, you're much nicer than everyone else. Greg is nice, but they all treat me like I'm stupid, but I'm not stupid." she said and hugged John's leg.

"No, of course you're not. And I'm already really looking forward to working here with you too " John said and laid an arm on her shoulder, before looking up at Sherlock with a smile.

Rosie smiled happily, hugging his leg for a moment longer, before she let go, looking at the clock at the wall across them and frowning a little, "When the long handle is on twelve and the short handle is on five it's five o'clock, right?" she asked, looking up at Sherlock, who smiled, "Yeah, why.." he asked and Rosie's eyes widened, "It's dinner time!" she exclaimed and looked at the two men, "Do you want to have dinner with us?" she asked happily.

John smiled back at her and glanced back at Sherlock. "You know, I think we'd both really love to join you. But we'll have to ask Mrs. Hope first if she's alright with that too." He could imagine they only had a limited number of 'tomato-free' meals, but he just wanted to spend time with the kids (Well, Rosie in particular) anyway.

"I'll go and ask!" Rosie chirped and dashed out the door while Sherlock just watched her with a smile, before looking back to John, "So.. how did your talk go." he said as Rosie was out of sight, walking over to John and wrapping his arms around him.

John kissed Sherlock's cheek and put his arms around him too. "Alright, really. Arthur seemed to like the idea and said he'll let me do it on my own if the first practices go well. Yours?"

"Well.. Greg seems to be a nice guy." Sherlock said and smiled, "Gonna work with him a lot, I think. Which is definitely better than Rachel.." he said and rolled his eyes, saying her name. "Bit rude how she kept drooling over you after I told her you're my fiancé.."

"Yeah, she acted quite awfully." John agreed with a sigh, before pausing. "You know I just met Greg, when I was looking for you.. Just to keep it consistent, I told him we're engaged too."

Sherlock chuckled, "That was about the first thing I said to him, love." he said and grinned, "Well, technically I was complaining about Rachel, but.. it still counts." he chuckled.

"Well, as long as he knows.. Lately you've been running into way too many handsome men for my taste." John said, actually not too happy about that, and drew back a bit to peck his lips.

"I'm running into the most handsome one of them every day." Sherlock said and sighed, "In fact, I have to admit, I'm shagging him too.. or.. he shags me.. you get the point." he chuckled, pulling John just a little closer against himself, all but jumping a bit as he heard Rosie again, "I want to cuddle too!" she said, sounding almost a bit offended they had even cuddled without her, which made Sherlock laugh as he let go of John, "I'm sorry, sweetheart, it was very rude of us not to ask if you might want to cuddle too." he said and chuckled a little, "It was." she said, but smiled soon again, "But it's okay, because you're in love!" she explained and Sherlock chuckled.

"Later!" Rosie said and took Johns hand with one hand and Sherlock's with her other, "Mrs Hope says you can stay for dinner." she said with a smile, starting to pull them along.

"Great." John said and let himself be dragged along into the cafeteria, shooting Sherlock an amused look. When they arrived at the cafeteria it was, well, kind of smaller than he had expected. There were a few group tables of three different heights as well as one for the adults (which was relatively obvious because of the coffee mugs at each and every seat there). Besides the colourful decoration and the personalised cups etc. (especially at the smallest tables) it kind of looked like a very comfy hostel.

Sherlock smiled back at John as Rosie (naturally) pulled them over to the smallest table, obviously expecting them to sit next to her as she sat down, which would be kind of a challenge with his long legs. It would be uncomfortable, but doable. "Mrs Turner made spaghetti today!" Rosie said happily, "It's my favourite!"

John chuckled a little and sat down next to Rosie on a chair that didn't have a personalised cup right in front of it, figuring they had spare ones when children wanted to switch tables. It was a bit tricky, but his boyfriend would have more trouble to sit down properly. "Really? I have two cousins your age who could eat pasta just about every day."

"I could eat pasta everyday too!" Rosie said and laughed as Sherlock sat down, his knees sticking up high because the chair was so low, "You look funny, Lock!" she chuckled, looking up at Sherlock who couldn't help laughing himself, "Maybe I'm a little too tall for that chair." he said and smiled at her, "Way to tall!" she chuckled.

John began to chuckle as well, because even though he himself looked quite ridiculous, for Sherlock the size difference was almost comical. "Yeah, I have to agree with Rosie there. Maybe I can't reach the top drawer in our kitchen, but I fit in perfectly here." He said as if he was boasting, though he was clearly joking.

Sherlock chuckled again, "Well, at least I /can/ reach the top drawers." he said and smiled at John, really enjoying this and Rosie seemingly did too. "You know, next year when I'm in school, I can go to bed an hour later than now." she said and smiled, "Oh, when do you go to bed now?" Sherlock asked and Rosie scrunched up her nose, "At eight." she said and Sherlock smiled, "Wow, then you can stay up until nine next year?" Sherlock asked and Rosie smiled, "Yeah!"

John smiled at that, before turning around slightly, when Mrs. Turner came to their table to set down pot of spaghetti Bologna as well as a smaller one for the 'allergics' on their table. "So, there you go children. Well, I say 'children'." She chuckled and turned to look at the two young men sitting there.

"Wait.. Mrs Turner?" Sherlock asked in surprise, looking at her familiar face - familiar, because she was his neighbour. "You're.. wow. Does Mrs Hudson know?" he asked, before looking at John, "Uh, John.. I don't know if you've met her.. this is Mrs Turner, she lives next door.. she's a close friend of Mrs Hudson.." he said.

"Oh, Sherlock dear? I really didn't expect you here. Oh, And you must be John! Yes, I've heard a lot about you two." She said with a chuckle, before returning to Sherlock's question. "No, Martha doesn't have a clue, it's too much explaining for me really." Mrs. Turner said. "So you're eating the regular food here too?" She asked, since there were small children sitting by.

"Uh yeah.. I really like tomatoes.." Sherlock said and Rosie perked up at that, "I really like tomatoes too, Lock!" she said and smiled happily, "Tomato juice is my favourite!" she said and with a grin. "Is it? It's my favourite too." Sherlock said and looked back at Mrs Turner, "It's Mrs Hudson's favourite too, by the way." he said, looking meaningfully at Mrs Turner.

Mrs. Turner's eyes widened a bit at that. "Oh, really? I had no idea.. I should exchange recipes with her some time." She said with a laugh, shaking her head. "You too, John?" John shook his head. "Oh no, I'm an, erm, allergic."

"There are some kids here that can't have too many tomatoes either.. they always have an extra pot for tomato sauce." Rosie said, nipping at her cup and didn't find a fault in that logic, which made Sherlock smile, although it was still a little weird to see a toddler drink blood.

"Yes, exactly." Mrs. Turner chuckled and began to give each of the kids their helping, knowing everyone at the table well enough to know which sauce they had. "The world is too small." She commented with a chuckle. "When were you born dear, if I may ask?" She asked, looking at Sherlock again.

"1775." Said quietly, making sure that the kids that might be old enough to count how old he'd be, but weren't yet old enough to know about vampires wouldn't hear. "What about you?" he asked.

Mrs. Turner began to chuckle all over again and shook her head as she put the pot back down now for a moment. "1777" She said after a moment, because she really thought her reaction was justified after having known her 'young' neighbour for a while.

"Right.." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, finding it somewhat strange that he was two years older than his 'middle-aged' neighbour. Being a vampire didn't mean you were just instantly comfortable about everything that came with it. "Lock! John! Eat before it gets cold!" Rosie said and Sherlock chuckled, looking back at her, "Oh, you're right." he said and smiled at John, before he tried the pasta. "Mhm, it's really good!" he said and Rosie nodded, "I know. Mrs Turner is the best chef in the whole world!" she exclaimed.

"Thank you, sweethearts. I'd better go and make sure the other tables aren't starving now, so enjoy." Mrs. Turner said with a chuckle, before turning around to check if the other tables had food and extra blood by now. When she was gone John leaned over and chuckled a little, because he really found that a little strange. "Two years?"

"Two years." Sherlock said with a nod and chuckled as well. "I'm four!" Rosie said and held up four fingers, before she took another bite of her pasta. "Lock, are you and John coming back tomorrow?" she asked and Sherlock smiled, nodding "Yeah, we are, Mrs Hope is going to tell us when we can start working here. But we can come and visit you too after we talked to Mrs Hope." he said and Rosie smiled, "Cool! Then we can play again!" she said happily.

"I'll have to leave you a bit earlier though. I still have to work in the afternoon." John said, figuring it would be better if she already had a heads up instead of maybe being disappointed the next day. Though, he wouldn't be able to have more than one side job for long. It was really only a matter of time before he resigned his old one, however much he liked it.

"That's alright." Rosie said and smiled, "I can draw you a picture of the three of us and you can take it with you to work, so you're not so sad when you have to leave!" she said and smiled happily at John.

"That would be very thoughtful of you. Thank you, Rosie." John smiled back at her, before continuing to eat his pasta. He had no idea how the people working her could describe her as introverted or solitary.

"Oh, but I hope, you'll bring the drawing home after work so we can put it on our fridge." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "We're really lacking good art at home." he said with a chuckle.

"Very true." John agreed with a smile. They all tucked into their food and talked some more until Sherlock and John decided to call it a day and come back tomorrow. Back at 221B John followed Sherlock inside and hung his jacket. "Well, that went better than expected."

Sherlock smiled and nodded, "Mhm.. it did." he said and chuckled a little, "Do you think I should talk to Mrs Hudson or should we leave that to Mrs Turner?" he asked, still finding it a bit surreal that a woman that was more of an aunt, or motherly friend to him was two years younger than him. He had of course assumed she was about 200 years younger than him, but it still felt different that she was born just two years after him.

"Mmh, probably best leave it to her. Otherwise she'd probably have asked you to, I think." He commented and went into the kitchen. "It should probably be the last thing, but I can't help finding in really strange you two are the same age." He said, turning the electric kettle on. Someone's biological age was apparently more important to him than he'd have thought.

"Is that weird for you?" Sherlock asked and frowned, "I mean.. that I'm technically an old man.. or.. ancient man rather?" he asked, wondering if that had changed anything about their relationship. Maybe him being more than 200 years old was too strange for John after all.

"I mean, of course, yeah, I find it strange." John said, figuring that wasn't any news; most of the time he just didn't have a reason to think about it. "That idea is still pretty new for me. But that today doesn't change the way I see you or how I feel about you, which is actually why I'm wondering why that is. I guess the way someone looks and behaves are more important to me."

"Yeah.. I can definitely understand that. I mean.. I know now Mrs Turner is two years younger than me, but even when I thought she was 200 years younger.. it still didn't feel that way. She always felt like.. well it did feel like she's a couple of decades older than me." he said with a chuckle, before walking over to John and wrapping his arms around him from behind, "But I'm glad you're not going to leave me because of that. Just imagine how disappointed Rosie would have been if she couldn't be a flower girl after all." he said and smiled, thinking about the little girl.

John chuckled and turned his head to kiss Sherlock's cheek. "No, I couldn't possibly do that to Rosie." He said with a look and relaxed into his boyfriend's embrace.

"Do you understand why they were all so surprised about her being that outgoing? I mean.. she didn't seem introverted or 'living in her own world' to me." Sherlock said and frowned a little.

"No, I really don't." John said and frowned. "I mean.. your sisters hate it when you treat them like you would any average toddler. They won't feel taken seriously and avoid talking to you." He said after a while, since he'd seen that happen at enough family gatherings, where they mostly kept to themselves as well.

"Hm.. maybe it's really just that we have experience with kids that are too smart for their age." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Or maybe she senses that I was one of those kids too." he said and smiled, "She's great, though. Really. It feels wrong that she's apparently so.. lonely. Even if it's a chosen loneliness because no one knows how to handle her.."

"Yeah, that's true, I really like her. You'd hope that with that few children they'd make sure to cater to all of them.. but then again they're understaffed and all busy." John said with a sigh. At least now Sherlock and himself would begin to work there. "Do you have any idea why she doesn't seem to play with the other children her age?"

"Because the other kids are idiots." Sherlock said with a small smirk, "And I don't mean that as an insult, really. It's just a fact. I know what that's like. Mycroft and I didn't want to play with most other kids either, because they were childish and stupid out of our perspective, looking back though, that was only because they were regular children.”

"Yeah, those kids being childish.." John said with a chuckle. He knew what Sherlock meant, but it just sounded odd. "Maybe don't tell her that in those exact words. She'll eventually have to learn how to handle less intelligent people after all."

"True, but she also needs some people like her. I mean, at least I had Mycroft. But she has no one like her.." he said and frowned, "You think they'd let us take her on trips sometimes? We could go with her and Amy and Ally to the play yard or take them to the zoo, stuff like that. Even if Amy and Ally are two years younger than her, they'll be more on her level than other kids her age."

"I think they definitely would. I mean they already know us both as well as your and Amy and Ally's mum. Especially if we explain to them why that might be good for all of them." He said, figuring Amy and Ally didn't have too many friends like them either.

"And the fact that Amy and Ally will look up to her will probably help her too." Sherlock said with a smile, "It sure made Mycroft more confident that I sort of looked up to him.. at least when I was little." he said and chuckled lightly.

"So we've already got plans for the weekend." John said with a smile and turned around in Sherlock's arms to face him. "By the way, I should probably start to work less at the station now with this job in sight."

"You sure?" Sherlock asked and frowned, "You don't have to start working there for me, you know.. I just figured you'd like to pick up rugby again, that's why I suggested it." he said, resting his forehead against John's.

"I know, love." John said bit a small smile. "I was a bit sceptical at first, but I know that I like to work with children and teens. And these here really seemed great. Though, that doesn't I'm just gonna give up my current job. I'd probably feel a bit useless without it."

"You'll never be useless." Sherlock said and smiled, "Even if you'd have no job and drop out of uni, you'd still be a damn good shag." he joked and pecked John's cheek, "Still, I bet the kids will love you." John said with a small smile.

"Yeah, I hope so." John said and smiled back. "So, how about I'll try and feel more useful then?" He asked with a smirk, smoothing one hand down Sherlock's back.

"Pff and you call me horny.." Sherlock said with a laugh, before letting go of John to go for the mouthwash.

"Well, look who's agreeing that quickly." John chuckled and waited in the doorway out of the kitchen for Sherlock.

"Well you suggested it." Sherlock said as he closed the bottle of mouthwash that was nearly empty already - good thing he had bought multiple bottles - before he walked over to John, "I'm just going along with it." he grinned.

"Good thing I'm horny enough for the both of us." John smirked and pulled Sherlock into a deep kiss, since they hadn't snogged in over six hours at that point. Unacceptable.

Sherlock chuckled softly into the kiss, moving his arms around his boyfriend, before he started to walk them towards the bedroom.


	39. Of Flower Girls And Snuggling Bees

When they returned to the orphanage the next day (just after getting Sherlock's papers from the cottage) they were greeted by a young, a blondish woman they hadn't seen before. "Hello. Can I help you?" She asked after a moment with a quiet voice, obviously not having expected to meet strangers at the door.

"Hi, I'm Sherlock Holmes and this is John Watson, we've got an appointment with Mrs Hope." he said with a smile, liking this girl way better than Rachel. "We're actually going to work here soo..." he cut off as Rosie rushed past the woman and out the door, "Lock! John!" she exclaimed and hugged Sherlock's leg, "You're back! I already drew a picture for you! Do you want to see it?" she asked excitedly, looking up at Sherlock, who chuckled as he lifted her up and sat her down on the side of his hip, mostly to make sure she wouldn't run out on the street. "Of course we'd like to, but John and I have to talk to Mrs Hope first, okay?" he asked and Rosie smiled, nodding, "Okay."

John chuckled at that and gave her a smile. "Hi, I'm Molly Hooper." She introduced herself a little shyly, finding the brown-haired guy admittedly quite attractive. "And Rosie we do not just run out of the house. That can be dangerous." She chided her, though she never quite nailed the stern tone of voice (or expression for that matter). "So you already know Rosie then?" She asked and let them both inside with a small smile.

"Uh, yeah, we've met yesterday." Sherlock said and chuckled as Rosie rested her head against his shoulder. "Lock and John are the coolest!" she chirped, looking at Molly. "They're going to get married, you know and they told me that I can be a flower girl! That means I can wear a pretty dress and throw flower petals on the floor." she explained.

John bit back a smirk, though he could've kissed Rosie for that. As genuinely nice as she looked, he hadn't really liked the way she'd looked at her boyfriend. Molly was visibly a little startled at that new piece of information and nodded, taking a moment before smiling a little again. "That's great, Rosie. I'm sure you'll do a great job. And congratulations to you two." Molly said, that last bit directed at Sherlock.

Sherlock smiled at that, "Thanks." he said as he walked in with Rosie, setting her down on the floor, "They're like super in love!" Rosie babbled on and smiled, "Like they even cuddled! And I think they kiss too!" she said and Sherlock bit his lip to stop himself from laughing, "Because people that are in love on TV always kiss.." she went on and Sherlock chuckled a little, unable to hold it back any longer. "Like I saw you kiss the man that fixed our broken computer."

John could see the embarrassment on the poor girl's face and kept from chuckling at how casually (for her at least) Rosie said all of that. Molly blushed deeply and cleared her throat. "Yes, we get the idea, sweetheart. Why don't you go and ask Miss L. for me if it's still running?" She asked the usually much quieter girl, mainly because she didn't want to win a tomato-look-alike contest.

"Okay!" Rosie said and smiled at Sherlock, "I have to do this now, because the computers are really important, but when I'm done, I'll wait in the play room for you!" she said and dashed off for her important task, making Sherlock chuckle again, "Honestly, I really, /really/ don't see how people can consider her introverted.." he said and shook his head.

Molly began to walk with them to Mrs. Hope's classroom as she spoke and frowned a little. "Oh, is she like that around you all the time? Because usually she won't play with the other children or even come up to us teachers for special attention." She told Sherlock, the red beginning to leave her cheeks again.

Sherlock rolled his eyes at that, "Have you tried treating her like an older child, rather than a toddler?" he asked and smiled a little, "My brother and I, just like my little sisters, we're all like that. Look, for my brother and me, other kids our age were.. idiots. Literally. Have you had her IQ tested? I'd bet everything I own that she's highly gifted."

"Oh. I don't think we ever considered that." Molly commented and looked quite taken aback by that. "I'll definitely take that to Mrs. Hope and our psychologist." She said to Sherlock with a nod, feeling bad about having missed that.

Sherlock chuckled a little at that, "I suppose I could talk to your psychologist for you." he said and smiled, "Violet Holmes is my mother." he said and chuckled again, "You might have heard about her finding her long lost son.. that'd be me, hi." he said and playfully waved his hand.

"Oh!" Molly exclaimed with a smile. "Of /course/ I've heard of that. I'm so happy for you! Your mother is a great woman." She said and stopped in front of the headmistress's office. It was hard not to have heard of the news really.

"Yeah, she really is." Sherlock said and smiled, "Anyway, I guess Mrs Hope is expecting us already.." he said and gave Molly one of his most charming smiles, "It was very nice to meet you."

"You too." Molly said and giggled a little shyly, until she noticed John again and sobered. "Bye." She said, this time to the both of them, before turning around to go back to their break room. Greg wouldn't believe who she'd just met..

Sherlock chuckled a little as he watched the girl leave, "She's.. nice. Bit shy maybe." he said, turning to look at John, "Shall we?" he asked.

"Yeah, let's go." John nodded and knocked on the door. A few seconds later Mrs. Hope's voice called them inside and he opened the door. "Ah, there you are. Good to see you again. Please sit down."

"You too." Sherlock said as he sat down, placing his map on the table which was looking a bit battered from when he had picked Rosie up, "Uhm, sorry about the state of my papers. I figured making sure Rosie doesn't run out on the street was more important.. she came rushing out to greet John and me." he said and chuckled a little.

John put his own, much slimmer portfolio onto the table too. "Oh yes, naturally, thank you for that." Mrs. Hope said with a smile and took the folders. Taking a look at John's first she skimmed his handful of certificates from his rugby times as well as the three summer camps he'd worked at, his CV and a copy of his graduation certificate. After looking at all of them for a while she nodded. "Yes, thank you. That's all I needed to see. Now.." She slipped the papers back into the folder and took Sherlock's. "That's quite an impressive record. It's been a while since I've seen someone apply with a diploma from the nineteenth century." She said with a chuckle as she went carefully through his documents.

"Really? I thought it'd be somewhat common in a school that preferably employs vampires." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "Anyway, I really only put that in because that was the only time I studied Latin. But it's not like it's changed much meanwhile." he said with a smile.

"No, that's true." Mrs. Hope chuckled warmly. "Actually, we mostly employ vampires under the age of 200, though I have no idea about the general demographics. And women had some trouble getting their hands on a diploma back then." She said, before putting his diplomas away again. "So, you'd be willing to teach Latin?"

"Sure, since I have to take a QTS course anyway, I could probably study whatever other subject you need me to, to balance the curriculum." Sherlock said smiled, "Just name it."

"I'll definitely come back to that." She said with a smile, visibly relieved they'd soon have a new colleague in the teaching staff. "Six teachers for eight compound classes leads to a bit of a tight schedule as you can imagine. I'd like to keep your portfolio for a few hours to write down which subjects you've already studied."

"Sure, take your time, we promised Rosie to stay for a bit and play with her anyway." Sherlock said with a smile, "I also wanted to talk to you about her, actually. I keep hearing she's introverted and lives in her own world', but she's been nothing but open and well even somewhat clingy towards John and me. And I was thinking, well, she really reminds me of me and my siblings. I really think you should have her IQ tested. I really think she might be highly gifted."

"Oh, really?" She asked and brought the picture of the little girl into her mind. "Yes, you're one of the first people to describe her as open and clingy.. Thank you for telling me, I'll have a talk with Violet about that. It really would be a shame not to promote her properly."

Sherlock smiled, "It would be. And about that, I think it would be good for her to spend some time with Amy and Ally. They're just like her and they'd probably look up to her. So John and I were thinking we could take the three of them to the zoo, or play yard some time. If you prefer that, I can ask my mother to join us, of course, since you know her better than us."

"That sounds like a very good idea." She smiled. "And yes, I would really prefer Violet to join you. With the children we just want to be extra sure. Do you already have a date in mind for that?"

"Well, I'd obviously have to check back with my mother, but we were thinking this weekend." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "I'll text her in a minute, maybe we can get it settled today already." he said and smiled, thinking about how Rosie might react.

"Ah, alright. Though from on Saturdays and Sundays we do housework or spend family time together until 12:00 and eat until 1pm. So unless you eat together, you'd have to take her after that." She said, glancing back up from the schedule with a smile. She was glad that Rosie would be included in an activity with other children; it'd be good for her.

Sherlock smiled and cleared his throat, "Alright then, I'll leave to our certificates then, a little young lady is expecting us." he said and chuckled a little, "When should we come back to your office? Or, probably just me, since John has to work later."

"Yes, how about 3pm? Mr. Watson, we'll talk at a later time then. Goodbye" She said with a nod and held out her hand, which he shook. John nodded and stood up. "Yes, thank you for your time."

"Sounds good to me." Sherlock said and shook Mrs Hope's hand as well, before standing up and walking over to the door. As soon as he opened it, Rosie burst in and all but snatched Sherlock's hand, "You're ready? Can we play now? I saved the best crayons for us! The neon ones and we have glitter pens!" she said, hopping excitedly.

John chuckled a little at what was probably the most adorable things he'd seen in a while. Mrs. Hope looked at the girl in surprise, since she'd (sadly) never seen her quite that excited. "Yes, they're all yours now, Rosie. Good job waiting outside until we were done." She said with a smile and sat back down.

"Alright, alright, we're coming." John chuckle and began to follow her outside after saying goodbye to the headmistress. "How has your day been, Rosie?" He asked a few steps later since they hadn't really had a chance to talk to each other yet.

"Boring!" Rosie said and smiled at John, "But now it's not boring anymore, because you're here.. the other kids don't play with me.." she mumbled, her smile faltering a little, "They say I'm stupid because I don't like boring games, like playing mummy and daddy..." she said and frowned, "It's stupid.. and I don't even know how to play because I don't remember my mummy and daddy.." she said and Sherlock sighed, lifting the little girl up again, "You know what, even if you don't really remember them, they sure remember you.. and from what I've heard from the others, they loved you very much, sweetheart, remembering that is enough." he said and smiled softly as Rosie nodded, leaning her head against his shoulder again.

John came a bit closer, before wrapping an arm around Sherlock from behind and laying his hand carefully on Rosie's back. "Hey, don't leave me out." He commented with a smile, resting his chin on his boyfriend's shoulder.

"Oh we wouldn't dare, would we, Rosie?" Sherlock asked with a small smirk, looking down at the girl that still looked somewhat sad and only gave a small shrug, "Hm.. you know what always cheered me up when I was your age?" he asked and Rosie shook her head lightly as much as she could with it resting on his shoulder, "Well, how about we grab a few sheets of paper, crayons and some string and then we go outside, look for bees and draw them. And when we're ready, we can cut them out and put on a string and you can hang them up in your room." he suggested and that perked Rosie's interest a bit, "Can we give them names?" she asked, letting it sound like a possible deal breaker, but Sherlock chuckled, "Sure we can." he said with a smile and set the girl down again, "Come on, show us the crayons and paper and then we'll go to the beehive?" he suggested and Rosie finally smiled again - while Sherlock noticed there was an addition to the things he couldn't bear and that was seeing Rosie sad. "Okay." she said and took Sherlock's hand again, holding her other out, obviously waiting for John to take it.

John took her hand again and began to walk with the both of them up into the playroom. "By the way, haven't you said something about a picture I could hang up at work?" He asked, partly to cheer her up a little more and partly because he really did want to bring it home now that she'd made it. "/And/ bring home, obviously." He added and shot Sherlock a smirk.

Rosie smiled, "Oh! Yeah, it's in my room! Wait here!" she said and let go of John's and Sherlock's hands, dashing off towards the staircase, "Hey, Rosie! Not so fast, it's dangerous to run up the stairs, we're not going anywhere, okay?" he said and Rosie stopped and looked back at Sherlock, "Okay, sorry, Lock!" she said before she started to move again, walking much slower now.

Once she was well upstairs John took Sherlock's hand again and chuckled. "You like it when she calls you Lock, don't you?" He commented with a smile. "It's pretty adorable in my opinion."

"Maybe I like it a bit." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "It sure is better than Shaggy." he said and smiled at John, "She's really precious though.. You know, don't get this wrong, I really hope someone comes by and gives her a proper family, but.. it's already strange to imagine to come here without having her rush over with that big bright smile." he said and didn't even care how sentimental that sounded, it really was just the truth.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." John frowned a little. "But even if that does happen, it won't mean she'll be wiped from the face of the earth. And for now we have the pleasure of watching bees with her and 'getting her out of her shell' for once." This level ignorance almost made him angry if it hadn't been for the fact it was genuinely unintentional.

"Yeah, we do." Sherlock said and smiled lightly, "Can I make a suggestion? It's probably a little odd, though." he said and chewed on his lip.

"As long as it doesn't involve Rosie and a bag of 'not paint' " John chuckled lightly, before looking back at him. "Seriously though, shoot."

"No, no nothing like that, but it does actually involve Rosie." Sherlock said and smiled, "Look.. she's not really attached to the kids and keeps to herself and.. well, it doesn't sound like Christmas would be much fun for her here." he said and shrugged, "We could ask them if she can spend Christmas with us.. I mean, there she's got you, me, she'd have Amy and Ally, my mother, hell even Mycroft and all the people that know.. what she's like and that wouldn't underestimate her."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'm sure she'd love that." John nodded. "Though, we should probably take things slowly, you know? I mean, we've already just arranged to take her into the zoo after being here the second time. Just, you know, if the very next thing we take to Mrs. Hope is having Rosie over for Christmas.. well, people might talk, you know. Maybe let's wait with that a bit, that's all I'm saying."

"Well.. I could have my mum bring that up. She will get it.." Sherlock said and shrugged, "I'm sure she can wrap that up in all sorts of fancy terms Mrs Hope will love." he said with a chuckle, before he pulled out his phone, "But one step at a time, first I have to ask her about the zoo." he said and typed out a message.

"Yeah, do that." John nodded with a smile. He found himself looking forward to playing with Rosie (and Sherlock of course); It was really a shame he had to go to work today and leave earlier. At least now he was sure it would be the right decision to make this his main side job. (Should he be accepted at least)

Sherlock smiled as he sent the text, his smile widening as Rosie walked back down the stairs, holding a large - and by large he meant A3 - sheet of paper and she was walking slowly down the stairs, which made Sherlock oddly proud, after all that meant she had listened to his advice, didn't it? "Here!" she said as she stood in front of Sherlock and John, holding up the paper, which showed three figures standing in front of a house, one of them having a yellowish-black stain on the nose. "That's us, this is me," Rosie began, pointing at the smaller figure, "This is John and this is Lock!" she said and chuckled. "What's that on my nose?" Sherlock asked and Rosie grinned, "It's a bee!" she said happily, chuckling again.

"Perfect" He chuckled at that. "That's amazing, Rosie, thank you!" John said with a wide smile, as he looked at the large drawing of them all. "That's going to get a special place at our home."

"Why do I have a bee on my nose?" Sherlock asked, still thinking about that for some reason, "Because it likes you!" Rosie said and giggled, holding the picture out for John to take it. "Well, I'm glad it does." he said with a chuckle.

John took the picture and reminded himself not to fold it in half. "How about we go get your coat out then and look at their hive? They're probably still snuggled up inside because of the cold though. So I'm sure the bees we'll make would love to live in your room too until it's warm again."

"And then I put them outside!" Rosie stated and smiled, "I'll get my coat!" she exclaimed and started to run again, before slowing down, which made Sherlock smile a little.

"She's so precious." John commented when she was out of earshot and looked to Sherlock. "The folks at the station will think it's cute too. Josh's wife just had a baby actually." He said and rolled up the picture carefully.

Sherlock smiled, "Well, don't let them talk you into keeping the picture at the station. I really do want it at home.. although.. we should tell her to go with A4 next time. I'm not sure how many A3 drawings will fit on our fridge." he chuckled.

"Next time?" John asked with a smile, since Sherlock just assumed Rosie was gonna keep going on do that for them. "You could think at that speed our flat would soon serve as a gallery for her." He said with a chuckle, though he didn't really mind it.

"At the very least it'd make her feel more welcome at our flat.. considering that we might have her over for Christmas..." Sherlock said and smiled as his phone vibrated in his pocket, pulling it out and reading the text from his mum, "Right, so you better make sure you've got time on Sunday, because we're going to the zoo with Rosie." he said and chuckled, "Mum says she's called Mrs Hope already about it and it's all settled."

"I think she'll be really happy to hear that." John commented with a smile. "What do you think, should we tell her today or surprise her on Sunday?"

"I'd rather tell her today, might help to keep her mind off of the mummy and daddy thing from before." Sherlock said with a sigh, though his lips curled up into a smile again as Rosie returned in her coat, "I'm ready! Let's go!" she said and tugged at Sherlock's hand, "Hang on, wait, we want to tell you something first. We've got a surpise for you." he said and Rosie gaped, "For me? What is it?" she asked excitedly, starting to hop again, "Well, guess who's going to the zoo on Sunday with John and me?" Sherlock said and Rosie smiled widely, "Me?" she asked and Sherlock nodded, "Yeah." he said and Rosie smiled impossibly wider, "Cool!" she said and beamed up at the two men.

"Mmh, we're looking forward to it too." John said with a smile. He really couldn't stand at all having her upset. "And do you remember my two younger cousins I told you about yesterday?"

"Uh huh." Rosie said and smiled up at John, shoving her hands into her coat pockets, "What about them?" she asked happily.

John smiled right back at her. "Well, they'll be coming with us too. We think you'll get along really well. They're only turning three in a few weeks though, so they'd look up to you a bit and maybe ask you questions. How does that sound?"

"Cool! I can show them all the animals, because I know a lot about animals, I know that elephants have a really good memory and if you're mean to them, they'll remember that like 20 years later too! And I know that some snakes bite and other's squish their prey and I know that kangaroos carry their babies in a bag on their belly and sometimes the babies look out of the bag and I can teach them a lot about bees!" she said and Sherlock chuckled, "Well, I'm sure they'll be glad to have a teacher like you, sweetheart. They're smarter than normal kids their age as well, you know." he explained, "And you know what, they're John's cousins, but my sisters." he said and smiled, "That's because long after I was born, my mummy fell in love with John's uncle." he said and Rosie frowned, "What about your daddy?" she asked and Sherlock smiled, "Well, my daddy went to heaven a really long time ago." he said and quickly changed the subject again, not wanting Rosie to get sad over her parents again, "But you know who my mummy is?” he asked and chuckled, "It's Violet, you know her, don't you?" he asked and Rosie nodded, "I do! She's really super nice!"

"Then we've all got something to look forward to this week." John said, before holding out his hand for the little girl. "And I see you've already put on your coat, so how about we have a look at the beehive now?"

"Okay! Did you know that when you're lost and it's really cold outside, you have to cuddle too, so you don't freeze?" Rosie asked as she took John's hand, "Like the bees!" she said and started to tug the two men along again.

"Yeah?" John asked with a smile and followed along. "That's some good advice, Rosie. Where did you learn that from?"

"I saw that on TV!" Rosie said and smiled happily, "You're watching a lot of TV?" Sherlock asked and Rosie nodded, "Uh huh. Everyday. I watch Scooby Doo and after that I can watch a documentary! Greg allowed it!" she said and smiled happily.

"That's really nice of him." John commented. It was a shame that most teachers here apparently had no idea how to handle her. "I met him really briefly yesterday when I was looking for you two. Do you get on well with him?"

Rosie nodded, "He's nice." she said and smiled at John, "But I like you two way better than anyone here!" she stated and smiled happily as they arrived at the beehive.

John smiled a bit at that. "Well, we two like you an awful lot too." He said as they came to stand in front of the hive. "So, I think it looks like a good home for bees, but you are the experts on that."

"Hm, I think it's a very good home because it's really big!" Rosie said and looked up at Sherlock for confirmation, "Yeah, I agree with that." Sherlock said and lifted Rosie up on his arm, "So what do you say, should we look how they're cuddling?" he asked and Rosie nodded, "Yeah! I've never seen that!" she chirped and Sherlock looked at John, "Can you lift the lid a little?" he asked, having his hands full with Rosie.

"Sure, just be careful." John couldn't help himself saying, even though he knew Sherlock knew what he was doing. He lifted the lid a bit and looked back Sherlock and Rosie, who just looked too cute like this.

"Whoa they're really cuddling!" Rosie exclaimed in a loud whisper, looking stunned, which made Sherlock chuckle a little, "Did you know that it's only warm in the ball they're forming? The rest of the beehive is just as cold as it is outside." he explained and watched Rosie with a fond smile, liking the way she seemed to absorb information, "Then we better close it again! So they don't freeze!" she said, looking at John.

John took a glance inside himself, before doing as he was told (carefully of course). "So what do you think of the bees in winter?" He asked after giving Sherlock a smile.

"I think they're really cute." Rosie said and smiled as Sherlock set her down again, "Maybe we should put them inside where it's warm, though. Then they don't have to cuddle the whole time." she went on and Sherlock shook his head, "They wouldn't like that. They like their hive. It's their home." he explained.

"Mmh, they'd probably get all confused about where they suddenly are. Imagine you're a bee and it gets warm again. What would you expect to see when you look outside?" John asked to make it easier for her to understand (and not more complicated).

"Flowers!" Rosie said and smiled, before frowning, "But when they're inside, there won't be real flowers.." she said and Sherlock smiled, "Exactly, that's why we should just leave them there, they're warm enough, promise." he said and Rosie smiled again, "Okay, can we go draw bees now?" she asked happily.


	40. Nobody Likes Sally

"Sure, let's go back inside." John said with a smile and held his hand out for her to take it. He then glanced quickly at his watch; he had about another thirty minutes until he'd have to leave for work.

Rosie took John's hand, before taking Sherlock's as well, "Can we glue all the bees on top of each other? So they are cuddling too? Because it's winter!" she said and Sherlock chuckled, "You know what we can also do? I could go over to the supermarket and buy a few kinder eggs and then we can make bees out of the yellow capsules. So you and John go grab some black paint, paper and some string and I'll meet you in the play room, how does that sound?" he asked and Rosie smirked, "Can we also eat the chocolate?" she asked and Sherlock chuckled, "Only if you're okay with sharing it with the other kids." he said and Rosie smiled, nodding happily.

"Great, see you in a few minutes then, love." John said with a smile, before turning back to Rosie. "But you'll have to help me find everything, alright? Otherwise I'll probably still be looking for it when the flowers are blossoming again."

Sherlock smiled, quickly pecking John's cheek (which made Rosie giggle), before he walked towards the exit.

Rosie chuckled, "It's really easy! All the crayons and papers are in the play room, but we have to ask Sally or Arthur for paint and glue." she said as she tugged John along the halls.

"Alright, let's find them then." John said with a chuckle followed her along to what he presumed was the teacher's lounge. "So, I've already met Arthur yesterday." He commented. "How do you get along with Sally?"

"Sally doesn't like me, she pretends she does, but I've heard her tell Rachel that she thinks I'm /difficult/!" Rosie said and scrunched up her nose, "That's not nice, and it's really rude to talk about people behind their backs."

"No, that's not very nice at all." John agreed with a sigh. " I think for some teachers it can be hard to work with children who are a bit different. You know, they can't do the things they usually do with most other children. That doesn't mean though that it's not great to be a bit smarter or slower or more sensitive than most other kids. Those teachers just need to work on being able to teach all children." He explained slowly, hoping he hadn't overcomplicated things.

"I know it's great! I really like being smart." Rosie said with a smile, before she knocked at the door of the teachers lounge.

About ten seconds later Sally Donovan opened the door to see Rosie as well as some strange man in his early twenties, so not a student. "Hello, I don't think we've met." She addressed him, ignoring the preschooler for now. "No, I don't think we have. I'm John Watson." He said politely and held his hand out which she shook. "I'm applying for a job here, so hopefully it won't be the last time either." He explained with a bit of a smile, which made her chuckle a bit, though he didn't really didn t like the way she acted towards Rosie right now. "So, what do you want here?"

"Sally we need black paint and glue!" Rosie said and ignored the fact that she was ignored. "John's fiance is buying a lot of kinder eggs and we'll make bees out of the capsules!"

"Your fiance? Oh, are you that James bloke Molly is dating?" She asked with a frown, wondering why she'd brought him yo do crafts with Rosie. "Oh, no. My fiance is Sherlock Holmes. I don't think you've met him yet, but he wants to begin to teach here. We met Rosie just before talking to Mrs. Hope." He explained. Sally nodded at that and scrunched her nose a bit at the 'him' part (what kind of a name was Sherlock anyway?). "Aha, I see.. So you're both allowed here and play with the children?" She asked (he and the other one were strangers here after all) and John gave her more of a forced smile. "Yes, we are."

Rosie frowned, "You were scrunching your nose when John said his fiance is a boy are you a hombo.. himo.. hom-homof..homophobe?" she asked, quite obviously very proud she got the word right on her own, "Because I've heard Charlie say that hombophobs are bad and stupid people and I think so too because it doesn't matter if you love a boy or a girl!"

"Now first of all watch your tone, young lady. You don't just go about accusing people, that's very rude." Sally said sternly, having crouched down to be on her level. "And of course everyone can love whoever they want." She said; that didn't mean she particularly liked it and wanted to see it though. "Since when have you been talking to the older girls anyway?"

"I wasn't rude. I asked a question." Rosie said with a sweet smile, "If you're not a hombophob then I wasn't rude to you at all. I've only been a bit rude if you think you are a hombophob." she said and still smiled at Sally. "And I wasn't talking to Charlie, I just heard her say that."

John had to fight hard to hold back a laugh and not give Rosie a high five. Sally didn't look quite as happy, but rather fed up with this conversation. Especially in front of her gay soon-to-be colleague. "It's 'homophobe', Rosie and I'm not one of them. And I don't think Charlotte and the other girls want you to spy on them." She told the nosy toddler, before standing up. "So you wanted glue and paint?" She asked, having one hand on the door handle.

"Yeah." Rosie said and took John's hand, not quite so happy anymore. She thought it was mean that Sally always seemed to be annoyed no matter what she said.

John gave her hand a squeeze (that had been uncalled for) and Sally turned around to go back into the teachers' lounge and get the supplies she'd asked for. Once she was gone, he crouched down next to her. "You alright there?"

Rosie nodded, "Mhm..." she mumbled and looked away for a moment, before looking back to John. "That's why I don't talk a lot.." she admitted, "Everyone seems to get mad when I talk.. and I don't know why..."

"I'm sorry about that, sweetheart. Sherlock and I will try to figure something out for the future." John said, brushing his thumb over her hand, (though he was careful not to make any false promises, ) because really they couldn't continue to treat Rosie the way they did now.

"You and Lock don't get mad when I talk.. why?" Rosie asked, already smiling a little again, she felt a lot better when John and Lock were around.

"Well so far you've been nothing but nice to us and it's been a lot of fun to spend time with you." John said with a warm smile. "I think we just have an easier time understanding smart bees like yourself."

"Because Lock and his sisters are really smart too?" Rosie asked and her smile grew a little wider as Sherlock appeared again, "There you are." he said and chuckled as he approached them, holding a bag that contained 70 something kinder eggs. "What did I miss?" he asked.

"We're just waiting for Sally to return with some glue and-" John told Sherlock and got up to his feet, when he noticed a little incredulously the packed plastic bag in his hand. "how much chocolate did you just buy??"

"Uhm... I-" Sherlock began but was cut off by Rosie who peeked into the bag, "Woah I've never seen /so many/ kinder eggs!" she said and looked up at Sherlock with big eyes, "Can I have one?"

Before John could say something (okay, it wouldn't drive her blood sugar up, but in fairness there were still a lot of obvious reasons not to give her all of those), Sally came back with two bottles of children's glue and some paint in her hands, holding them out to John. "Here there you are." She could already imagine who this new man was and apparently he'd had no trouble getting inside again.

"Oh hello." Sherlock said, holding his free hand out for the strange woman, "I'm Sherlock Holmes, I'm starting to work here soon. And I'm sorry about your boyfriend's affair with.. a man, if the way you look at John and me is anything to go by.”

Sally stared at him quite indignantly and thrust the craft supplies into John's hand. "Unbelievable.." She huffed angrily and turned on her heels to go back into the teacher's room. This had to be some sort of bloody joke. Rachel wouldn't believe this..

"People get mad when you talk too?" Rosie asked and looked up to Sherlock, who crouched down to her. "Yeah, sometimes they do. But very special people, the people that really matter, won't get mad at you when you talk." he said, glancing over at John with a smile, "Maybe it takes a while to find them.." he said, looking back at Rosie, "But those people are worth the wait, honeybee. I promise."

"And once you find them, it'll be very obvious." John said, smiling fondly at Sherlock. After a few moments he remembered what they'd been doing before Sally'd come back. Hating to break the moment he spoke again. "Now, you've still got enough chocolate to feed the whole orphanage in that bag."

"Oh, right." Sherlock said and smiled, "Yeah, that was kind of the point." he said and put the bag between Rosie and himself, "John is right, there are enough kinder eggs for the whole orphanage and some more, for our bees. So before I leave, you and me will visit every child here and give each of them one kinder egg." he said, some might call it bribery, but if it would make the kids ease up a bit on how they treated Rosie, he figured it was worth it.

John smiled at that and hoped it would help Rosie a little in the future with the other kids. "Sounds great to me. How many soon-to-bees have you got in there then?" He asked with a bit of a smirk.

"Nine. I think that's enough for a start and it's definitely enough chocolate for us." Sherlock said, gently tapping Rosie's nose with his finger, making her giggle, before he stood up, "Oh and I bought those as well." he said, pulling a pack of colourful pipe cleaners out of his coat pocket, "We want our bees to be fuzzy, don't we?"

Rosie nodded happily and took both of their hands again, "Lock, you have to be careful, I think Sally is a hombophob! Even though she says she isn't, but hombophobs don't like boys that like boys or girls that like girls and when John said his fiance is a boy she looked like Charlie looks when there are peas in our dinner and Charlie really hates peas." she said and Sherlock smiled, "I think she just recently made some bad experiences with a boy that likes boys.. I don't think she hates people like John and me, but she doesn't like to be reminded of them right now." he said and smiled at Rosie, though really, he already disliked that Sally woman.

John walked with them back to the playroom, giving Sherlock a look to tell him they really had a reason not to like Sally. Though, for now he was glad Rosie was smiling again. "So Charlie's a nice girl, yeah?"

"Uh huh." Rosie said, nodding as she led the two men towards the play room, "She's already /twelve/!" she said and smiled, "But she's really nice to me when I talk to her. I think she's very smart too. And sometimes people get mad at her for saying things too." Rosie said and for Sherlock that did sound like they probably should try to get Mrs Hope to do a general IQ testing around here.

"I'm looking forward to maybe meeting her them." John commented, glad there were at least a few people Rosie had been talking to. "Though I think we should all generally try not to say things that make people mad or upset." He said, because as much as he loved Sherlock and his quirks (and was very fond of Rosie) in terms of unnecessary rudeness there was still some room for improvement.

"Well, I think John is right there, honey bee." Sherlock said and frowned a little, "What I did there before, just mentioning Sally's problems wasn't okay, even if I could tell them from little things I noticed about her." he said and Rosie frowned, "So it's wrong to tell people the truth?" she asked and looked completely bewildered.

"Sometimes, yes. You know, often people won't like to have things pointed out to them that make them unhappy or embarrasses or hurts them.

Like for example, imagine you had a really bad fight with your best friend and you didn't want anyone to know about it. Then someone came up to you and told you that right here out on the hallway just because it's the truth.. How would that make you feel?"

"I don't know..." Rosie murmured and looked at the floor, "I don't have a best friend." she added and Sherlock shook his head, "Not true. You've got John and me." he said and Rosie smiled, her eyes big, "Really, you're my best friends and I'm your best friend?" she asked, looking back and forth between John and Sherlock.

"Of course you are." John said with a smile. "Well, only if you want to of course." He added after a moment,

The rest of the day passed quietly, John eventually left for work and when they had finished all their bees, Sherlock had helped Rosie with hanging up the bees in her room, before they gave the rest of the kinder eggs to the other kids, which really seemed to help improve the opinions of the kids about Rosie - although it was sad that it took free chocolate for that, instead of them putting some more effort into getting to know her. After saying goodbye to Rosie, Sherlock talked again to Mrs Hope, who told him that both of them could soon start to work here and that John was supposed to call about working out what days of the week he could train the kids.

Since it was only about half an hour until John would get off of work, he decided to pick him up, getting a cab to the station and waiting outside for him .

It had been a good shift all things considered, John thought as he went outside. He was holding the picture Rosie had given him and which his colleagues had unsurprisingly found adorable. When he saw Sherlock standing outside on the pavement, his mood lightened up and he wondered how long he'd been waiting there for him. "Hey, love." He greeted him with a smile, pulling him into a one-armed hug.

"Hi." Sherlock said and smiled at his boyfriend, "Guess which couple is officially working at the orphanage now?" he asked and chuckled a little as he pulled back.

"Really? I'm glad to hear that." John said with a smile and ran a hand down his creased shirt to straighten it up a bit. "This is a nice surprise."

"Well, actually, I'm here because I have an express delivery from a mutual friend for you." Sherlock said and chuckled as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a kinder egg bee Rosie had made for John, holding it out for him.

John took it and had a closer look at it. "Remind me to thank her on Sunday." He commented and put it carefully into his pocket. "How was your day then? Did you two go around the orphanage?"

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah.. obviously the other kids liked that a lot." he said and shrugged a little, "Not sure how long that's gonna last, but at least this time she didn't sit alone at her table for dinner.." he said and had only really realized that fact when she hadn't sat alone today. Last time when they had stayed for dinner, he hadn't really paid attention, but Rosie's surprised look when some other kids sat with her had made him notice that.

"Right, we were the only ones at the table yesterday.." John remembered with a frown. "Yeah, kids can be cruel." He said with a sigh. He hoped he could get her to join the rugby team; in his experience that could do wonders for the team spirit in a group.

Sherlock sighed, "Well, it's nice to see how she opens up when we're around though." he said and smiled as he took John's hand, "Makes me feel even better about working there."

"Mmh, I'm looking forward to it too." John said and hailed a cab. "I'm glad she mistook us for criminals right in the beginning. At least that way we got to know her right away."

"I think she just looks out for everyone." Sherlock said and smiled, "You know, checking out every new person to see if they are baddies." he said and chuckled a little, "It's good that she's always suspicious about new people though. Would be dangerous if she'd trust people too easily."

"I'd almost say she trusted us very quickly after we'd told her we weren't baddies. I mean, until we'd talked to the1

"I'd almost say she trusted us very quickly after we'd told her we weren't baddies. I mean, until we'd talked to the teachers I really thought she was just a very open child." John commented, though he could definitely see that a lot of children completely lacked healthy scepticism."

"Well, I suppose it had a lot to do with the fact that everyone was a pretty excited to meet me.. you know, because of mum." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "If they weren't acting like that, I don't think she'd have trusted us so fast."

John nodded. "Yeah, right. Word seems to spread fast there." He commented with a chuckle. It had been quite funny to see the way they had looked when told who Sherlock was.

"That Graham guy seemed to be the most impressed." Sherlock said and chuckled, "He instantly hugged me when I told him Violet is my mother." he said and rolled his eyes.

John frowned slightly at, having figured he had heard of most people working at the orphanage by now. "Who?"

"Graham Lestrade?" Sherlock asked and frowned, "Didn't you say you've met him?"

"Do you mean Greg? The" handsome (he thought) "bloke you'll be working together with?" John asked with a bit of a laugh.

"His name is Greg?" Sherlock asked and raised his brows, before dismissing it with a shrug.

"Seriously? I've barely met him and I know his name." John said, looking a bit incredulous at Sherlock's obvious disregard for that.

"Well.. I was close enough." Sherlock said and chuckled, "And what, would you rather, I'd have memorised every detail about him?" he asked and raised a brow.

"No, just- never mind. I suppose I should be happy." John huffed a laugh and shook his head a little.

"He's no match for you anyway." Sherlock said and leant over to peck John's lips. "No one is, you know that."

"Well, as long as you remember /my/ name.." John said with a chuckle and reached for Sherlock's hand.

"Of course, I remember your name, /James/." Sherlock teased and laughed as he looked around for a cab.

"Oh shut it. We shouldn't start with that again." John said with a laugh and went to the street when one cab finally pulled over.

Sherlock chuckled as they walked over to the cab, opening the door for John, "Oh by the way, Mrs Hope wants you to call her about what days of the week you have time so she can shift the shedules around."

"Oh alright." John said and slipped into the cab. "Thanks." He said and buckled his seatbelt. "Speaking of which, you're changing majors then, aren't you?"

"Guess so." Sherlock said and shrugged, "It's not that much of a big deal, really." he said and frowned, "Should we get a car?" he asked suddenly as he sat down next to John, "An own one, I mean.. If we'll take Rosie on trips and have to pick up Amy and Ally.. it might be useful."

"Hm, I don't know.. A car in London? I mean we can reach most places with public transport and then there'd be the problem to find a parking spot everywhere." John commented, though mostly because he hadn't owned a car in over two years after crashing (in fairness though, he'd had right of way) his first one just before turning eighteen.

"It's still way more comfortable when you're out with 3 kids." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I'm really not eager to take two two-year-olds and a four year old into a crowded train station." he said and shook his head.

"Okay granted, I've never had to think about that." John huffed a laugh and had to admit that Sherlock was probably right there. "A car might not be that terrible an idea if were going to go on regular trips with them."

"And well, it makes doing the shopping easier too.." Sherlock said and shrugged, "And hey we're getting married, it's time for a proper family car." he said and grinned.

John began to chuckle a bit. "Alright, let's talk about that then after our wedding. Or at least let's wait until we're actually engaged, yeah?"

Sherlock rolled his eyes, "Well, we should at least rent one for Sunday. I don't think there's enough space for all of us in mum's car." he said and smirked, "Also as far as the orphanage is concerned, we are engaged. Unless you want me to mention to Gilbert that we're not yet engaged." he said with a smirk.

"Okay fine, renting one sounds reasonable." John said with a nod, before beginning to chuckle a bit. "And I'm fairly sure Greg won't elope with you if you don't even know his name." Though they'd still have to come up with a reason why Sherlock was suddenly wearing an engagement ring.

"Well, there's still Molly." Sherlock teased and smirked at John, "Pretty sure she'd like to know that."

"Oh, shut up, you prick." John huffed a laugh and nudged him with his ellbow. He was well-aware of the fact that his boyfriend was gay, though the still didn't like the way women looked at him very much.

Sherlock chuckled and told the cabbie their address before he looked back to John, "While we have the car, we could also take them with us to pick out a tree after the zoo. I mean they'll like it and we can scratch another thing off the Christmas list."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." John nodded. "I'm sure Rosie will be thrilled to be doing all of that on her first trip without the rest of the orphanage."

"You think they'll let us do that more often? I mean.. taking her out for everyday things. Doing the shopping, trips to the play yard, that kind of thing. I think if she gets some more attention that will help a good deal as well." Sherlock said and frowned, hating to think of how lonely she was in that orphanage.

"I think they probably will with time; I mean there's not much that'd speak against it once they get to know us." John commented. "Especially since she won't talk to many other people.. Jesus, you should've heard Sally." He said with a huff.

"What did she say?" Sherlock asked and frowned, "I mean.. she already looked annoyed when I arrived so.. probably she isn't Rosie's biggest fan."

"Not quite. Rosie's overheard Sally calling her difficult and it really showed in the way she treated her. You know, ignoring her, getting irritated by her comments etc. Rosie asking her if she's a homophobe didn't do much for her either."

Sherlock couldn't help but chuckle at that, "Is it wrong that I'm actually quite proud she just asked her about it? And that she knows what it means in the first place?" he asked and smiled at John. "It's unbelievable that the others don't see how amazing she is.." he said with a sigh, "It really doesn't take much effort to get her out of her shell."

"No, which makes it all the more frustrating that practically no one does that." John said with a sigh. "She really is an awesome girl."

"Well, I hope she'll become more confident.." Sherlock said and moved his arm around John's waist, leaning a bit against him, "And I'll help her with that as much as I can." he said with a smile.

John rested his hand on Sherlock's thigh and gave him a smile. "Good, so will I.”


	41. The Stripey Paradox

The rest of the week passed quickly, Sherlock had been able to settle things with the university surprisingly quickly and when Sunday eventually rolled around, Sherlock really looked forward to their trip to the zoo since he had actually started to miss his sisters since he had last seen them and well yeah, he had missed Rosie as well, even if it had only been three days since his last visit at the orphanage. Returning home with the rented car, naturally a family friendly one, he quickly shot John a text that he was there, before he started to unpack the three car seats he had bought on the way home.

As soon as John read the text, he got up from the kitchen at which he'd been studying up until then. He quickly threw on his jacket and grabbed his keys and wallet, before walking down the stairs and out on the street. "Need a hand with that?"

"Actually, if you can take care of this, I'll go upstairs and fill those." Sherlock said and reached for a separate bag, which contained three drink bottles for kids, he had made sure that neither is see through and well, for Rosie he couldn't resist the temptation to buy a bottle with a bee print. "Figured the little ones might get thirsty." he said and chuckled a little.

"Yeah, good idea. I'm guessing the bee's for Rosie and the red flower one for Amy?" John asked with a chuckle, before stepping to the car to take care of the car seats. He was admittedly really looking forward to seeing the little ones again.

"Good guess." Sherlock said and chuckled, leaning over to steal himself a kiss, before he moved over to the door, "Be right back." he said and unlocked the door, before slipping inside.

"Sure." John said, before getting started on the car seats. Good thing Sherlock had rented a car with nine seats so they could all fit inside comfortably; he himself had almost forgotten they'd be six.

Sherlock smiled as he returned with three bottles filled with blood (he had taken his own as well) and one filled with orange juice for Ally. "Are we all set?" he asked as he put the bottles on the backseat.

"We are. Do you want to drive?" John asked and closed the backseat door of the car, kind of hoping Sherlock would say yes. There was a difference between driving with your mates through the suburbs and driving with a backseat full of toddlers and your aunt through London.

"Sure." Sherlock said and raised a brow at John, "Although you should work on your driving anxiety, I don't think you'll have much choice on the battle field." he said and almost succeeded in letting his voice sound neutral as he said that. There wasn't much he could do about John's plans anyway, so he should probably just try to accept it.

"I probably should." John said, appreciating the fact Sherlock wasn't arguing with him over this anymore. Though he obviously did notice how that topic made his boyfriend feel, so he quickly changed it. "So are you suggesting a road trip for the next holidays?"

Sherlock smiled at that, "I was more thinking about everyday driving. To get you comfortable about it." he said and looked over at John, "Which is another reason why we should get a car." he said and walked towards the driver's side of the car.

"Not too great for the environment though." John commented jokingly and got inside the car. "And it's not like I'm afraid of driving, but having three squealing toddlers in the back is just some pressure I don't need right now."

Sherlock rolled his eyes, "Well.. you eventually have to.. I can't always drive our future children around myself." he said with a laugh.

"Fine, I should probably work on that." John said with a chuckle. "As soon as we have a car, I'll drive regularly again, alright?"

Sherlock chuckled, "Alright." he said and looked over at John, smiling at him, "How about a proper kiss before we're spending the day with a bunch of minors and my mother?" he asked and smirked at John.

"Fair enough." John chuckled and leaned over the gear stick to kiss Sherlock properly, bringing one hand up to cup his cheek.

Sherlock hummed against John's lips, "That's really the only disadvantage of the trip today.." he murmured into the kiss, "Not getting to snog my pretty boyfriend." he chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm almost beginning to prefer our flat to being with our family. You're seriously making me unsociable, Sherlock Holmes." John chuckled and pecked Sherlock's lips once more before drawing back.

"Making out is very social." Sherlock said and chuckled, looking for a moment longer at John, before he turned on the car, "So if anything, I'm improving your social abilities." he smirked.

"Let's say my making-out abilities." John said with a laugh. "And you're really the only one who benefits from that anyway. Not that I'm complaining though."

"Well, we should probably keep practising regularly," Sherlock said and smiled to himself, remembering last night, "I must say, I really do enjoy our practice sessions." he said and chuckled again.

"So do I, love." John said with a chuckle and buckled his seatbelt. "So first your mum and sisters and then Rosie, yeah?"

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah, I'm really looking forward to see the girls again." he said and sighed, "Honestly, it's been too long. And I gotta keep my promise about a sleepover too, don't want the first thing for them to remember about me be that I don't keep my promises."

"Yeah, that'd be bad. You're making great progress with their bedroom by the way." John commented. If Rosie ever stayed with them, that would probably be the best option for her too.

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah, well, I still need furniture. I hardly doubt toys, paint and curtains count as a nursery. We still need beds.. although I was thinking I could take them with me to pick out the beds." he said and smiled as he turned the car into the street his mother lived.

"I'm sure they'd really like that." John said with a smile. "You wanted to have it ready for Christmas or what did you have in mind?"

"Rather sooner. Maybe we can combine it with their sleepover, you know, we pick them up in the morning, get the beds, put them up in their rooms, then we play and later they can sleep in their new beds." he chuckled, parking the car in front of the house.

"Sounds like a plan to me." John said and got out of the car. "I don't think they will forget that very quickly.".

Sherlock smiled as he got out of the car and walked over to the door, knocking lightly.

A few seconds later you could hear excited little footsteps running towards the door. Together with her sister Amy went to the living room window to check if this was finally Lock to take them to the zoo! Amber meanwhile came downstairs too to make sure her baby sisters weren't trying to open the door again. Luckily they weren't, she thought and did it herself, figuring this were John and his boyfriend/ apparently also her stepbrother. "Hey, there. Mum's still in the garden." She told them, since she knew they wanted to go to the zoo together. "Hi Johnny" She smirked and stepped forward to get a hug from her big cousin, which he gladly gave her. "Hey Amber. How are things?"

Sherlock smiled and gave Amber - apparently his stepsister - a little wave, unsure what else to do, "Hi.." Sherlock said and cleared his throat, he was actually somewhat nervous, after all he'd really prefer if his mother's family would like him. "Uhm.. I'm Sherlock." he said and smiled lightly.

"Yeah, I know." Amber she said with a smirk, able to tell he was a bit nervous. "You were at aunt Emma's birthday. "Speaks for John's boyfriend capabilities if he's managed to keep you after that." She chuckled and wiggled her eyebrows playfully at John, before turning back to Sherlock. "I'm Amber." She said and held out her hand with a smile.

Sherlock relaxed a little and shook her hand, "Well, I got Beth kicked out, guess that really lit up the mood." he said and chuckled a bit.

Before Amber could say anything to that the twins had already noticed that the door was open and ran excitedly past Amber and to their new brother and John. "Lock!! We'll see lions! /And/ tigers!!" Amy squealed happily and grasped a bit of Sherlock's shirt, jumping up and down.

"And dolphins! Mum said they have dolphins!" Ally added, tugging at Sherlock's sleeves, hopping up and down just like her sister and Sherlock chuckled, "They'll have many more animals than just dolphins, tigers and lions." he said and smiled at the little ones, "So how about you go find your coats?" he asked and Ally stopped hopping, "Okay! Amy come on! Amber can you help?" she asked with a smile.

"Sure thing." She smiled back and took the two by their hands and walked inside with them. Once she was inside Amber opened a window and quickly called into the garden. "Vaneeessa, your son is here!" "I'm coming!" Came the reply shortly afterwards.

Sherlock smiled as he saw the two walk off with Amber, "Well.. I suppose my relationship with her could be a little less... stiff." he said and frowned, not entirely happy with how this had gone. But then again, this probably didn't really count as a proper 'meeting'.

"Probably, but well, what did you expect after meeting her the first time?" John asked with a smile. "But as someone who knows her, if she didn't like you you'd be able to tell, so there's that."

"Right.." Sherlock said and frowned, "Maybe I should .. I don't know.. go somewhere with her sometime.." he said and wondered what girls her age did these days.

"Mmh, you could take her to a music store or something like that." John suggested with a shrug. "I think she often asks Paul to drive her there." John said, hearing Vanessa coming up the stairs from the garden.

"Hm.. I suppose.." Sherlock said and smiled as his mother approached them, "Hi mum." he said and walked up to hug her.

Violet smiled back at him and pulled her youngest son into a warm hug, pecking his cheek softly. "Hi honey. How are you?"

"Fine." Sherlock said and sighed tragically, "Still not engaged, as usual." he joked and looked at John, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

"No?" Violet asked with a chuckle and pulled back "Well, not according to the orphanage." John pointed out. And really he still hadn't received his next pay check since they'd started dating, so he thought it was fine.

"Yeah, let's say John and I are both quite happy the people there think we're engaged for ... reasons." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Speaking of the orphanage.. we should probably leave soon if we want to be there in time."

"Yes, you're right." Violet agreed and turned around to walk to the staircase. "Amber are you with the girls?" She called. "Yes, yes they're coming." Amber called back and ushered her little siblings up the stairs, both clad in colourful jackets. "Thanks, Amber. And you two are ready for a trip?"

"I'm ready!" Ally called out and smiled happily. "Hey Amber," Sherlock said and smiled tentatively at his sister - the step sounded wrong somehow. "Would you like to .. go to a concert or something sometime?" he asked, wondering if that was good, "You pick, I get the tickets. Mum can give you my number, just let me know what concert, where and when." he offered, hoping that wasn't weird.

Amber smiled at that, figuring some bonding time probably couldn't hurt and he seemed to make an effort here. "Well, I couldn't say no to that, big brother." She chuckled warmly, finding it quite cute that he'd apparently asked John about her hobbies. "Amber had a concert! The whole gym was /packed/!" Amy told Sherlock, parroting the last part from her father.

Sherlock smiled, picking Amy up from the floor, "Did she?" he asked and looked up at Amber, "You're playing the piano, right?" he asked with genuine curiousness, music seemed to be something they both could relate to.

Amy giggled approvingly as she was lifted up again and enjoyed the view. "Yeah, just like my dad." Amber nodded and felt the need to add. "That was only a school concert though; I'm not quite a proper pianist yet."

"Well, maybe we can play together some time. I play the violin." Sherlock said and crouched down to lift Ally up again who looked like she felt left out. "Amber can make really nice music!" Ally said as Sherlock stood up with her sitting on his other side. "She knows how to play a lot of songs!"

"Thanks, Sonny." Amber smiled at her younger sister, before looking back at Sherlock. "Yeah, that would be cool. I've never played with a violinist before. What genre are you into?"

"Mainly classic, but.. I think that kind of comes with the violin. It's not exactly an electrical guitar." Sherlock said with a chuckle. "By the way, I think I still have some old piano sheet music from my sister and even my mum." he said with a chuckle, glancing at his mother. "They're from regency times, but if you'd like to try them out, I could send you copies."

"That would be awesome." Amber's eyes lit up a bit as she nodded. "Do you have a piano at your place or would you rather bring your violin round here?"

"I think it'd be more convenient if I'd come around." Sherlock chuckled and smirked at his mother, "It is okay if I show her the pieces you composed as well, right?"

"Well, there's a reason I prefer painting.." Violet joked with a chuckle. "Maybe just tell me beforehand which pieces you've got. I'd like to hear most of them again myself, you know." She told Sherlock with a mile. In truth she really just didn't want to be surprised by a tune she'd written after William's or Eurus's death.

Sherlock smiled at his mother, seeing right through her motives there, "Maybe we can go through them at the house in Sussex first." he said and looked at Amber again, "Speaking of that, did mum tell you about our old house? Because we still have an old piano there you might want to play on at some point." he said and frowned, "Are you by any chance a fan of Jane Austen's books?" he asked curiously.

"Duh, obviously." Amber chuckled. She'd only really got into Jane Austen one or two years ago, but she already loved her work. "Most others think classic literature is boring, but really her stuff is timeless. Like, just the way she wrote her characters is really authentic in terms of their emotions, you know? Why are you asking?"

Sherlock grinned at his mother, "Please, can I tell her?" he asked and chuckled a little, thinking of a certain someone Amber probably wanted to meet.

"Tell me what?" Amber asked immediately, turning to look at her step-mother questioningly, who in turn had begun to chuckle too. "Yeah, go ahead."

"Well... Did mum tell you that we lived right next to Jane Austen's family back then?" Sherlock asked, not yet giving away the most interesting thing about this, which was that Jane was actually still alive.

"You did?" Amber asked immediately, turning to Vanessa, almost asking her why she hadn't told her that earlier.

Sherlock chuckled, "Well, obviously I could tell you what she was like and all.." he said and grinned cheekily, "/Or/ you could just... ask her yourself."

"Wait, /what/? She's still alive? Oh my god!" Amber said with wide eyes and clasped her hands in front of her mouth. "And you think I can meet her?"

"Sure you can." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "She's actually pretty much my best friend." he said with a smile, "And I think she'd be glad to meet you. She really likes talking about her works, she actually teaches about them at Cambridge, must be frustrating not to able to tell people that she isn't just 'interpreting' the books and guesses what the author meant, but that it is exactly what the author meant." he chuckled.

"That is /so/ cool!" Amber exclaimed with a grin, giving her stepmother another 'you seriously could've told me that earlier' look. Vanessa smiled at her apologetically; after all she'd had no idea they were still alive until recently.

"Ah no hard feelings there," Sherlock said with a laugh, noticing the look Amber gave his mother, "She only found out two weeks ago that Jane is still alive." he said and looked down as Ally tugged at his collar. "Lock, I'm warm! When are we going to see the dolphins?" she asked and Sherlock smiled, looking at his mother, "Right.. uhm, I suppose we should go." he said and gave Amber a smile, "Is it okay if mum gives me your number as well? Then I can get back to you about .. well all of that." he chuckled.

"Sure, please do that." Amber smiled again. "Have fun you all. Bye!" She said and went back inside their warm home. "/And/ the /tigers/! They are stripey, you know." Amy informed Sherlock dutifully, reaching up to tug at his pointy finger to get the proper attention this information deserved.

Sherlock looked at Amy and smiled, trying not to chuckle, "Of course the tigers. We should try to find out if they're orange with black stripes, or black with orange stripes."

Amy opened her mouth to answer, because that seemed like a very easy question. On second thought she closed her mouth again and frowned, before looking at her younger sister for help. Vanessa chuckled and took her daughters by their hands. "You can think about that on the way to the zoo, alright?"

Ally looked just as puzzled as her sister while Sherlock carried them over to the car, "And when we found out if tigers are black or orange striped, then we can check if zebras are black with white stripes, or white with black stripes." he said and Ally's frown deepened at that, which made Sherlock chuckle again as he waited for someone to open the car door, since he had his hands full with the two of them.

John came up behind Sherlock to open the door for him, while Vanessa shrugged her coat on and took her handbag, before following behind. Amy meanwhile had a brilliant idea. "We could ask a tiger keeper!" She whispered excitedly to her sister.

"Yeah! They /have to/ know!" Ally whispered back and smiled, "And then we ask the zebra keeper about the zebras!" she said and Sherlock chuckled as he set the girls down in the car, "Alright bumblebee company," Sherlock said with a laugh, "Sit down in the smaller seats." he said and smiled as Ally giggled at how he had just called them.

Amy grinned as she tried to climb onto one of the two smaller cars eats. She frowned slightly when she saw the other one and glanced at the others. Mummy didn't need one anymore and Lock was the most tallest brother ever. "But /Lock/, John is already a big boy!"

Sherlock burst out laughing at that, needing a moment to calm himself down, before he cleared his throat, "No, I know. John is just tall enough to sit in a car without a seat." he said chuckling again. "The other car seat is for a friend of John and me. Rosie. She's four and she'll join us. Has mummy told you about the orphanage she goes to sometimes?" he asked and Ally nodded, "Yeah that's the place with the kids that don't have parents anymore, right?" she asked and Sherlock smiled, "Exactly. And Rosie is a very special girl, she's just as special as you two, she's smarter than other kids her age too, so we thought you could be good friends with her."

"I /love/ making new friends!" Amy grinned. "Can she already talk in sentences? The last time mummy had Joshy come we couldn't even /talk/ properly. He was /so/ boring!" John heard his cousin complain as he opened the car door, offering the front seat to his aunt, who shook her head with a smile and got into the back.

"Yeah, he was stupid!" Ally said and Sherlock shook his head, "Don't say that. It doesn't mean that someone's stupid if he's not as smart as you, dear." he said and really could relate to her, because he considered most people idiots himself, "It just means that you're smarter than them. It means that you're something special, but that's no reason to be mean to other people that aren't as smart as you, yet." he said softly and smiled a little, "How would you feel if people would mock you because you're so smart, because in the orphanage, people don't really understand Rosie and she's all on her own a lot. Everyone's got something likeable on them, you just have to put some effort in to find it." he explained patiently.

Amy frowned deeply at that speech, having quite her difficulties to follow completely. "But... if it's okay that he's stupid, why is it mean to say it? You told me to always tell the truth.."

"It's mean because he isn't stupid, love." Sherlock said and smiled, "You're just unusually smart. That's a difference. It makes you smarter, but it doesn't make other people stupid." he said as he got into the car himself.

Amy nodded slowly. "Hmm.. okay." John got inside next to Sherlock, glancing back at the children. "What was that about me and a car seat?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, having only got fragments of that conversation.

"Oh, Amy and Ally were wondering if the third car seat was for you." Sherlock said and chuckled again, unable not to.

"Ah.., glad I asked." John commented after a moment. In the backseat Amy was giggling again and saying something about how it had been 'the only possible collusion', which in turn made Vanessa chuckle again.

Sherlock chuckled and placed a hand on John's thigh for a moment, "You've got to give them that, you're the shortest person apart from them." he said and gave John's thigh a gentle squeeze, before he turned on the car.

John gave Sherlock a look and chuckled as well. "I guess you're right with that. But that's about to change, isn't it?" Amy looked up at that. "Yes, we'll pick up Rosie!"

Ally smiled, "Do you think Rosie knows if tigers have orange or black stripes?" she asked and Sherlock frowned, "I don't know, maybe you should ask her and if she doesn't know, you three can find out together." he suggested.

"Yes, we'll do that! So she's..." Amy frowned slightly, taking a moment to figure that out. "as old as you and me together! Whoa.." She said, quite stunned by that.

"And all together we're like /eight/!" Ally said and Sherlock raised his brows at his mother in the rear view mirror, quite surprised they were so good with maths already. Although then again he probably shouldn't be, he and his brother had been able to count in 1-10 area as well when they had been they age.

Violet just chuckled back at her son, because really after already having brought up three children like that (and after having been one herself) this was hardly a surprise to her anymore. "Yes, that's quite old, isn't it, sweetheart?" She asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, really old!" Ally said and frowned, "Mummy how old are you?" she asked and looked at her mother.

Violet thought for a moment about that, because really, she didn't want to lie to them, but she also couldn't have them babble out her actual age. "Hmm.. It's your three ages altogether to the power of how many children are going to the zoo today divided by how many boys are coming with us plus Amber's age."

"Huh?" Ally said and frowned deeply, finding that really confusing. "Hey, Amy, Ally, are there any other striped animals you know?" Sherlock asked, trying to distract them from the age question.

"Uh... bumblebees!" Amy called immediately, proud she'd remembered that Lock had called them that a few minutes ago. Because this question was much funnier, she didn't think about that number thing anymore. Meanwhile Violet gave Sherlock a thankful look through the rear view mirror.

"Good, Amy." Sherlock said and smiled, "Snakes!" Ally called and smiled, liking this a lot better and it was way less confusing than what mummy had said. "They have stripes too sometimes!"

"Yes, very good, sweetheart." Vanessa praised her youngest. "Chipmunks!" Amy called quickly, really enjoying this game a lot. "They can even sing and wear funny jumpers!" She said and giggled at the thought.

"Skunks!" Ally called and chuckled, "Mummy, do skunks really stink so much as they say on TV?" she asked, looking over at her mummy.

"Actually, they don't smell themselves, you know. When they are being threatened, they can spray a really stinky liquid at whoever is scaring them." Vanessa explained patiently. "Do you think that is a good way for them to keep attackers away?"

"Yeah because that way they don't have to hurt other animals to scare them away!" Ally said and smiled.

"Yeah and the animals still learn their lesson!" Amy joined in and Vanessa smiled at them. "You're making some really good points there. I'll have to agree there with you." She said and glanced out the window, recognising the familiar building.

Parking the car in front of the orphanage, Sherlock turned off the engine and turned a bit to look at the others, "I suppose I'll go in and get Rosie, doesn't really make sense for all of us to go."

"Not really, see you in a minute, Sher." John said with a smile and stayed right where he was. "Is that where you work, mummy?" Amy asked and pressed her nose flat against the car window, looking up at the huge building. "Yes, exactly honey, that's the orphanage."

Sherlock smiled, "Be right back." he said and looked up the house, smiling as he spotted Rosie at a window, waving at him. Waving back, he walked to the front door and knocked.

This time it was Sally back at the door. They'd just finished lunch and she was wondering who that could be on a Sunday. "Oh, hello. What brings us the pleasure?" She asked with a tight smile, since practically every time you said something not meant for children's ears in this house you could bet they were listening in.

"Hi, I just want to pick Rosie up for our tri-" Sherlock began and was cut off by Rosie running up to him completely dressed in her coat, gloves and boots already. "Lock! Hi! I'm ready!" she chirped excitedly, holding up a little pink neck pouch with a unicorn printed on, "Look! Mrs Hope gave me /ten pounds/ all for myself!" she said with wide excited eyes. "That's great, bee," he said and crouched down to her. "My sisters, Amy and Ally are really excited to meet you, they're waiting in the car for us."

Sally knew they'd met before, but wouldn't have expected them to be that close already. "I see. I'll just check in with Mrs. Hope to make sure she knows. Just wait inside for a minute, alright?" She said and waited for Sherlock to come inside, so she could go to the headmistress. "Sherlock Holmes was it, right?"

Sherlock smiled, lifting Rosie up on his arm, before he walked inside with her, "Sure." he said and smiled politely at Sally, putting some effort into letting it seem real, not wanting to risk that she might mess up their plans somehow, he didn't really trust her.

Sally nodded and turned around to walk to Mrs. Hope's office. It probably shouldn't be a surprise that that guy of all people seemed to connect with Rosie..

Sherlock smiled at Rosie as Sally disappeared around a corner, "So, how has your week been? Have the kids been nicer to you?" he asked and Rosie shrugged, "I don't know.. they didn't say anything, but they didn't sit with me again at the meals when they noticed I don't have any more kinder eggs." she said and Sherlock sighed, ruffling her hair, "I'm sorry, honey bee, but you'll find real friends, I promise. And you still have John and me, and my mum and Amy and Ally."

A few minutes Sally returned and put on her polite smile for Rosie again. "Seems like everything's right. She needs to be back at supper time, that's at half past seven. Violet is accompanying you?"

"Yeah, she's outside in the car." Sherlock said and kept himself from rolling his eyes for Rosie's sake, "Do you need her to come in and sign anything?" he asked, setting Rosie down and leaning down a bit to remove one of her mitts, before he took her hand so he had a safer grip on it when they'd go outside on the pavement.

"No need for that, I just need to see that she's actually with you, if that's not too much trouble. Then you're good to go on your trip." Sally explained as affably as she could. It wasn't strictly necessary but she didn't trust this bloke.

"Of course." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes after all, really this woman was rather tedious. "Well, I suppose you have to come outside with us then." he said and walked slowly with Rosie to the door, "Alright, Rosie, when we go outside at the street, you can't let go of my hand, okay? No matter what." he said, just wanting to make that clear, "Okay. I promise." she said and smiled as Sherlock opened the door.

Sally came outside with them to the car and looked inside the windows. After giving Violet a wave, she turning back around to walk back into the orphanage. "Have fun, Rosie! See you at half past seven."

"Bye Sally." Rosie said, not even looking back at her as she walked with Sherlock to the car. Opening the door for the little girl, he lifted her up so she could stand at the edge of the car, holding her, "Amy, Ally, this is Rosie." he said and looked down at the little blonde girl, "Rosie, this are Amy and Ally." he said and Rosie smiled, "Hi Ally, hi Amy!" she said and Amy smiled, "Hi Rosie!" she said happily, "Lock has a car seat for you! Look!" she said and pointed at the seat.

"Hi Rosie!" Amy smiled widely at the older girl. "Hey, Rosie! Awesome to see you again." John smiled back at her and Violet too greeted her. "Hello, Rosie. How are you? Just sit down right here, I'll help you with the seatbelt."

Rosie's smile widened as she looked around at all the people that were so nice and so happy to see her and that felt really good, she thought. "Okay!" she said and even blushed a little as she climbed into the car and onto her seat. "Rosie, do you know if Tigers are orange with black stripes or black with orange stripes?" Ally asked and Sherlock chuckled as he closed the door before getting back into the car. "I think tigers are orange with black stripes, because there are white tigers too and they also have black stripes so I think they have black stripes." she said and Ally gaped at her, "Whoa, you really are smart!"

"Not even Lock knew that!" Amy said, visibly impressed by the other girl. "What about zebras?" She asked, figuring Rosie had to be an animal expert - or a tiger keeper. She wasn't quite sure which one was cooler.

"Oh! I know that! The babies when they're still in the mummy zebras belly are black and they only get white stripes just before they're born, because it keeps away flies!" Rosie said and grinned, quite liking the way the smaller girls looked at her. "I've seen that in a documentary!" she explained and Ally's jaw dropped again.

"Can we be friends? You're /so/ cool! Are you a real animal expert?" Amy rattled off, because really, she'd learned something from Rosie that not even /mummy/ had told them. And daddy said mummy knew almost /everything/! She looked over at her excitedly, eyes wide and Violet couldn't help chuckling fondly.

"I want to be your friend too!" Ally exclaimed before Rosie could answer and the little blonde smiled happily, "You can both be my friends." she said and Sherlock watched the scene with a fond smile, he really enjoyed seeing Rosie so happy. "And I don't know if I'm an animal expert, but I know some things about animals." she said and chuckled, "Did you know that bees cuddle in winter so they stay warm? They all cuddle up in their hive and form a big cuddle ball!" she explained.

"Really?? Mummy, can you show us that?" Amy asked, not waiting for her to answer. "Have you ever seen that? Bees sound like they're soo cute!" She said with a smile, slowly calming down again, but this was really exciting. After all she got to go and see tigers and zebras with Mummy, Ally, Lock, John /and/ an animal expert who was now her friend.

"I can show you!" Rosie said and smiled, "We have a beehive in the garden!" she said and looked at Sherlock, "Lock, can we go and show Amy and Ally the beehive before we go?" she asked and Sherlock looked back and forth between his mother and John, "You think we have time?" he asked, not wanting to decide that alone. "I want to see the cuddling bees!" Ally said with big eyes.

"Me too!" Amy exclaimed and Vanessa looked back at Sherlock. "I think we should have some time for a quick peek." She said with a smile, knowing that look on her daughters' faces; no matter what they'd see today, they'd only talk about cuddling bees. "We went to see animals after all, don't you think?"

"Oh Sally's gonna like that." Sherlock said as he got out of the car, chuckling to himself as he walked around it and opened the girls for the kids, "Okay, Rosie, you know what I said about holding my hand? When you and Amy and Ally get out of the car, I want you to hold their hands until we're in the house, okay? But you have to stay very close to us." he said and figured a bit of responsibility would be good for her and it was relatively safe since the street was rather quiet today. And with three adults there wasn't much that could go wrong with that. "Okay!" Rosie said and got out of the car, waiting outside for Amy and Ally, "But you have to keep holding my hand, okay?" she asked, looking at the younger girls. "That's important, because the street is dangerous."

Amy nodded at that once she was outside and immediately reached for the older girl's hand. It was a bit strange, because this was the first time in a while another child apart from Ally had held her hand. "Yeah, the cars are allowed to drive over thirty miles an hour here!" She threw in.

"That sounds really fast!" Rosie said and Ally nodded, getting outside and taking Rosie's other hand, "Cars are always fast!" Ally said and Rosie nodded, tightly holding the younger girls' hands as she waited for the other adults to get out of the car.

Vanessa got out right behind them, keeping an eye on them. John walked over to them too, glad to see the girls were getting along so well and that Rosie had apparently no problem with being the oldest. "Good job waiting for us!" He praised them with a smile. "Let's get back inside."

"Alright!" Rosie said and smiled as she led the girls slowly over to the door, being extra careful and looking back and forth between them every few seconds before looking straight ahead again, she really wanted to show all of them that she could take care of her new friends and make sure they were safe.


	42. "THE ZOO!!"

Vanessa and John followed them to the door keeping an eye on them smiling at how seriously she seemed to take making sure the twins were safe. Violet came up behind them and rang the doorbell, having seen the chemistry between Sally and her son.

Sherlock smiled, watching Rosie taking care of Amy and Ally, "You did a very good job, Rosie." he praised and looked at the twins, smiling, "Didn't she?" he asked and Ally nodded eagerly, "Yeah! Rosie is awesome!" she chirped and Sherlock chuckled a little, enjoying how happy Rosie looked at the praise from another child.

Amy nodded agreeing and gave Rosie a bright smile. A moment later Sally opened the door again and did a relatively good job hiding the fact she wasn't exactly happy to see them all again. "Hello Violet, I thought you were going on a trip?" Violet nodded at that. "Yes, we still are, but my little ones have heard about the beehive in the garden and would rather have Rosie show it to them first." Sally kept her expression neutral. "Oh, sure. Come inside. Rosie, don't forget, I want to see you tonight at supper time." She told the little girl once more, crouching down to be at eye-level with her. She hadn't even acknowledged the two boys, Violet thought to herself. Amy leaned over to whisper (though in a way that everyone could still hear her) into Rosie's ear with wide eyes. "She looks really mean!"

Sherlock couldn't help laughing, though he practically snorted the laugh, trying to hold it back, clearing his throat, he crouched down to be on eye level with Sally, "I'm not sure if you need people to tell you the same thing three times to make sure you remember but Rosie doesn't, especially since it's something she can hardly control herself." he said, talking in the same tone to Sally, the woman had used on Rosie, smiling sweetly at the other woman, while Rosie grinned.

John almost started to laugh out loud, but Amy had less self-restraint than him and began to giggle a little. Sally gave him and icy smile and rose to her feet. "I'm just used to not treating children differently from each other." With that she turned to Violet. "See you tonight then." Violet nodded at that. "Of course, Sally. Bye" She told her not unkindly.

"Well every child /is/ different." Sherlock murmured with a roll of his eyes, "Anyway, let's go and show Amy and Ally the bees." he said with a smile and looked at Rosie, "You want to lead them to it?" he asked and Rosie nodded, "Yeah, okay!" she said and took Amy's and Ally's hands again, "It's this way!" she said, starting to lead them through the hall.

Amy followed Rosie and looked around with wide eyes. "Your home is so big." John watched them with a smile and took Sherlock's hand. "This was a great idea. I think this is the happiest I've seen Rosie."

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah.." he said and looked at the three girls, "They really adore Rosie and I think she needed that.. having some other kids that really do like her. It's probably different if you have someone close to your age that likes you, rather than just some adults." he said and smiled at his mum, who was practically the reason they could do this.

"Mmh, I agree." Violet said with a chuckle. "And it's good for our girls too. I don't want them to become too dependant on each other and no one else." She commented. "Speaking of which, you've told Dorothy to get the children's IQs tested?"

"Oh, yeah, I did." Sherlock said and looked at his mum again, "I mean.. it's obvious with Rosie and from the sounds of it there's at least one other girl, Charlie, I think, that could be highly gifted and you know as well as I do that they need appropriate education. It's common for those kids to get bored and get in trouble if they don't have proper support."

"Mmh, yes Charlotte is definitely a smart girl." She said with a nod, remembering her from a few therapy sessions. "Well, I'll have some work to do next week then." She chuckled, since there where about 55 students whose test she could correct. Meanwhile Amy tugged a bit on Rosie's hand. "Rosie? Do you like bees and tigers?"

"I could help you with those tests, if you need me to." Sherlock said and shrugged lightly as Ally looked up at Rosie as well, "And dolphins, do you like dolphins?" she asked and Rosie smiled, "I like almost all animals! But my favourite animals are bees, did you know that all the flowers would die if the bees would? That's why we have to help the bees!" she explained and Ally gaped again, "Really? Flowers need bees to survive?" she asked and looked questioningly at her mummy.

This wasn't exactly how she'd planned to give them their first sex talk, but it was hardly the worst timing compared to her other children. "Mmh, well they need help to get new baby plants growing. Some kinds of flowers use the wind or bird or they can do it themselves, but a lot of them are relying on bees. You see, in spring there are always a lot of 'pollen' flying around. Your daddy sometimes talks about them." Amy nodded at that. "Yeah, they make his eyes red and itchy and his nose sneezy!" "Exactly, and that's flower dust. And only the male 'daddy' plants make this dust. The female 'mummy' plants want to get this onto their own colourful petals, because when they come together, the female plants can make new seeds. And guess what happens when a new seed comes into the ground?"

"They make new flower babies!" Ally said and smiled, proud that she had puzzled it out first, Rosie had listened intently as well, "Violet, I think you should make documentaries, because it's much more easy to understand how you said it, when I saw that in a documentary, I had to go to Greg, because they used a lot of difficult words I didn't understand." Rosie said and smiled.

"That's a sweet thing to say, thank you." Violet said with a chuckle. "By the way, has any of you ever watched the bees in spring? They'll often have little yellow lumps on their bushy legs. Any idea what that could be?"

"Pollen!" Rosie said and smiled, "I watch the bees a lot! Because they're really cool! Sometimes they sit on my finger!" she said and Ally frowned, "But don't they sting you?" she asked and Rosie shook her head, "No, bees only sting people if they think you want to hurt them, that's why you shouldn't try to shoo them away, they aren't aggressive at all! But wasps and hornets are, if you see something like a bee, but bigger and not fluffy, then it's a wasp or hornet and then you have to be careful."

Sherlock yeah Rosie is a bee expert xD

"Yes, that's just right, Rosie." Violet said with a smile. "Mmh Rosie, guess what, I asked Amber to show me the zoo plan. - I've just learned how to read! - and the tigers are opposite to the Mamabees! So we can see both together!" Amy chirped happily.

"I can read too..." Rosie lied and chewed on her lip, she didn't like to lie, but she felt a little embarrassed that she couldn't read. Every time she had asked Rachel or Greg they had told her that she would learn it soon enough when she'd go to school. When Rosie was growing uncharacteristically quiet - at least it was uncharacteristically around John and him, Sherlock frowned a bit, noticing something was bothering her, "Rosie, you know what, we could quickly go up to your room and get two of the bees we made and give them to Amy and Ally." he said and Rosie frowned, but then nodded, "Okay." she said and Sherlock looked at John, "Can you take them all to the beehive? We'll be there in a moment, okay?" he asked, wanting to talk to Rosie alone for a moment.

"Sure, see you in a minute." John nodded and took his little cousins by their hands, frowning a little at Rosie, who almost seemed upset. "So, we'll just have to go down here and through the door at the very end over there." He explained to the toddlers as they walked to the hive.

"Okay, honeybee," Sherlock said, lifting Rosie up to sit on the side of his hip as the others were out of earshot, "What's wrong?" he asked gently and Rosie shrugged, looking everywhere but at Sherlock, "Nothing.." she mumbled and Sherlock sighed, "It's okay, you can tell me, I won't tell the others, whatever it is." he said and Rosie frowned, looking at him, "I can't read... I want to learn it but when I ask the adults they say I will learn it soon enough in school and no one shows me." she mumbled and Sherlock smiled, "And you didn't want to admit that before, huh?" he asked and Rosie blushed a little, shaking her head. "You know.. I can show you. I can come over more often and teach you, dear, you'll learn it in no time. And soon enough, you can help Amy and Ally learn to read and write, how does that sound?" he asked and Rosie smiled again, "Really?" she asked and Sherlock chuckled, "Of course, and don't worry. I won't tell the others, if you don't." he said, although he would have to tell John why he was going to out for a couple of hours nearly every day for a while.

"So, here we are. The hive is right over here on this branch over there." John showed them, Violet following close behind. "What do you think, shall we wait for Rosie and Sherlock to come back, before we take a look at the bees?" Amy nodded eventually, even though it was really really hard to wait. "I want to do it together. And they can tell us really cool stuff while we're looking too."

Rosie felt a lot better after talking to Sherlock and she was really excited that he would teach her reading and writing as they walked back to the others. She was holding two of the bees they had made. "Amy! Ally!" Rosie called happily and rushed over to the girls, holding out the bees for them, "Lock and I made a lot of those together! You can have one!"

Amy smiled and grabbed one of the bees, looking at it carefully. "It's so pretty! /And/ it smells like chocolate!" She exclaimed with a giggle, before looking up to the adults to see if they shared her enthusiasm. "Yes, Rosie's bees are very pretty. And what do we say, honey?" Her mother reminded her. "Thank you, Rosie!" Amy chirped and wrapped her arms a bit clumsily around the taller girl's waist.

Rosie smiled as Ally threw herself into her arms as well, "Thank you." Ally said Sherlock smiled as he approached the group, giving John a look that said he'd have to talk to him later, "So, should we look at the bees then?" he asked and smiled at the girls. Ally nodded eagerly, "Yeah!" She said happily.

Amy smiled and grabbed one of the bees, looking at it carefully. "It's so pretty! /And/ it smells like chocolate!" She exclaimed with a giggle, before looking up to the adults to see if they shared her enthusiasm. "Yes, Rosie's bees are very pretty. And what do we say, honey?" Her mother reminded her. "Thank you, Rosie!" Amy chirped and wrapped her arms a bit clumsily around the taller girl's waist.

Rosie smiled as Ally threw herself into her arms as well, "Thank you." Ally said Sherlock smiled as he approached the group, giving John a look that said he'd have to talk to him later, "So, should we look at the bees then?" he asked and smiled at the girls. Ally nodded eagerly, "Yeah!" She said happily.

"How about Sherlock and John help you look inside and I open the lid for you?" Vanessa offered and Amy nodded. "Lock, can you lift me up?" Amy asked quickly; she liked being in mummy's and John's arms very much too, but Lock was just the biggest person in the world ever.

Sherlock smiled, "Sure, I can." he said and looked at John, "Can you lift Rosie up?" he asked as he crouched down to pick up Amy and Ally, who didn't even ask since it really wasn't the first time Lock had held both of them at the same time. "Do you think the bees still look the same? Or did they move?" Rosie asked as she walked over to John, looking up at him.

"I think they might've moved a little bit, they're still alive after all." John said, before lifting Rosie up to sit on his hip. "But there's only one way to find out." He said and walked up to Sherlock and the hive.

"Mummy can you open it now?" Ally asked excitedly and Rosie smiled, "But you can't touch them." she warned seriously, "Because in the hive it's just as cold as outside, it's only warm where they are cuddling and if you touch them and they fly away then they'll freeze." she went on and Sherlock smiled, "That's a very important advice, Rosie. Good thing you thought of that." he praised.

"Yes, you're very right with that." Vanessa smiled and went over to the hive to lift the lid. "So, there we go." She said and opened the hive slowly. Amy was stunned as she peeked into it with wide eyes. "They're really /cuddling/!" Amy squealed after a moment and giggled into Sherlock's shoulder. "Are they a family?" She asked Sherlock with a smile.

"Yeah, they are," Rosie said and smiled happily, visibly proud to be able to teach something to the younger kids, "They are all brothers! Because worker bees and a queen and the worker bees are always boys and only the bee queen gets babies!" she explained.

"Yeah, they are," Rosie said and smiled happily, visibly proud to be able to teach something to the younger kids, "They are all sisters! But only the bee queen gets babies! And when the boys made babies with the queen they die!" she explained, letting it sound really dramatic and Ally looked at her with wide eyes, "She makes the bee boys dead?" she asked and Rosie shook her head, "No.. they just die because they're only there to make babies.. but there is a spider that kills the boys after making babies and then she eats the boys and-" Rosie was cut off by Sherlock, "Rosie, you know what I was just thinking," he began mostly to change the subject because Ally looked mildly terrified, "I know how to extract honey out of a bee hive, we could start making our own honey if Mrs Hope is alright with that.." he said and Rosie gaped, "Really? Cool!"

"Daddy gives me honey when my throat's itchy. But babies can't eat honey; It makes their tittle lummies hurt." Amy informed them, wanting to teach the others something too, since she was beginning to feel a bit left out (she didn't really know where honey came from and the fluffy bees sounded kinda scary now)

"Lock are bees evil?" Ally asked, still looking a little scared and Sherlock smiled softly, glancing at the two confused little girls on his arms, "They aren't evil, they're still fluffy and nice, you know, nature always finds the best way for a species to survive and for bees it means that the female bees do more than the make bees and they are really just there to make the babies, but it's not the bees fault, they aren't bad, it's just the way they live." he said and looked at Amy, "Did you know that bees make honey all alone? They make them all alone and even feed their babies with it." he explained, "So new babies /can/ eat honey without belly ache?" Ally asked and Sherlock smiled, "It's why they even make honey. It's for the bee babies to eat, just like cows actually make milk for the babies to drink."

"But.. then the bee babies are hungry.. and cow babies are thirsty!" Amy declared with a sad expression, looking questioningly up at Lock, who apparently really knew everything. This was becoming a bit strange.

"They aren't, that's why there are farms, love. Humans that collect honey of milk make sure the animal babies are well off." he said and smiled, "But how about we find out more about that and about tigers and dolphins in the zoo now?" he asked and Ally smiled, "Yeah! I wanna see the dolphins!"

"/ANd/ the tigers!" Amy giggled, happy with that answer. "Of course the tigers too, honey." Vanessa replied with a smile and closed the lid again and made a step towards the house. John then set Rosie carefully down again. "And what animal are you looking forward too the most?"

Rosie thought for a moment, "I think the giraffes! I want to see if they're really so tall!" she said and looked at Amy and Ally as Sherlock set them down, "Giraffes are even taller than Lock!" she said as she took the little ones by the hand again, "Woah!" Ally said and looked stunned.

Vanessa chuckled at that and opened the door for them all. "You're going to see a lot of really tall animals then." She said as she watched them go inside. "Really, mummy?" Amy asked and turned her head to look at her mother. "But Lock is /huge/!" John held back a laugh at that since five inches seemed to make the difference between car-seat short and huge.

"I'm not that much taller than John." Sherlock said with a chuckle and smirked at his fiance, before remembering that he wanted to talk to him about Rosie, "Mum, can you take the girls to the car? John and I will be there in a second, while I'm here, I just want to ask Mrs Hope quickly if she's got our schedules finished already." he said, while actually, he just really wanted to talk to John about the reading thing and well, it would be helpful if John would also help to make sure the subject wouldn't come up again today.

"Sure, sweetheart. See you two in a minute." Violet said, before walking the girls back to the front door. "Rosie, why are giraffes so tall..." Amy began to ask as they got out of earshot. "What's on then, love?" John asked, once he thought they had some privacy since he remembered Sherlock had wanted to tell him something earlier on.

"Well.. I had a little chat with Rosie.." Sherlock said and smiled lightly, "Remember how her mood had suddenly changed when Amy had talked about how she can read? Turns out, Rosie can't read, because no one thought it was necessary to help her with that even though she asked since she would go to school soon anyway." he said with a sigh, rolling his eyes, the people here really needed some extra training on how to treat highly gifted kids. "I promised her to come around and help her with that, but don't tell her you know, I promised I wouldn't tell anyone." he said and chuckled a little, "And I doubt she'd understand why you would think something not so good is going on if I just disappear every couple of days for a few hours without telling you where I go, or make up excuses."

John chuckled a bit at that. "I quite hope she wouldn't. No, but sure and thanks for telling me in advance. I was already wondering why she had looked like that, but I'm glad you're helping her with that now. Poor thing; no access to the education she needs should be her last problem."

"Yeah.. but on the other hand, it's kind of understandable.." Sherlock said, even though he didn't like to admit it, "I mean.. they're really lacking teachers, I've had a look at their schedules and.. it's really packed. So I can see how there isn't enough time for everyone to get some special treatment, but they could have just let her join first grade classes for reading and writing at least."

"Yeah, you're right with that, I suppose. Good thing you're going to start teaching here in a few years." John commented and took Sherlock's hand, before leaning in to kiss his lips. "This is the only downside of family trips."

Sherlock sighed against John's lips, "You know, I don't think we have to refrain from kissing completely. I'm pretty sure the girls can take seeing little pecks." he chuckled against John's lips, not wanting to break the contact just yet.

John smirked at that, before placing another soft kiss onto his boyfriend's lips for good measure. "Here, that'll bridge the time till the next little peck." He chuckled, before drawing back with a sigh.

Sherlock smiled, "Come on then, I think we've let them wait long enough." he chuckled and took John's hand. "After all we have to be back at half past seven." he said with a roll of his eyes, raising his voice a bit as Sally walked past them so she'd hear.

Sally gave Sherlock an icy glare as she walked past them, but didn't comment on it, earning herself a cold look from John. "Yes, let's go, love." John said to Sherlock and tugged on Sherlock's hand, walking towards the exit.

Walking back to the car, Sherlock couldn't help but laugh as he saw Amy and Ally pressing their noses against the car window and Rosie looking over their heads to watch them. "I have to do it, or I'll regret it for the rest of my life." Sherlock said and pulled his phone out of his pocket, taking a photo of the three of them.

John chuckled at the sight in front of them. "Do send that to me, yeah?" He said, beginning to walk to the car door. Amy meanwhile had spotted Sherlock's phone and begun waving at them with a smile.

Sherlock chuckled and shot another photo of the twins with Rosie, all three grinning at the camera now. Putting his phone away with a smile, Sherlock got into the car and turned to look at the girls, "Alright, all of you into your seats and Rosie, do you think you can help Amy and Ally with their seatbelts?" he asked and Rosie nodded, "Yeah!" she said and began to fumble with the seatbelts, eventually figuring them out.

"Thank you, Rosie!" Amy told her new friend and sat back in her seat. "Yes, good job, darling." Vanessa praised the young girl with a smile, figuring she probably didn't usually get too much of that. After a short while Amy began to squirm in her seat and whine a bit. "I want my juice..."

"Right," Sherlock said as they stopped at a red light, "Mum, there should be a plastic bag in front of your seat, the bottle with the bee is Rosie's and the red one with the flowers on is for Amy." he said and smiled.

"Ah, I see." Violet smiled, getting out the two bottles of blood, giving Amy as well as Rosie one. "So, there you go. Are you thirsty too Ally?" She asked her youngest after having the vampire girls settled.

"No, I'm not." Ally said and looked out at the road, watching the other cars. "Can we play yellow car?" Rosie asked after a moment and Ally frowned, looking at the older girl, "How do you play yellow car?" she asked and Rosie smiled, "Well you look at the cars as they come from the other direction and when you see a yellow car then you say yellow car."

"And how do you win?" Amy asked after a moment, not quite getting the hang of this game yet.

"You don't! It's just for fun!" Rosie said and smiled, "That way no one loses and no one is sad." she said and Sherlock chuckled, "Well, that sounds like a nice concept to me."

"Yes, I agree." Violet commented with a smile. Okay!" Amy smiled and pressed her nose against the right car window, looking carefully for any possible yellow cars. There weren't many yellow cars though, so she had to be extra focused.

"Well, I can't play though. Does anyone know why?" Sherlock asked and Rosie thought for a moment, trying to puzzle it out. "Oh! Because you have to pay attention to the street! Because it's dangerous to drive if you don't watch out! That's why you aren't allowed to talk on the phone when you drive either."

"Yeah, exactly. Drivers need to keep their eyes on the road in front of them and their hands on the steering wheel." John told Rosie with a smile. "Where did you learn that from? You're not secretly driving yet, are you?" He stage-whispered, acting as if that was a secret he didn't want the other people in the car to hear.

"Noooooo." Rosie chuckled, shaking her head, "But Mrs Hope was mad at Lucas once because he was answering a call when she practised driving with him and she told him that and took his phone away for a whole month!"

"A whole month? Well, that sure is tough, but it probably fits the crime. Not paying attention when you're driving can be dangerous so it's -" John began to tell her only to be interrupted by Amy. "Yellow car!!"

"Where?" Rosie asked and looked around, grinning as she spotted the car, "That was good Amy!" she praised and smiled at the younger girl, "I saw it too!" Ally complained and pouted, "But Amy was faster."

At first Amy snickered triumphantly, before turning to her upset sister with a conflicted frown, eventually saying. "There are other yellow cars on the road, Ally. And remember, Rosie said no one loses."

Ally smiled lightly, "I know.." she said and Rosie smiled nudging Ally lightly and pointing to another yellow car that was about to pass by, winking at the girl. "Oh! Yellow car!" Ally called happily and smiled brightly at Rosie.

"Oh, look at that. Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?" Vanessa said and pointed out the window at the entrance building of the zoo. "THE ZOO!!" Amy squeeled happily after spotting the big letters and the pictures of animals outside the building they were driving by.

Rosie looked with wide eyes at the entrance of the zoo, actually gaping, "I didn't think it's so big!" she said and Sherlock chuckled, "Have you ever been to the zoo Rosie?" he asked and the girl shook her head, "No, I've only seen a few zoos on TV and they didn't look so big!"

"Well, hopefully that's a good thing." John said with a smile. "And because it's so big and full of many other people who want to see the animals, we'll have to stay close together just like the bees in your garden, alright?" Violet added warmly.

"Can I hold Amy's and Ally's hand again?" Rosie asked and smiled, obviously enjoying to be the big girl here, "Well, I think it might be best if we all carry one of you, so you can look over all the tall people." Sherlock said and looked at his mum, "You didn't bring their stroller by any chance?" he asked with a chuckle.

"I'm afraid, you'd probably have seen it if I had." She replied with an apologetic smile. "But I agree, it's probably best, if one grown-up takes one of the children until we reach a playground. Who wants to go with who?" "I wanna go with Ally" Amy called and reached out a little clumsily to take her sister's hand.

"But she said we have to go with the grown ups!" Ally said and Rosie smiled, "I wanna go with Lock and John!" she said and Sherlock smiled, "We're not all going seperately, you know." he said with a smile, "We'll all be close together, we just want to make sure you don't get lost." he explained, "So, how about John takes Rosie, because, no offence," he said, glancing at John, "But you're the shortest grown up and Rosie is the tallest child." he chuckled, "And Mum and I take Amy and Ally."

"Okay!" Amy agreed with a smile. "Then I wanna go with Lock" // John chuckled a little, before looking over at the even shorter blonde. "Seems fair. What do you think Rosie?"

"It's a good idea!" Rosie said and looked out of the window again, looking at all the posters and adverts outside, "John, do you think we can pet some of the animals?" she asked curiously as she started to undo her seatbelt.

"Yes, I think they've got a petting zoo. So you'll get to pet sheep and goats there if you want." John told her and Amy joined in. "What about the tigers??" She asked excitedly and John fought hard to bite back a laugh. "I'm afraid, the tigers aren't in the petting area. They're so big and wild that that would be a bit too dangerous, sweetheart. But you can watch them from afar." Amy pouted at that. "But what about the baby tigers?"

"Well, I don't think they allow people to pet the baby tigers, love." Sherlock said and smiled at his little sister, "I don't think the mummy tigers would like that." he said and chuckled a little. "If you were a mummy, you wouldn't allow everyone to touch your baby either, would you?"

Amy frowned a little at that. "No, I wouldn't let strangers touch my baby. Stranger danger!" She called and looked over at her mummy. "That's exactly right, darling." Vanessa praised with a smile. "So what will you do, if a stranger in the zoo wants to give or show you something?"

"I go away because I'm not allowed to talk to strangers! And if he doesn't leave me alone, I scream because every adult knows that kids must not talk to strangers!" Rosie said and smiled proudly. "And you have to tell us about it." Sherlock said and smiled, glad that the people at the orphanage at least paid attention to these things, if not to the kids' specific needs.

"Exactly. And that goes for you two too, alright? I see you're already well-prepared for the zoo." Violet praised with a smile, before unbuckling her own seatbelt and turning to help her two daughters. "Sherlock, could you be a dear and take one of the girls? I can't take them both and climb out of the car."

Sherlock chuckled, "Of course," he said and got out of the car, before he lifted Amy out of it, "John, do you think there are ponies in the petting zoo?" Rosie asked, poking her head through the gap between the two front seats to look at John, "And can we ride on them?"

"I'm not sure, actually." John told her. "I mean, zoos usually don't have have ponies, but this is a big one. We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose." He told her, before unbuckling his seat belt opening the car door.

"Okay!" Rosie said, still hopeful, because John hadn't said no at least. "Mum took Amy and me to see ponies! They're huge!" Ally said as Rosie started to climb out of the car.

"They're soo huge!" Amy nodded emphasisingly from Lock's shoulder. "Like this!" She said and held out her hand as if to gauge the size of an invisible pony the size of her big brother.

"And giraffes are even taller than ponies." Sherlock said with a small smirk, still amused by their definitions of huge and small. "Do they have whales? Because they're really big! Like ships!" Rosie informed with a grin as they started to walk to the entrance.

"Yeah? That is really huge." John said with a smile, sounding impressed, and took her hand. "I don't think they've got animals quite that big though, but they've got sea lions, you know."

"There are lions in the sea?" Ally asked and looked up at her mummy, "Doesn't their beard get wet?" she asked, clearly puzzled about that, because animals in the sea didn't have fur, she knew that.

"You know, that's really just their name." Vanessa told her daughter and picked her up. "There are catfish and sea horses too, but that's not because there are cats with scales and ponies that live underwater, honey. So when discoverers went to the sea and discovered at all the new animals there, they had to come up with names for them so we can talk about them." She explained. "So, if you've never seen a sea lion, they actually look a bit like lions with their fangs and whiskers."

"Did you know that there are sharks that look like hammers?" Rosie asked and Ally shook her head, "Do they build houses for other fish?" she asked, looking at her mummy again.

Vanessa chuckled warmly at that and shook her head a little. "Not quite, but I like that idea. Their heads look like the front part of a flat hammer. That means that their eyes are very far away from each other. Because of that they can see much more around them and don't have to turn their heads as much as us."


	43. Smile For The Picture

The rest of their afternoon was (quite unsurprisingly) spent in the zoo. Because of the girls' different interests they went to see almost all of the animals, though they spent a lot of time with the fish, tigers and elephants as well as the goats in the petting area. Their stay there was almost without any major incidents (Amy got lost for approximately fifteen terrifying seconds) and they almost didn't notice how quickly dusk began to set in. Still well in time, they found themselves happy and a little tired back in the car. Vanessa just closed the backs eat door and helped the red-nosed girls into their seats. "So, what are your thoughts on the zoo?"

"It's awesome!" Rosie chirped, holding her stuffed elephant in one hand and her panda shaped balloon in the other as Sherlock helped her into the car. "The dolphins were the best! They're really cute!" Ally said and Sherlock smiled, "They sure are. I think my favourite part was trying to count the tigers' stripes though." he said with a laugh.

"I got over 14 stripes on the big one!" Amy called with a smile, happy that Lock had brought them up (and also quite proud she could already count that high.) "How much did you get? Oh, and when are we eating cookies??" She beamed at her big brother.

"Hm, I think we might have to eat cookies another day, because we wanted to show Rosie our home before she has to go back to the orphanage." Sherlock said and smiled, "But we'll have lots of cookies on our sleepover, I promise. Your room is nearly finished." he said and Rosie's eyes grew big, "Really? I can see where you live?" she asked excitedly.

"Of course, Rosie. We'd love to show you." John told her with a smile. "Well, only if you want that of course." Amy leaned over to her new friend to (practically stage-)whisper. "They're living together, because they're *boyfriends* now." She giggled at the last part, finding John's relationships still kinda exciting.

"No they're fiancés! They're going to get married!" Rosie corrected and smiled at Amy, "But none of them is wearing a dress because they're boys, but they said me and you two can wear pretty dresses on their wedding and be flower girls, that's when little girls walk down the aisle to throw petals on the floor!"

"Reaally??" Amy gaped, before grinning widely. "Mummy, may we?" Vanessa chuckled at that, before nodding. "Naturally, you may. Especially if Sherlock already promised you'd get to do that. Speaking of which..?" She started glancing at her son's hand, which was obviously still lacking a ring; and she would've thought they'd had already told her if anything was official.

Sherlock just rolled his eyes, noticing his mothers look, before he glanced at John, chuckling a little, although he didn't want to make a comment about it, it really would only confuse the girls. "Anyway, let's get you three home then, I'm sure Amy would like some tomato juice." he said and felt a little hungry himself.

"Yeah, juice!" Amy cheered and made grabby hands in Sherlock's general direction. Meanwhile John got Rosie's bee bottle out and held it out to her from the front seat, since he'd been carrying that with him for the past couple of hours. "Here, you must be thirsty too." And with that Vanessa got out Ally's regular bottle of juice, lastly also remembering her own hunger.

Sherlock smiled as he got into the car, looking at his watch, "Mum, would you mind calling the orphanage and letting them know that we'll bring Rosie back home a little later? She can have dinner at our place." he said and rolled his eyes, "I'm pretty sure Sally would make a fuss if I'd call."

Violet nodded. "Sure, honey. I doubt she'll complain when I talk to them." She said, before getting her phone out. "Ally, do you think we'll have dinner all together?" Amy whispered after a few moments into her sisters ear.

"I think only Rosie and them will have dinner because Sherlock said we're going home." Ally whispered back and Sherlock smiled, "How about we'll all go out for dinner another time?" he asked, turning to look at the girls, "Also, I think I know two little girls who have to go to bed soon."

"I'm not tired at all.." Amy protested sullenly, before asking hopefully. "But you promise we'll go out all together?"

Sherlock smiled, "Of course we'll all go out!" he promised and Rosie grinned, "Like to a restaurant?" she asked and Sherlock nodded, "Yeah, have you ever been to a restaurant before?" he asked and Rosie shook her head, "No. But I'd really like to!" she said and smiled happily.

"That's gonna be so fun!" Amy chirped happily and grinned at her new friend. "Yeah, and I'm also looking forward to it." John smiled. "I'm sure you'll like it. We'll talk to Mrs. Hope about that, alright?"

"Okay!" Rosie said and nodded, looking at Violet, "Are you going to be there too? Sally won't like it if you don't because she's mean and a hombophob!" she said and Ally frowned, looking at her mummy, "What's a hombophob, mummy?"

"Yes, I'll come too, dear. And I'll have a word with Sally." Violet told Rosie, partly because she found that three small children probably were a bit much for the boys. She then turned to her youngest and tried to come up with an age-appropriate answer. "You know, some people are very mean to other people that are different from them, because they have serious problems or want to feel stronger. No one has a right to do that to anyone, love. And no one deserves to be treated like that. But, because most couples are a boy and a girl - like mummy and daddy - there a bullies who pick on boys who love boys and girls who love girls. Those people are called 'homosexual or gay. That's where the word 'homo'phobe comes from. Any questions?"

"Yeah, lots!" Ally chirped and Sherlock chuckled, clearing his throat, "Hey, I'm wondering, has anyone already finished their letter to Santa this year?" he asked to distract the girls from the subject, figuring his mother wasn't in the mood for a possible birds and bees, or bees and bees and birds and birds talk now.

Violet gave her son a grateful look, before looking to her other daughter. "Yes, I have!" Amy called. "His post code his XM0 0AS! Amber helped me with that, but I did most of it!" She said proudly, not yet getting her older sister's pun.

"Yeah, I did most of mine too!" Ally added and smiled happily, looking at Rosie, "What's on your list?" she asked curiously and Rosie smiled, "I want a bike! And I want to learn how to ride it!" she said and frowned, "But Sally said, Santa probably can't bring me a bike because there's no space for it in my room. But I think he will get me one!" she said and Sherlock glanced over at John, "Hm, who knows, maybe he'll really get you a bike and if there really isn't enough space in your room, you can keep it at our flat and ride it when you visit."

"Yeah, in my experience Santa can be surprising, so don't you worry about that yet." John told Rosie, after returning Sherlock's look. "By the way, what did he get you last year?"

"That's true. You know, maybe I'll write a letter too and tell him how much you want that bike." Sherlock said and smiled as he started the car, "Any specific colour you'd like?" he asked and Rosie nodded, "Yeah! I want it to be pink! With white handles and a white seat!" she said and Sherlock smiled, "I'll remind him of that too." he said, already planning to get that bike for her since that was probably something that was really difficult in an orphanage, if one got a bike and the other just a book it wasn't really fair and it was surely a matter of money as well.

Their way back to the Berkley's was relatively quiet; for a while the only one you could hear was Vanessa phoning the orphanage, before at some point Amy tiredly dozed off. Not before long they had arrived and Vanessa already got out of the car, holding her awake daughter in one arm and their house keys in the other. "Sherlock, can you get your sister please?"

"Sure." Sherlock said and carefully lifted Amy out of the car, trying not to wake her up as he carried her over to the door, "Thanks for coming with us today, by the way. I really think it was good for Rosie to get out of there for a while." he said, looking down at his sleeping sister. "And find some new friends." he said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I agree. I know they're doing the best they can, but that doesn't mean it's ideal for the children." She said as she opened the door. "I'm also glad to see that you three get on so well." Violet added with a smile.

"I honestly can't see how someone would not get along with her," Sherlock said and shrugged, "You just have to treat her with some respect and not like a little kid and she's as open as every other child."

"That's true and not enough people know that." She said and let down her youngest. "I guess with that in mind it's not a wonder this trip worked out that well."

"Well, I guess we're just all very similar characters." Sherlock said with a small chuckle, "Apart from John maybe, but he's one of the rare people that can handle people like us." he said with a smile, gently handing Amy over to his mother.

"Thanks, honey." Violet smiled as she carefully took her daughter. "Yes, people like Paul and John are worth keeping an eye out for." She said, purposely not mentioning Victor or William right now. "And speaking of John..." She began with a tell-tale smirk and a glance at his left hand.

Sherlock smirked, "Still no ring," he chuckled, "But we'll get there, I promise, you'll be the first to know." he smiled.

"I should hope so." Vanessa chuckled. "Goodbye, honey. Drive safely." She told him and kissed his cheek.

Sherlock chuckled again, "Always. After all I'm driving with someone that could actually be harmed in an accident." he said with a soft chuckle, "Anyway, bye mum." he said with a smile, walking back to the car.

With that she closed the door and went upstairs to tuck the sleeping toddler in her arms into bed. While the two outside had been talking John had turned around in his seat to talk to Rosie again. "I think we all had a great time together today. Would you like to do something like that again?"

"Yeah! It's much more fun than spending all day at home!" Rosie chirped and smiled at John, "Joooohn, if you and Sherlock are going to marry, why is none of you wearing a ring?" she asked, looking pointedly at John's hand.

"Erm, well, Sherlock and I love each other very much, so we both know we're going to marry." John started and decided to tell her the truth. "I just haven't had the chance yet to get a ring for him and propose properly to him, you know."

"But you have to!" Rosie said sternly and smiled, "I have a pink ring at my room, it's really pretty, you can give him that one!" she offered seriously and smiled widely at him.

"Thank you, Rosie, I really appreciate that." John told her with a smile. "But I wanted to work for that ring to show Sherlock how much he means to me. Once I've earned enough money I'll buy him one in a heartbeat. Scouts honour."

"Okay. But if that takes too long, you can tell me and I give you the ring!" Rosie said with a nod, just before Sherlock got into the car, "Right, so .. John, do you know anyone who would want to help us pick our christmas tree?" he asked with a smirk.

John smirked right back. "Hm, we'd have to find someone who'd like to have supper with us afterwards.. Rosie, do you have any clue who we could ask?" He asked, looking back at her.

"Oh! Me! Me! I can help! And I'm having supper with you anyway!" Rosie chirped with big eyes, "Oh, would you? That's very nice of you, because John and I would really be lost without some help, there are so many trees to choose from." Sherlock said and smiled to himself.

"Mmh, that's true. I'm really glad you can make it even though it's a bit last minute." John told her, making it not obvious he was joking. "What do you think makes a really good Christmas tree?"

"Hm.. it has to be green! And really big and pretty." Rosie said and Sherlock nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good. Let's hope we'll find one like that."

Later that evening they arrived back at the flat with a green and really big and pretty Christmas tree. Once they'd carried it upstairs and inside, John leaned it against the wall for now and took off his jacket. "So, welcome to our flat."

"Whoa and that's all for yourself? It's really big!" Rosie said as she strolled tiredly inside the flat, looking around, "Well, John and I share, but yeah." he said and smiled at Rosie, "You know, one day you'll have much more space all for yourself too, you know." he said and Rosie chuckled, "I know, but only when I'm grown up and it's a very long time until then." she said, making Sherlock smile, "Well.. I bet once you're an adult, you'll think that the time passed very fast."

"Mmh, I agree. But I couldn't wait to grow up either when I was your age." John told her with a smirk, before turning to his boyfriend. "Now, do you want to cook and I put up the tree or what do you want to do?"

"Well, I definitely cook, since we have a very special guest." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Maybe Rosie can help you with the tree meanwhile." he said and Rosie nodded, "Yeah, I can do that! Can we decorate it already? In the orphanage I'm not allowed to help, because the new kids get to help, Mrs Hope says it's to cheer them up but I think it's unfair because when I was new there I was really little, way to little to help decorating the tree!"

"Mmh, I can see what you mean. But today it's just you and me. And if Sherlock tells us where the Christmas decorations are, then we can definitely start until supper's ready." John told her and glanced up at Sherlock with a smile.

"Attic." Sherlock said and frowned, "Which is also where I've stored some of my experiments, I think I'll better get them myself and you and Rosie put up the tree." he said, which was pretty much code for 'busy her so she won't come after me to avoid scarring her for life'.

"Course, love." John replied smoothly, having well understood the underlying meaning of that. "Okay Rosie, now I'll carry the tree over there and you'll have the important task of telling me how to move it so it's straight, alright?"

"Cool!" Rosie chirped and watched John move the tree around, while Sherlock made his way up the stairs and up to the attic. After manoeuvring past multiple boxes, old wooden trunks and some very non childproof experiments, he finally found the box that contained Christmas decorations, some of them wooden ornaments Mycroft and he had made himself when they were little.

Meanwhile, John crouched next to the trunk of the tree and began to tilt it the way Rosie told him to. Luckily, this had always been his and his dad's job, so he had some experience with how to put s tree up properly. "Okay, how about now?"

"It looks really good!" Rosie said and tilted her head a bit for a closer inspection, while Sherlock returned carrying two large boxes stacked on each other, "Here you go." he said as he set the boxes down, "Whoa! You have /a lot/ of Christmas decoration!" Rosie exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's true. We two still have to be careful not to break it though." John said, figuring most of that stuff was older than his grandfather. "Where do you want to start?"

"I will be really very careful!" Rosie promised and stood on tiptoes to look into the boxes. "Greg always puts the lights first." Rosie said carefully rummaged around in the box, searching for fairylights.

"Alright.." John said and began to help look for the lights in the second box. After a few seconds, he found them and got them out. "Ah, there they are. Do you want to do the honours?" He asked with a warm smile.

"Okay, but you have to lift me up for the lights at the top!" Rosie said and started to get to work, mainly putting the lights on one side of the tree, while Sherlock was busy in the kitchen making a small batch of lasagna for the three of them, with that he could easily add the blood to Rosie's and his own portion.

Meanwhile John plugged the two fairy lights in and returned to the tree, helping her a little with the other side of the tree. "Let's get the rest on top, alright? I'm sure it'll look great."

"Okay!" Rosie said and waited for John to lift her up while she watched the lights, "It's really pretty! Christmas is my favourite time of the year, because everything sparkles and shines!" she said and Sherlock smiled to himself in the kitchen, she was talking loud enough for him to overhear.

"Yeah, you're right." John said with a smile and lifted her up so she was able to reach the top half of the tree. "I always loved Christmas time as a kid, because my mum would go with my sister Harry and me into the city centre to look at the decorations in the streets and through the windows of the toy shops.. well, I guess she actually went there to buy things, but we two basically just looked around with wide eyes."

"Can we do that too?" Rosie asked and turned her head to look at John, holding the fairy lights in mid air, "You and Sherlock don't even have to buy me things, really." she said and Sherlock smirked, walking with a just peeled carrot into the living room, "Who says we don't want to buy you things?" he asked, breaking a piece off the carrot and handing it to the little blonde, wondering if vampire kids actually needed vitamins and therefore vegetables and fruit. "Really? You want to give me presents?" she asked and looked back and forth between Sherlock and John.

"Well, that's kinda the idea of Christmas, isn't it?" John said, looking up to her with a smile, and passed her that piece of carrot. He and Sherlock hadn't exactly talked about that yet, but since they were planning to invite her over for Christmas anyway, they were obviously going to get her something.

"I think the idea of Christmas is to remember that there are other people but yourself!" Rosie chirped, munching on the carrot, "But I like the presents too." she chuckled and Sherlock smiled, "You're wise beyond your years, you know that?" he asked and Rosie frowned, "What?" she asked and Sherlock grinned, "It means you're very smart for someone so young." he explained.

John chuckled warmly. "I agree. I'm already wondering what you might become when you grow up." He almost wanted to add that he couldn't wait to watch that happen, but stopped himself, since he didn't know if he'd get the chance to do that. "We others will have to watch out." He added playfully.

"Hm, you're going to do great things." Sherlock said and chuckled, "And I'm going to go back into the kitchen now, if I don't get the dinner ready, we won't be back at the orphanage for bedtime and I don't know if they'd let us take you out again if we're too late." he said and gently ruffled Rosie's hair, before he returned back into the kitchen.

John smiled and turned back to the tree, so Rosie had an easy time reaching the tree again "And we'd /never/ want to upset Sally, would we?" John asked in an exaggerated way, drawing out the 'never' to make clear he was joking.

"Of course not." Sherlock called from the kitchen, "Such a lovely person.." he said dryly and rolled his eyes. "You know, Charlie once put bugs into Sally's bag and she screamed really loud as she opened it." Rosie said as she reached for the tree again to fix the last lights.

That made John snort a laugh. "Sounds like she's a bit of a prankster. So Sally isn't very popular back at home?" He asked, though it felt a little strange to refer to an orphanage as home (as genuinely nice as it was).

"No, because she's always so grumpy." Rosie said and grinned, "Done! Do we put the star on top first or last?" she asked and looked down at John.

"I don't know. You're in charge of the tree today, so we'll do it your way. What do you think is better?" John asked her with a smile, glad to see she was having fun.

"Hm, I'd say first, because I'm already up here!" Rosie said and chuckled, "Then we can put on the other decoration!" she said and frowned again, "But.. you have to put me down so we can look for the star... then we put the decorations first and the star last, that's better!"

"Great, that's sounds like a very sensible plan." John said and carefully put her back down. She really was extraordinarily smart, he thought, as he crouched down on the floor to get a bauble out of a box. "Have you ever made Christmas tree balls yourself, Rosie.?" He asked her after spotting some self-made decoration in his box.

"No, aren't they made of glass?" Rosie asked and looked into John's box, "Oh, but those are wood!" she chirped and smiled, lifting one of the balls out of the box. "Well, my brother and I made them when we were little." Sherlock said, returning from the kitchen. "It's difficult to make them perfectly round, but if you like we can try to make some when you're a little older, since we have to use really sharp knifes."

"Or we could just paint plastic ones." John suggested, figuring that was a little more age appropriate for her. "We did that in primary. They're not heavy and you can make them as colourful as you want." He said, standing up to put a bauble onto the tree.

"I like that!" Rosie called and took a wooden horse, hanging it onto the tree. "Can we do that this Christmas already?" she asked and Sherlock chuckled, taking some ornaments and starting to help decorating as well, "Of course we can, I'm sure Mrs Hope wouldn't mind that."

"Awesome, I'll get the balls sometime next week then." John commented and continued to decorate the tree. "I can't believe Christmas is in three weeks already, can you?"

"Already?" Rosie asked and shook her head, "That's a really long time!" she said and Sherlock smiled down at her, "You think so? Maybe if we keep visiting you, the time will pass faster, what do you think?" he asked and Rosie nodded, "Yeah I think that'll help." she smiled, putting another ornament onto the tree.

"Good, that's noted then." John said and gave Sherlock a smirk, before asking. "What's the time by the way, love?"

"Nearly eight, so we have just enough time to eat when the lasagna is ready and then we've got to get the little honeybee home." Sherlock said and felt a little sad about having to bring her back to that place. It just didn't feel like a good place for her.

"Alright, then we'll probably get to put the star on the tree before dinner." John said with a smile, looking forward to seeing the look on Rosie's face once they had finished. If he were in charge, she'd get to do that every Christmas with people who appreciated her for who she was.

"Awesome!" Rosie chuckled and sighed a little, "I wish I could stay with you..." she mumbled and Sherlock smiled, crouching down next to her, "Well, we'll stay with you, that's for sure, bee. We'll be your friends for as long as you like, alright?" he asked and Rosie nodded, "I want to be your friend forever and ever!" she said and Sherlock couldn't help but chuckle, since that was probably about as long as they would be friends.

John chuckled too and crouched down next to them as well, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Then we'll stay friends for at least a lifetime, sounds good?"

"Not that much of a difference." Sherlock murmured under his breath as he looked at John, leaning over to peck his cheek, which made Rosie giggle, before she continued to decorate the tree.

John leaned in to run a hand tenderly through Sherlock's curls and kissed him shortly when Rosie wasn't looking. With that he got to his feet to help Rosie decorate the tree.

They quickly decorated the rest of the tree, before Sherlock lifted Rosie up to put the star on top, "A little higher, Lock!" she chuckled, reaching her arm out towards the tree. "Alright." Sherlock said with a smile and lifted her just a little higher.

"Hold on a second." John said with a smile and quickly went over to the light switch and turned it off so that the fairy lights were the only thing illuminating the room, before going back to stand next to them.

"Whoa it's so pretty!" Rosie said as Sherlock settled her to sit on the side of his hip, "Can we take a photo with it? All together?" she asked and frowned, "But then no one can make the photo.." she said and Sherlock smiled, "Well, we can use the self-timer, then we can all be on the photo."

"Yeah, let's do that. I don't know where my tripod is though so we'll either have to use yours or take a selfie." John said with a chuckle, already having his hand on his back pocket.

Sherlock rolled his eyes, "I do have a digital camera, John, and also a tripod, just give me a second." he said and walked over to one of the cabinets in the living room, getting out the camera and setting everything up.

"Okay, let's stand over here." John told Rosie and positioned them in front of the tree with still enough space in the middle for Sherlock. "I think we did a really good job decorating it, what do you think?"

"Yeah! It's amazing!" Rosie said with a big smile on her face, before looking back to the camera, "Alright, now say cheese!" Sherlock said and started the timer, before quickly moving to stand between them, lifting Rosie up so she was in the middle and high enough for all of them to fit on the photo.

John began to chuckle and wrapped an arm around Sherlock's waist so they were all close together before the camera took their picture.

"I wanna see it!" Rosie called right after the camera flashed and Sherlock chuckled, "We can print it for you, so you can take it home, how does that sound?" he asked as he walked with Rosie over to the camera to look at the photo.

John followed them to the camera to look at the photo too. "Yeah, I could turn on my computer really quickly if you want." He offered as he looked over Sherlock's shoulder and smiled to himself when he saw it.

"Yeah please!" Rosie said excitedly as Sherlock set her down to take the camera, "Print it twice." he said as he handed John the camera. "Can I watch how you print it?" she asked, looking up at John.

"Sure, my laptop's right there on the desk." He told her with a smile as he walked with her over there and opened it. "Have you ever worked with a computer before?"

"No." Rosie said and stood on tiptoes to watch the screen, "But sometimes I've secretly watched the computing classes, so I know what you can do with them."

“Here, you can do it, if you want to." John said after sitting down and pulling Rosie onto his lap. "I'll just put the SD card inside and then I'll tell you what to do. How does that sound?"

"Whoa Really?" Rosie asked, looking up at John, "What do I have to do first?" she asked, grabbing the white thingie on the desk that the older students always moved around on the table in computing class.

"Yes, exactly. If you move the mouse on the table the white triangle here on the screen moves the same way." John explained to her, before pointing at the screen. "All of those little pictures have different tasks and if we move the triangle - we call that cursor - on top of them and click them, we ask the computer to do those things for us. If you move the cursor on here and click twice then the computer will show us Sherlock's photos."

"It's like magic!" Rosie chirped as she clicked on the picture John had pointed at, "Sherlock has a lot of photos!" she said and looked closely at the screen, narrowing her eyes to see all the little pictures. "Why are they so small?"

"So we can see all of them at once." John told her with a small chuckle, finding her reaction just adorable. "Here, the one in that corner right there is the latest one. If you double click on it again, then you can make it really big."

"Okay." Rosie said and clicked on the picture, smiling widely as it showed up large on the screen, "It's so pretty!" she said and looked up at John for a moment, before looking back at the picture, "We look like a family!" she said happily.

"Mmh, yeah, we really do a bit." John said and smiled a bit sadly, knowing where they were going to bring her back in less than an hour. "If you click on this picture there, then we can print it out, alright?"

"Alright." Rosie said and clicked on the little picture that looked like a printer. "It's really easy to work with a computer! You don't even have to know how to read because it's all pictures!" she said and grinned as the printer started to print the photo.

"Yeah, that's true. It's really intuitive." John agreed. "Could you print out one more copy please? I'd like to put it up next to the picture you painted of us a few days ago."

"Do I just have to click the printer again?" Rosie asked, moving the little arrow to the printer picture again, "Should I wait until the printer is ready first?"

"It's really better to wait until your first picture is printed out, but it would work if you clicked on the printer icon right now. Just what do you think might happen if you're really impatient and click on it twenty times in a row, because it's not fast enough?"

"Hm... I think it would print the picture twenty times because it works when you click once so if you click more often it would print it more often." Rosie explained and smiled widely, feeling a little gleeful about understanding this so fast.

"Yes, very good! You're really good with computers" " John praised her with a smile. "That's why it's smarter to wait until your first picture is printed out, because that way you can't do those things on accident."

"Yeah that sounds smart." Rosie said and looked over to the printer, "Can you write today's date on the photo for me?" she asked and bit her lip, "Because... I can't do it myself." she whispered, looking a little ashamed, "You know, I lied when Amy and Ally said they can already read..." she admitted suddenly, figuring John wouldn't laugh at her, just like Sherlock.

"Sure, Rosie. I'll gladly do that for you." John said and frowned a little, feeling sorry for her. At four years of age that shouldn't be something she should be embarrassed by. "You know, there's no point in comparing yourself to others; there will always be people that are better than you at certain things and that's fine. But, if it makes you feel any better, I couldn't read or write until the end of first grade when I was around seven."

"Hm..." Rosie murmured and didn't seem particularly happy about the prospect of learning all of that so late, but she brightened again when Sherlock walked back into the living room, "So, who wants to have dinner?" he asked, walking over to the printer to look at the photo, his lips curling up into a smile, "You know, I think I have a spare frame, we could put it into it, so you can put it up in your room." he said and Rosie nodded, "Great!" she said and slid off of John's lap, "But let's eat first! It smells really good!"

"I agree. I'm sure it'll taste delicious." John said, before printing a second copy and writing the date and a short description on the back so he wouldn't have the chance to forget in after dinner. Once that was done he got to his feet to walk to the table with them. "You know, lasagna was actually the very first thing we cooked together after getting together. Or well, I basically assisted Sherlock."

"Hm.. that's true." Sherlock said as he grabbed a cushion and put it on a chair so Rosie would sit somewhat higher and could reach the table better. "It's a very special recipe I've got from a friend, I only cook it for important people." he said and Rosie smiled as he lifted her onto the chair, before he put a cup of 'tomato juice' next to her plate.

"You hear that? We're VIPs." John told her with a smirk, as he set a bottle of water on the table and sat down next to her. "Are you all comfy there?"

"Mhm.." Rosie hummed while she nipped at her cup, "I really like your flat! It's like a real home with a living room and a kitchen!" she said as Sherlock added a little blood to Rosie's lasagna before placing it in front of her.

"Well, you can definitely come over again, if you'd like to." John said and poured them all some water (mostly out of habit than anything else). "Even if we can't go to the zoo every time."

"That's okay! I'd like to just be with you too." Rosie said and waited patiently for Sherlock to serve John's and his lasagna, even though it smelled really really tasty and she was hungry, but taking a sip of her juice helped a lot. "We like to spend time with you as well, honeybee." Sherlock said as he put John's and his plate on the table, making sure not to confuse the two plates.

"Thank you, Sher. It looks delicious." John said, giving him a short smile, before looking back at Rosie to continue their conversation. "Mm, like I said, we'd love to have you over again. By the way, do you say grace before dinner back at the orphanage?" He asked, just to make sure she didn't miss out on an important ritual or anything.

"What's that?" Rosie asked and frowned a little, not really sure what John meant, "We say have a good meal before we eat." she said and smiled, "Is that what you mean?" she asked curiously.

"It's slightly different. Religious people like Christians often close their eyes and thank God for their food before they eat it. It can be an important part of their daily life so that why I'm asking." John explained to her, before taking knife and fork to give her the signal she was allowed to start.

"Mhm! It's really tasty!" Rosie said after taking the first bite, smiling widely at Sherlock, "You're almost as good of a chef as Mrs Turner is." she chirped.

"That's quite the compliment right there." John said with a bit of a smirk after swallowing. "And I agree, it tastes fantastic. Thank you for cooking for us."

Sherlock smiled, "Always for you two." he said and felt like he could really get used to one person more in their flat. "Speaking of Mrs Turner, you know, she's actually our neighbour." he said and chuckled a little as Rosie looked astonished, "Really? Can we go visit her sometime?" Rosie asked and Sherlock smiled, "I'm sure she'd like that."

"She's good friends with our landlady Mrs Hudson. I'm sure you'll meet her soon too." John said with a smile, before eating some of the lasagne.

"Is she as nice as Mrs Turner?" Rosie asked and took another bite of lasagna, "Well.. I would say she's even nicer, but I think that might be because I know Mrs HUdson better than Mrs Turner, someone else might say Mrs Turner is nicer because they know her better." Sherlock said, looking at John, "Who do you think is nicer?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Hm, I might be a little biased too, I'm afraid." John said with a chuckle. "I mean they're both really nice, but I haven't had tea with Mrs. Turner yet, so I'd probably go with Mrs Hudson too." He said with a smirk and ate some of the lasagne. "But in the end I like them both."

"It's funny that we knew the same people before we even knew each other." Rosie said, munching on another bite of her lasagna, before taking a sip of 'juice'. "Hm, seems a bit like we were supposed to meet." Sherlock said with a smile and really, with all the reunions lately, Sherlock did start to believe there was some higher power involved to some extend.

"Yeah, I'd call that destiny." John said with a smirk and drank some water, before looking at the clock on their wall; they still had a bit over ten minutes before Rosie had to go back to the orphanage.

"What's destiny?" Rosie asked and looked curiously up at John, before taking the last bite of lasagna, "Does it mean great? Because I think it's great!" she said after she swallowed.

After having supper and chatting for some more, they soon had to leave again and get back to the orphanage so Rosie could go to bed in time. Thankfully Vanessa had already talked to Mrs. Hope, so there wasn't a problem bringing her back. At about 9pm they arrived at back at home and went to sleep some time later.


	44. Father-Son Texts

**Meanwhile David was at home, debating whether he should send that text.**

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This is David. I'd like to meet up with you again. DW

(Delayed) You do? RW

(Delayed) We don't have to, of course. DW

No, I'd like to. I just didn't expect you'd contact me so soon. RW

Well, there's no point in wasting time and I want answers. When are you free? DW

Sure, alright. Well, how about tonight? I get off of work at seven. RW

Seven sounds good. How about you come over? You have our address anyway, don't you? DW

Well, yes, I do, yeah. I'll be there. Should I grab dinner somewhere on the way? RW

(Delay) No, that's fine. See you this evening then. DW

Yeah.. See you. RW

                                                                                               

                                                                               


	45. Have you talked to your father recently? RW

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone who is actually still reading this! First of all, wow, you've got some endurance in terms of long reads! I just wanted to let you know that our rp is actually still going on (at least as of today) and that I've only corrected and uploaded about two thirds of what we've actually written as of today, so there's definitely more coming in the future. Anyway, if you've got questions, suggestions or something like that please do leave a comment.
> 
> xx  
> GloomyLight

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Have you talked to your father recently? RW

Yeah, I've given him your number, if that was alright. Why are you asking? JW

He wants to see me. RW

Oh, that's good. What did he sound like? JW

Well we only texted for about five minutes, so I can't really tell. RW

Right. So you two are meeting up? JW

He's invited me over for tonight, yeah. Is that a good sign, that he actually lets me into his house? RW

Yeah, I'd say so. If he only wanted to talk to you for like twenty minutes, he'd probably have suggested to meet you at a café. JW

Right. I just don't know what to expect, it feels like I don't know him at all, you know. RW

Yeah, I think I do. Maybe don't be surprised that there are some photos of you in the living room. JW

It would rather surprise me if they were still there. RW

Hm, I don't know. They've always seemed to be very important to him. JW

Well that was before he knew that I'm not actually dead. RW

If you weren't important to him though, you wouldn't have to be nervous. JW

That's true. Well, I'll let you know how it went then, I guess. RW

Thanks. Good luck with Dad then. JW

                                                                           


	46. Father-Son Talk

Only once it was time for Richard to go over to his son's house nervousness really caught up with him, he really didn't know what he was supposed to tell him, really how could one explain something like this. David had every right to be mad at him, he just really hoped that someday his son could forgive him. Arriving at David's house, he hesitantly knocked at the door, waiting for David to open the door.

David swallowed and got to his feet, once he heard the knock on the door. This was it then. Up until the moment he opened the door, he'd had a slight bit of doubt left about this all being a big prank. But Christ, that really was his father standing in front of him. No doubt about it. Looking as if he'd never left. It took him a few seconds, before he could clear his throat and speak, his voice sounding rougher than usual. "Hello, Richard."

Richard was a bit startled at standing face to face with David. His son. The little boy he remembered was gone, obviously he had known that, he had seen him grow up after all, but it was still almost shocking to talk to a full grown man, rather than a sweet little eight year old boy. "Hello David." he said with a small smile.

It was as if he were talking to a ghost. Quite literally, since his father even sounded just like he remembered. And he did look young. Very young in fact. Though not enough for David to think for a moment he was the older one. He really had been alive all this time... "Please, come inside." David said after a moment and stepped back a little without holding out his hand.

Richard smiled a little as he entered the house, god it had really been a while since he had seen it from the inside. "I uhm.. I like what you did with the house." he said, looking around.

"It was mostly Emma." David commented as he closed the door, before beginning to walk into the living room. He'd made sure everything was tidy and where it was supposed to be; just like he always did when they were expecting guests. "Mother didn't quite like the new colour of the living room, but she got used to it with time."

"Yeah, I ... erm.. I know." Richard said and cleared his throat, "She told me." he added as he followed David into the living room. "It's nice, though. The colour, I mean. It makes the room seem warmer."

"She- of course." He should've probably known, but that still felt like a punch to the gut. So that's why she never visited the grave. David sat down at their dinner table and waited for Richard to follow suit.

Following his son, Richard sat down across him, "So.. I didn't think you'd contact me so soon. You used to be much more stubborn." he said with a small, nervous laugh. "After John told me how you reacted when they told you about me.. I figured that you wouldn't want to see me anytime soon.."

"Yes, it did take some convincing from my family's side. This isn't quite how I imagined seeing you again." David said and back at his father. "But I want answers and you're the only one that can give them to me."

"Right well.. then start asking." Richard said, taking off his coat and hanging it over the back of his chair. "I'll try to answer as best as I can."

"I- well, where do you live these days?" David asked after a moment. After all they'd never crossed paths as far as he could remember.

"I live here." Richard said and frowned a little, "Well, in London, that is. Greenwich to be precise."

"Right." David nodded slowly, before glancing at the table for a moment, his expression hardening. "Why did you never get in touch with me?" He asked, not able to hold that question in any longer. "If my son hadn't decided to be gay with a vampire, we'd have never met again, would we?"

"He hardly decided to be gay. But anyway, I wanted to tell you, believe me, but I could hardly tell you, as a child, that I'm a vampire. I really doubt that'd be good for a child's mental health." Richard said and sighed, "And the more time passed, the more complicated it seemed to let you know. I wanted you to have a normal childhood, have friends, relationships without us having to move every few years and without you having to carry that kind of secret around with you." he said and cleared his throat. "You would never have been able to open up completely to another person and you would have lost people all along, I couldn't let that happen."

"I mourned you. I used to look visit your grave and talk to you, tell you about my problems." David replied tensely. "Yes, you had reasons, but at the bottom line you ignored me when I needed you. Who is to say how I might've turned out that way? You never asked me for my opinion. You didn't even intend to come back."

"David, I intended to come back every single day in the past 30 years. There hasn't been one day where I didn't want to come and see you. I know that isn't an excuse, but I didn't forget or ignore you, I was there. I tried to protect you and your family from afar and let you live a normal life. Maybe that was the wrong decision, but it seemed right back then." he said and shook his head, "All I can offer you right now is an apology." he said with a sigh.

David closed his eyes after a moment and tugged a little at his own hair, though he made sure not to slouch or get too emotional in front of his father. "I am grateful that you saved my son's life. He's the main reason I'm talking to you anyway. But you can't just walk into this house and expect me to be fine with all of this." He said eventually, finding it increasingly harder to maintain eye contact with Richard.

"I don't expect that from you, son." Richard said and was quiet for a moment, before he continued, "But, I hope you can forgive me at some point, because I would really like to be a part of your family again." he said honestly, wondering if they could work this out at some point.

"I- yes, dad. I'll keep that in mind." David said after a moment and looked down on the table for a short while. "You've already met Harry and John then?"

Richard couldn't help but smile a little as David called him dad, it had been a very long time since he had been called that the last time. "I haven't met Harry yet, unfortunately, but yes, I met John. He's a great boy, really."

"Yes, he is. Good character, hard worker, even managed to get into medical school a year ago." David said with a hint of pride in his voice, as always unable not to brag a little about his son. "Though, I couldn't quite believe my eyes when he first introduced us to his partner."

Richard chuckled a little, "Yeah, I know Sherlock is a little.. he's different, although, that's not the right word, extraordinary might be a better fit. He's a bit of a nutter, but he's very loyal and protective." he said and smiled, "And I think they're a nice couple. I've got the impression that they complete each other, they balance each other out."

"Yes, I got the impression John's important that him." David said with a nod - his son could've really been doing much worse - though he was surprised his father was that open-minded. "That combined with your approval of him were the main reasons I thought well of him that day."

"Well it's hard not to approve of the person that saved your life multiple times and well one of those times he literally gave my life back to me. Without him, neither you, nor John or Harriet would be here now." he said and leant back in his chair. "How come you've got that much of hard time accepting your kids are in same sex relationships?" he asked gently, easily slipping back into a fatherly tone, despite the physical age difference.

"Because it's... unnatural." David said eventually, sounding a little defensive; which in itself was absurd, since that view wasn't something he kept a secret. "Marriage is between a man and a woman. It's only proper and balanced and originally I wanted my children to have a more respectable position in society."

Richard shook his head, "It's far from being unnatural, what's unnatural is acting against your own instincts and pretend to be someone you're not." he said and shrugged, "Is it really important what gender someone has? I've always thought love is about what's underneath the skin."

"But, that's part of manhood." David retorted after a moment. This was quite the opposite he thought his father, who'd risked his life for his country and family, would think about this. "There obviously is a big difference between men and women. We can't just ignore that. That's not how we're meant to be."

"And who says how we're meant to be?" Richard asked and raised a brow, wondering where he got all that from.

"Well.. everyone. It's how people are of course." David said with a frown, wondering why his father was asking all of that. "Men are supposed to be masculine. With everything that that entails." He'd seen that that was something his mother hadn't possessed; obviously her husband would've made up for that and completed their family.

"And it's masculine to live a lie that's easier than to be who you really are? That's not how a real man acts, son. And if you think gay men aren't 'manly', you're wrong. I've fought side by side with a gay man, your future son in law and he was one of the bravest, David. Your sexuality doesn't define you. It's just another stupid thing people used to have a reason to look down on others and pretend they're better than them." Richard said and smiled, "It really doesn't matter who you love."

David blinked a little at his father. "Do you genuinely believe that?" He asked after a moment a little hesitatingly.

"Yeah, I do." Richard said and smiled, "Look, I know about Emma, your mother has told me a lot about her and I love and consider her family, but it would have been just the same if you had found a good man you'd have loved. The only thing that matters is that the people in a relationship are happy with each other. It's absolutely irrelevant what other people might think."

"I didn't know you thought that way." David stated quietly and frowned slightly, before adding. "I always thought you'd be disappointed in me for something like that."

"I would never be disappointed in you for being who you are." Richard said and tilted his head a little, "You.. you do love Emma, don't you? I mean.. you didn't go marry a woman just because you thought you had to, right?" he asked, worrying he was at fault for his son possibly living a lie.

“What? No, of course not. I love Emma." David replied quickly shook his head. "I just.." He cleared his throat and looked away, clearly uncomfortable. "might've had certain attractions that I shouldn't have as a married man."

Richard couldn't fight a small chuckle, "Everyone is attracted to other people, it's not like you can turn that off when you get married. There's nothing wrong with looking at good looking people. Everyone does that." he said and smiled, "As long as you don't cheat on your wife, you're doing nothing wrong." he said and paused for a moment, "Even if it's men you're looking at." he added and shrugged, "You're good the way you are, son. I.. probably should have told you that a long time ago. I'm sorry I wasn't there David, I really am."

David listened quietly to what Richard was saying. "Thank you, dad. I appreciate your saying that." He said after a while and swallowed.

"You're welcome." Richard said and smiled a little, "So.. do you have any more questions?"

"Do you still practise the same profession?" David asked after a moment.

"No, that's it from my side." David said and shook his head. "What about you?"

Richard blushed a little, "Well.. I more or less know all the major things. If you want to put it that way, one could say I was stalking you.." he said and chuckled a little, "I was even at your graduation ceremony, last row and mostly in the shadows, but I was there." he admitted and bit his lip. "God that sounds creepy."

"No, I'm.. glad you've been there." David said, very much surprised by that new piece of information. "I hadn't expected that.”

"Wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world." Richard said and cleared his throat, "Too bad I didn't realise your wife's sister in law is a vampire. That would have probably encouraged me to try and find a way to let you know I'm still around much sooner."

"We only found out about that three years ago because of my niece." David commented and shook his head. "Though that doesn't mean I've actually got used to that whole concept."

"Guess the fact that your son is contemplating to become 'one of us' and that your daughter already joined the club, so to speak, doesn't make it any easier for you to understand.." Richard said, scratching the back of his neck.

David's eyebrows shot up and at once he was sitting much straighter in his chair, visibly upset. "Hang on, Harriet has what?!" Which bastard had turned his daughter, when he knew she hadn't been ill?

"Oh... I thought you'd know.." Richard said and frowned, "John told me her wife turned her and well, that it had helped her a lot to stop drinking." he said and sighed, "Well.. that's a good start for my relationship with my granddaughter.. spilling her secrets before even meeting her."

"Jesus Christ..." David said and shook his head. Ignorance was indeed bliss. How much more did he not know about his own family? "But if that got her off the bottle.." he sighed, before asking. "And John's still normal?"

"He is, yeah." Richard said and cleared his throat, "You know, it's not that bad, being like us.. I mean.. you're basically half vampire yourself." he said and chuckled a little.

"well, I know it saved my niece's life, but the only real experiences I've had with this have been giving my baby niece blood in a bottle." David said still cringing a little at how obscure all of that had felt, before asking "Wait, does that make a difference for me?"

"Kind of, yeah, you were barely ever sick as a child and I assume that hasn't changed much, and well you do look younger than you actually are." Richard said and shrugged, "With the latter, you might just take after your mother, but the immune system, I think that might be the vampire part of your genes."

"Hm, that would explain why Emma has been the only one regularly getting sick in this household." David said, remembering that their children also had an excellent immune system compared to their peers. "John fought off a severe case of pneumonia when he was a toddler." He said more to himself; he remembered that Emma and he'd been worried sick since John had just barely made it.

"Well, vampirism sure has it's upsides." Richard said and frowned, "With you even doctors were surprised how fast you usually fought off illnesses, you were never sick for more than a week and never in any severe form.. So I suppose it wears off over the next generations." Richard said with a frown.

"Hm, apparently." David nodded; so that's where the 'Watson stamina' came from. That's something he should tell John; at least he wouldn't have to worry about his daughter now anymore. Though he couldn't help wondering whether what she'd have done in a few years and if she'd.. gone into hiding too.

"You could.. choose that kind of life too, you know." Richard said hesitantly, "I mean, you and Emma. It's really not all bad and really these days, with the people getting more and more fixated on staying young forever, no one really minds if you're supposed to be 80 and look like 50 or something." he said with a small chuckle, "Probably all people would do is asking about your plastic surgeon."

"Yes, that's not something we've seriously considered." David said with a shake of head. After all they'd only known of two vampires in the family up until now.

"Well.. it's completely up to you, of course. I just wanted you to know that you do have that option.. what with six vampires in the family, possibly seven even, it might be worth to seriously consider it." Richard said and frowned, "Sorry if that came off as pushing you to do it. I didn't mean it that way."

"I know, don't worry about it." David said and shortly glanced at once of the shelves. "Is that everything you wanted to talk about?"

Richard chuckled a little, "Actually.. aren't we here because you wanted to talk?" he asked and cleared his throat, "If you want me to leave, you can just say it." he said and smiled at his son. "I understand if you need time to think about all of this."

"Yes, I think I do." David said a little hesitatingly. "You've given me a lot to think about." He said, before moving to stand up. "I appreciate you've come here."

"No problem. From now on, I'll be there whenever you want me to." Richard said, before he stood up, taking his coat from the chair and putting it on.

David just nodded at that and rose to his feet to show Richard the door.


	47. Partners In Crime

Rosie was really excited about what she had just heard Mrs Hope say. She had said that there was someone bad doing something to the kids here and that surely called for a detective to take on the case. She was pretty sure she could find out who the bad guy was, she was really good at figuring out if someone was bad or not, so she could do this. She just had to do what the detectives in Scooby Doo did and look for clues. But she needed an assistant. Because for real clues, she needed to read things and she couldn't, but she knew that Charlie could and Charlie was really very smart she thought as she walked over to the rooms for the older girls and knocked on Charlie's door - she knew it was hers because she had seen her walk into it a lot.

Charlie had been reading a book up until now, but looked up when she heard someone knock on her door. God, hopefully it wasn't Sally looking for trouble again.. "Yeah, come in!" She called and set the book down on her chest to see who it was.

Rosie smiled as she heard Charlie call, standing on tiptoes to reach the door handle, before she walked sheepishly in, clasping her hands behind her back as she stood in front of Charlie. "Hello! I'm Rosie." she said, figuring Charlie wouldn't know that, because they had never really talked to each other.

"Yeah, I know. You're the little detective with the magnifying glass, right?" Charlie said with a smirk. Since they were so few people, it really wasn't hard to remember everyone's name though. (Especially not the people she'd spotted half-hiding behind doors out on the hallway) "What can I help you with?" She asked and propped herself on her arm.

"Yeah I am a detective!" Rosie chirped happily, smiling widely, "And I need an assistant because I need to look for clues in Mrs Hopes office, because she said someone is doing something bad to the kids that come here and I want to find out who that is." she rambled and blushed a little, "But I can't read." she added, still not feeling particularly well about that even though John had said that it's normal people couldn't read her age.

"Wait, what?" Charlie asked with a frown and sat up straight. If Rosie was right, then she might really want to have a look (Finally something going on around here! She couldn't waste that opportunity). After all, it was quite plausible something bad happened to orphans. "Okay, Speedy Gonzales, I'm in; so I'll take on the reading duties. It's a shame they don't teach that earlier though. I remember I got an older girl to teach me when I was your age."

"Cool!" Rosie said and grinned, before gaping when she had an idea, "Can you teach me? I already asked Sherlock, he's going to work here and he and his fiancé John are really super nice! But he can't help me a lot because he will be busy with working and with getting married!"

"Sure, I've got you." Charlie said with a smile; it was pretty cool to have Rosie look up to her a little. "Is that the guy that helped you hand out those surprise eggs?" She asked and remembered those two new fellahs sitting at the small children's table.

"Yeah! It was Sherlock's idea, we made bees out of them, Sherlock likes bees just as much as I do!" Rosie said excitedly, now really happy that Charlie seemed to like her. "And you know, he likes boys not girls and I think Sally is a hombophob because she's really mean to Sherlock and when John told her he's Sherlock's fiancé she looked like she really didn't like that, oh and you know what, Sherlock is Violet's son! And Mrs Turner's neighbour!"

"Really? He sounds very special." Charlie said with a smile, unsure whether Rosie was fibbing a little to impress her. "And I agree, Sally's an outright homophobe. You don't like her either, I take it?" She asked and indicated Rosie to come sit next to her on her bed.

"No I don't, she's mean." Rosie said and climbed on Charlie's bed, sitting down next to her, "And Sherlock and John think so too." she said and smiled, "You know, I was in the zoo with Sherlock and his sisters and Violet and John (yesterday?) and Sally didn't let Sherlock leave with me because she didn't believe that Violet was in the car, but she really was and when she came in Sally looked really annoyed."

"Mmh, I don't understand that woman." Charlie said and shook her head. "You don't get to go on the big city trips yet, do you? That must've been fun then to get to go to the zoo. What was your favourite animal there?" She asked and tilted her head a little, figuring Rosie would probably like to continue to tell her about that.

"Hm mostly I like the bees, they really have a lot of bees!" Rosie said and smiled, "And Amy's favourite animals were the tigers and Ally's the dolphins and they were so surprised that the giraffes were taller than Sherlock!" she chuckled, toeing off her bunny slippers and crossing her legs on the bed, "What are your favourite animals?" she asked curiously.

"Hm, I really like owls." Charlie said after a moment. "They're up at night like me and very fascinating. Did you for example know that they can turn their heads at 270 out of 360 degrees. That's like turning your head in that direction to look at my wardrobe right there."

Rosie immediately tried to do that, only turning her head, but failed, "That doesn't work.." she said with a frown and looked at Charlie, "And owls can really do that?" she asked and smiled. "That's really cool!"

"Mmh, they're awesome." Charlie nodded with a smirk. "I can show you a video later on, if you want to." She said and shifted a little on her bed to look at Rosie more easily. "Now, Speedy, do you already have a plan for our secret mission into Mrs. Hope's office?"

"Oh! Yes! We can go at night! Because no one's in her office then and I know that there's a key on top of the frame of the picture next to Mrs Hope's door, I saw her put it there." Rosie said and smiled, "And if I try really hard, I'm sure I can stay awake until it's really late."

"Brilliant." Charlie nodded with a chuckle. "I've got a torch, so we'll have some light." She said and got it out of her drawer to show it to Rosie. Since she'd learned about the whole vampire thing a year ago she'd really wondered how almost immortal parents could leave behind that many children. Now she'd finally get an answer to that or at the very least get to have a peak into her own files.

"I have one too! It's pink!" Rosie said and frowned, "Greg gave it to me once to check under my bed for monsters! But it's a lot smaller than yours." she said and smiled again after a second, "But I think that's okay because I'm smaller than you too." she said and nodded, satisfied with that conclusion.

"Sure, makes sense." Charlie nodded and put it away again. "Can I ask you something, Rosie? Why have you asked me to be your assistant? I mean, I'm not the only one who can read around here."

Rosie thought for a moment, blushing a little, "Because... you're cool! Like you're really smart and funny and pretty and I want to be like you when I grow up.." she said and glanced up at Charlie, "I always wanted to be your friend, but I didn't think you'd want to be mine because no one wants to.. but Sherlock and John said that's because people don't understand that I'm smarter than kids my age and you're smarter than others too, so I thought maybe you'd want to be my friend after all.”

"Of course I want to be your friend." Charlie said with a warm smile and wrapped an arm around the younger girl. She really knew what Rosie was struggling with; if she hadn't started trying to do what the other kids her age liked (as dull as it was sometimes), she'd likely still have no social life. "And I know it can be hard to play with others if all they want to play is mother, father and child, right?"

"Yeah and they say I'm boring because I don't want to play that." Rosie said with a frown, "And they never want to hear about what I've learnt from documentaries, like did you know that the sun is super huge, even though it looks really small from here? And it's really hot, hotter than even in summer!"

"Yeah? I think that's super interesting." Charlie said with a smile. "You know, it has to be that hot and big, because even though it's very very far away, it warms the earth that much. Just imagine there was a radiator in the garden right now and that was so hot that if we turned it on it would feel like it was summer in here. How hot do you think that radiator would have to be?"

"Hm..." Rosie said and thought very hard about that, "Like tea when it's still too hot to drink?" she asked and looked at Charlie questioningly.

"Not bad, Rosie, I did the maths on that and yeah the tea would definitely be steaming." She said with a chuckle.

Rosie hummed happily, quite proud she had figured that out, "Should we meet in front of Mrs Hopes office tonight at 11o'clock? I know when that is, it's when the small handle is on eleven and the tall one is on twelve." she said and smiled.

Yeah, sounds neat. It's awesome you can already read a watch" Charlie said with a smile and glanced at her own watch. "In the meantime, how about we get started on your first letter?"

"Already?" Rosie asked excitedly, her eyes wide as she nodded, "Can we start with R? Because I know that's what my name starts with and I want to know what other words start with R, I know a few like rose and road, but I'm sure there are more!"

"Or how about... rabbit?" She said with a chuckle and tapped the nose of one of Rosie's slippers, before reaching out to get pen and paper. She already had a feeling that teaching Rosie would be quite funny.


	48. In Which Charlie Is Reading

After a long afternoon of learning all about the letter R (and there was way more to learn about that letter than she had thought, but now she could even write it!) and sitting with Charlie at dinner time, which was really amazing, because all the other kids looked like they were jealous because she was allowed to sit with the big girls, it was bedtime eventually. Rosie had been really smart and had kept on her clothes under her pyjamas like she'd seen another child detective do on TV once. She was so excited about her adventure tonight, she didn't even have to try not to fall asleep. When it was finally time to meet Charlie, Rosie climbed out of bed and sneaked out of her room, holding her little flash light in front of her as she tiptoed up the stairs to Mrs Hope's office.

As always Charlie stayed up reading until it was five to eleven. After slipping out of bed and grabbing her torch, she quietly walked up the stairs to Mrs Hope's office and waited for her accomplice (However, it was really tempting to just go inside by herself, now that she'd found the key anyway...). Only two minutes later though, she saw a tiny ray of light and gave the other person a little wave, figuring it was Rosie. "Hey there, Speedy Gonzales." She whispered and smirked a little when she could make out the other girl. "I like your pyjamas."

"Oh no!" Rosie whispered and looked down at herself, realising she had forgotten to take it off, "I left on my clothes underneath my pyjamas so I can take it off and am already dressed, I saw that on TV once, but I forgot!" she said and pouted a little.

"It's okay, it'll keep you extra warm. And in case someone finds us we can tell them you're a sleepwalker and I'm getting you back to bed." Charlie commented with a smile, before taking the key she'd already got from that picture out of her pocket to open the door.

"That's really clever!" Rosie said and pointed her flash light at the lock so Charlie could see it better. "And what do we say when they ask why we're in Mrs Hope's office?" she asked curiously.

"We'll say the door was open and we wanted to ask Mrs. Hope if she couldn't sleep." Charlie whispered, well aware of the fact she'd have to come up with a better excuse if they actually got busted. With a click the door opened and Charlie turned on her torch, before going in first and holding the door open for Rosie. "Do you want to search the files with me or stay here and keep watch in case someone comes?"

"No, I wanna come in with you, maybe I find something too!" Rosie said and slipped into the room after Charlie, feeling really stealthy.

"Alright, the files should be in here." Charlie said and walked over to a cabinet and began to look for the latest file first (she'd look at her one in just a minute). "Tell me when you find something, alright?" She said, before sitting down on the ground with Timothy's file on her lap.

"Okay!" Rosie said and looked at files too, smiling when she spotted her name, she knew what it looked like and there was no other Rosie here. "I think I found mine." she said, holding the file out for Charlie to double check.

"Yeah, that's yours." Charlie nodded, before looking back to the new kid's file. "Rosie Bane... that has a very nice ring to it." She commented with a smile, before beginning to read. Timothy, a toddler, both parents found bludgeoned in an alley with bleeding Timothy in between them... Jesus, this was legit. After a moment, she frowned. Someone had told her that vampires couldn't die easily.. so how did Tim's parents not survive that..? After all the boy was one according to his file. She'd put that question in her memory room for later... With that she reached for her own file.

Rosie smiled and mirrored Charlie's position, turning a page just when she did, except that she couldn't read what her file said. "Is that your file?" Rosie asked after a moment, leaning over to look at the file Charlie was holding.

"Erm, yeah. That's mine." Charlie said and swallowed as she read how she'd come here and who her parents had been... They'd told her the gist when she'd asked of course, but they hadn't told her much of.. this. Apparently an attacker had broken into their home when she had been two. She'd been sent straight here after a hospital stay because of some superficial wounds.

"You look sad." Rosie pointed out and immediately moved closer to Charlie and reached up to pet her head, "Are you sad about your parents?"

"Yeah, a little." Charlie said quietly and leaned into Rosie a bit. After taking out a family picture and putting it into her pocket, she closed her file again. "Found anything Interesting in your file?"

"My name's a lot in it." Rosie said and handed it to Charlie, before she sat down next to her and cuddled up to her a bit, hugging her as best as she could to comfort her.

"Thanks" Charlie smiled a little when she hugged her and opened Rosie's file... She'd arrived age two too, after someone had broken into her house. Both of her parents were dead. They're backstories matched up almost exactly... "We both got here when we were two, you know." She commented. "I'll tell you your story another time, okay?"

"Okay." Rosie said and peeked into her file, spotting a photo she hadn't seen before, showing a baby with two adults, probably the baby's parents. "Is that me?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, that's you and your parents a few years ago." Charlie said and had a closer look at the picture. "Your nose looks a lot like your dad's." She noticed.

Rosie smiled at that, scrunching up her nose, trying to see it, "You think so?" she asked and chuckled a little, "Do you think someone will notice if I take the picture? It's not really stealing because it's mine, right?" she asked, looking up at Charlie.

"No, it'll only turn yellow in here." Charlie shook her head and carefully took out Rosie's photo for her. "But you have to swear that you'll guard it like gold. You can't lose it or spill juice on it or rip it. It's the only picture you'll ever have of them, alright?"

Rosie nodded, "I promise, I'll be really really /really/ careful with it." she said and smiled at Charlie, "I'll ask Sherlock to put it into a frame for me, so nothing can happen to it."

"Okay." Charlie nodded, satisfied with that answer, before putting the photo onto a blank piece of paper and folding it around it. "Here there you go." She said and handed Rosie the makeshift envelope.

"Thank you." Rosie said and smiled happily as she took the photo, holding it carefully. "Can I see your photo too?" she asked and really wanted to see how Charlie had looked when she had been little.

"Sure, here, that's me." Charlie said and got out a picture of herself to show it to Rosie. After some shuffling she placed it on her knee so they could both look.

"You were really cute!" Rosie said and smiled, before pointing at the woman next to Charlie, careful not to touch the photo, not wanting to make it dirty, "Is that your mummy?" she asked and looked at Charlie, before looking back to the photo, "You look just like her!" she said with a grin.

Charlie smiled at that and looked at her mother a bit more closely; she was very beautiful and dressed tastefully. And she looked content on there. "You think so?"

Rosie nodded, "Mhm, you have the same eyes and nose and lips and even chin!" she pointed out, "And you're both really pretty."

"Thank you." Charlie smiled, before glancing at her watch. "We might want to go back to bed. Someone might notice we're not there." She said before taking her photo again. "You must be a little tired by now."

"I'm not tired at all!" Rosie said and smiled, this was way too exciting to be tired, "Did you find something out about the bad guy?" she asked as she stood up.

"Yeah, he or she is very, very mean." Charlie said, figuring she'd best spare the little one the details and got to her feet after putting their files back into the cabinet. "Can we trust Sherlock, you think?' She asked after a moment; after all he'd been understanding towards Rosie (which also meant he was likely smart himself plus, he was possibly Violet's son, if Rosie hadn't fibbed) and they could use an adult ally.

Rosie nodded eagerly, "Yeah! Sherlock is great! And John too! And Sherlock is really smart, he's smarter than other people too and he told me that his brother is as well and his sisters too!" she said and smiled.

"Good, we could use some more assistants in our detective agency." She said and went to the door. "Can you tell me when he's here next time? I'd like to talk to him."

"I think he comes here tomorrow." Rosie said and smiled, "He's Greg's erm.. teacher's maid."

Charlie's hand came quickly up to her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud. "Brilliant. I'll talk to him then." She said, before looking the door again and placing the key back on top of the painting.

"We need to wipe away our fingerprints!" Rosie suggested, proud to have thought of that, "Because if they notice someone was in the room, they can take fingerprints and then they know it was us."

"Very good idea, but they need three things for that first: they need to know where to look and not smudge our fingerprints themselves, they need a fingerprint kit and they need everyone's fingerprints to compare them to." She whispered and held her hand out for Rosie to take. "And right now, they don't even know we've been in there."

"Okay. Then I think we're safe." Rosie said and smiled as she took Charlie's hand, carefully holding her photo with the other, "But what if they see the photos in our rooms?" she asked, looking up at to her friend, "Then they'll know."

Charlie pocketed her photo and turned on her torch, before beginning to walk back downstairs. "True. That's why you shouldn't hang it up on your wall. But if Sherlock frames it for you, you can still put in into your bookshelf, drawer or hang it on the inside of your wardrobe." She suggested.

Rosie smiled, "Okay." she said and followed Charlie down the stairs, "Do you want to see Sherlock and John? They made a photo with me and printed it for me!" she said and grinned, "It's in my room!"

"Sure, I'd really like to." Charlie smiled, before arriving at the bottom of the stairs. "Lead the way, then, detective."

Rosie chuckled and tugged Charlie along towards her room, "Maybe you can come with us next time we make a trip and maybe then you can see their flat too! It's really big and they have an own kitchen /and/ living room!"

"Must be awesome there." Charlie commented with a smile and followed Rosie into her room. "Yeah, if they're alright, I'd really like to join you."

"John is really short, you know." Rosie said as she walked into her room, taking the photo off her night stand and handing it to Charlie. "That's them!" she said happily, smiling as she climbed onto her bed and sat down.

Charlie looked at the picture in her hands for a few seconds, glancing up at Rosie with a smile. They looked like a proper family... As much as she liked Rosie, she couldn't help feeling a little jealous. And she already knew she'd miss her. Only possible conclusion considering all of the facts. "They look nice." She said and sat down next to Rosie. "Did you decorate that tree?"

"Yeah we did it all together!" Rosie said excitedly, pointing at the star on top of the tree, "I put the star on it, look!" she said and looked up at Charlie, "You know, Sherlock likes tomato juice just as much as I do! But John doesn't."

Aha. He was about to start here, wasn't he? And John wasn't much more than ten years older than her then by the looks of him. "Really? You're right by the way John's a short one." She chuckled, before putting the picture back on Rosie's night stand.

"Yeah! Amy even thought he needed a car seat!" Rosie chuckled, before giving a yawn and rubbing her itching eyes, she could feel exhaustion catch up with her, but there was no way she'd admit it, not when she was having so much fun!

"Amy's one of Sherlock's sisters?" Charlie asked with a chuckle. "By the way, are you still wearing your street clothes under there?" She should probably try and get Rosie to go to sleep soon.

"Yeah, she's two!" Rosie said and smiled, "And Ally is two as well, they're twins." she added, frowning at Charlie's other question, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" she said and tried to get her pyjama top off, but failing since it was way tighter now since she had worn a thick woollen jumper underneath, "I can't get it off!" she said helplessly.

"Here, let me help." Charlie said and bit back a chuckle; Rosie looked way too adorable. "Now, arms up!" She instructed playfully, as she began to pull the shirt over her head.

Lifting her arms obediently, Rosie looked up to Charlie with a smile, "Thank you." she chirped and was glad when the shirt was finally off.

"Sure thing." She replied and put the shirt next to them on the bed. "While we're at it, how about we get the jumper and the other shirt off too? Can't be too comfortable like that."

"Yeah it's not." Rosie admitted, scrunching up her nose as she tugged off her jumper and handed it to Charlie, before she took off her under shirt too, also handing it to Charlie, before she slipped back into her pyjama top.

Charlie had already made quick work of folding Rosie's shirt and jumper and put it onto the girl's chair. "Quick work." Charlie acknowledged with a smile. "Can you do your shoes and trousers as fast as that too?"

Rosie nodded happily with the challenge, taking off her shoes and pyjama trousers and normal trousers as fast as she could before slipping into her pyjama pants again, "Done!" she said, grinning widely.

"Nice one!" Charlie chuckled and because she had a hunch Rosie wouldn't want to go to sleep right now, added. "How about, we two lie down on our backs and look up at the stars, while I tell you an extra special detective story?"

"But we can't see the stars from inside!" Rosie chirped and thought for a moment, "But we can go outside and lie down on the grass!" she suggested happily.

"Hm, but I'd have to get my coat first, and you'd have to put your boots back on, and it'd be morning before we'd have even started." Charlie said and bit back a chuckle. "Instead we could close our eyes and think of the starriest night sky we can imagine." She suggested with a smile.

"Oh okay I can do that!" Rosie said and laid back, closing her eyes firmly, "Are you lying too already?" she asked, but didn't peek to check, because then the starry night she already imagined would probably go away.

Charlie hesitated for a second before lying down next to Rosie. "Yeah, I'm looking up at the stars." She said and closed her eyes and tried to think of one of the book's she'd read that Rosie might like. "Now, prick your ears, kiddo, this is a classic. The story is called "The Case of the Perfect Maid". Here we go...

"Oh, if you please, Madam, could I speak

to you a moment?"

It might be thought that this request was in the nature

of an absurdity, since Edna, Miss Marple's little maid,

was actually speaking to her mistress at the moment.

Recognizing the idiom, however, Miss Marple said

promptly: "Certainly, Edna, come in and shut the door.

What is it? [...]..."

Rosie listened intently, frowning a little, now peeking at Charlie next to her, "What's an iddom?" she asked, having never heard that word.

"It's a fixed group of words that has a different meaning as a whole compared to the meaning of all the words on their own. Like, 'when pigs fly Molly will check our rooms on time.' I'm not saying that Molly has actually anything to do with flying pigs. I just mean it' very very unlikely." Charlie explained with a chuckle. "Got it?"

"It's like saying, 'I'll be damned' right?" Rosie said and tilted her head a little, "It means that someone's very surprised, but it doesn't really mean that they're damned!"

 

"Yeah, exactly. Though I wouldn't use that particular idiom in front of our teachers." Charlie said with a chuckle, before closing her eyes again. "May I go on?"

Rosie nodded, closing her eyes again, "Yeah, okay, I'm ready!" she said, yawning a little.

Charlie smiled and continued to tell Rosie the first three chapters of the book, stopping here and there to explain a word, though Rosie's questions stopped somewhere during the second chapter. Once she hadn't heard anything from the girl next to her in ten minutes, she slipped quietly out of the bed and covered her with her blanket. It was then that she noticed Rosie's family picture smiling brightly at anyone, who came close to her night stand... After some back and forth, Charlie took the picture and went back to her own room to put it into her copy of "the case of the perfect maid". She laid than back on Rosie's night stand and returned to her bed for good. Now she had some time to look at her own one for a while; after all it wasn't even one in the morning yet...


	49. One Of Us

Sherlock would have lied if he had said he wasn't the least bit nervous about his new job as he entered the orphanage that morning, grinning when he spotted (as he had frankly expected) Rosie, holding a book he identified as a Ms Marple story when she ran up to him, "Lock!" she called and hopped excitedly up and down in front of him, "Last night I had so much fun! Charlie and I are friends now and she gave me her book!" she rambled and Sherlock chuckled, "That's great honeybee." he said, taking off his coat.

Charlie had been waiting that morning in her room instead of going to breakfast with her girl friends straight away. When she finally heard Rosie call his name she went out on the hallway in front of her room to listen to the conversation the two were having downstairs; maybe she'd be able to hear some hints about his timetable. After all she had something important to discuss with and she needed to catch him at the right time. (And she also wanted to know how he interacted with Rosie or if there was anything fishy about him... After all a position here meant access to vampire orphans of murdered parents...)

"We had a real adventure last night, we went into Mrs Hope's office, like when it was already way after bedtime and Charlie looked into her file and then into mine and we both found a photo of us and our parents and.." Rosie went on and Sherlock frowned, interrupting her and crouching down to her, "Hang on, wait, you and Charlie broke into Mrs Hope's office?" he asked and couldn't fight a small smirk, "Was that Charlie's idea?" he asked and Rosie shook her head, puffing with pride, "No it was mine and then I went to Charlie all alone and told her that I want to be her friend." she said and Sherlock chuckled again, "Well, I told you there are lots of people who will like you if they just get to know you." he said with a smile.

Charlie bit her lip a little when Rosie spilled the beans, but she couldn't really have expected a four year old not to. Especially since he was genuinely nice to her. // Back in the teachers' room you could hear Rosie's welcoming calls loud and clear; espevially on an otherwise quiet Tuesday morning. To greet his new co-worker, Greg stepped onto the corridor and walked up to the two. "Morning Sherlock. And good morning little one." He said and gave them both a warm smile; which should've earned him a medal really, given that he was running on coffee only, after spending a night sitting with a girl in the sickbay. "How are you doing?"

"Great, Rosie here just told about how she and her new friend Charlie made up stories last night when she couldn't sleep. Charlie was kind enough to stay up with her, making up stories playing in the orphanage until she fell asleep." Sherlock said, figuring it was best to explain everything Greg could have possibly heard. "She just told me about one where two very curious mice broke into Mrs Hope's office." he laughed, looking at Rosie, giving her a subtle wink, "Isn't that right Rosie?" he asked and Rosie nodded, "Yeah the mice were called erm.. Edna and Mrs Marple!"

Greg frowned a little, but didn't think too much of it; just sounded like kids being kids. "Yeah? Sounds great; well, as long as you weren't sneaking out to watch Miss Marple on telly." He said jokingly, before turning back to Sherlock. "By the, have you already got your schedule?"

"Ah, no. Mrs Hope only told me when to be here today and told me to figure out the rest with you." Sherlock said and stood up.

"I'll make a copy during the first break then." Greg said and showed Sherlock his timetable. "Today's pretty quiet. We'll have have a double and writing with the compound class of the year two's and three's. We'll have double lesson Reading & Writing with the first graders and then an hours of maths with each of them. The lessons end at three. And the tutoring at half past four. Any questions so far?"

Sherlock frowned, looking down at Rosie, before looking back up at Greg, "Well, I've got one." he said and smiled a little, "Any chance Rosie could join us for reading and writing?" he asked and chuckled as Rosie's eyes grew wide at that suggestion.

"I thought we'd already talked about that, Rosie." Greg said to Rosie. He genuinely was a little worried about the shy girl and frankly, he doubted that putting her in a class with older kids she didn't usually talk to wouldn't isolate her even more. Especially since that would mean she'd be bored and better than her peers next year, when she'd actually take that class. "And I'm sure Janine and the kids really want to have you in their group. Enjoy your mornings outside a classroom you can; I know Jenna and Lucas would happily trade with you right now. I think Janine said something about crafting snowflakes today though. " He said kindly, unhappy to say no to her again. "And I bet if you ask her nicely she'll already show you how to write your on name on it."

"See!" Rosie said and pouted, "I told you that's what they say when I want to learn!" Rosie said and Sherlock could see tears glistening in her eyes as she looked up at him, before turning and running off, back towards her room. Sighing Sherlock turned to Greg, "Are you sure you can't make an exception? It's frustrating if you want to learn and are denied to when you're.. well like her and me. She wouldn't be the first child skipping a grade and don't tell me about special treatment and what it would look like to the other kids if she is allowed to do something others can't. That's life. What you're doing now, ignoring her mental abilities, is just wrong." he said and sighed.

Charlie smiled a little to herself after Sherlock's little speech, before dashing off after Rosie; he didn't seem all that bad.

"Sherlock, I've been a teacher for quite some time now and I've known this girl for well over two years. When making pedagogical decisions I always think about the child's well-being first and by telling me otherwise you'd be insulting me severely." Greg said soberly. He didn't really know where that had come from (Sherlock had seemed more composed when he'd first met him) and he didn't really take offence, but he wasn't going to put up with an attitude like that before their first lesson together. As if he didn't know that making a child cry was awful.. What a wonderful morning this was indeed. "Now, I won't have a conversation like that out on the corridors, so if you want to talk to me about one of the children, we can do that in private." He said with a sigh. "Anything else?"

"No. Nothing else." Sherlock said and sighed, "Since there's an hour to go before classes start, would you mind if I go and try to calm Rosie down a little?" he asked, forcing himself to be relatively civil, even though he really, /really/, didn't feel like it. Rosie had meanwhile climbed into her bed, with the covers pulled over her head as she cried. She had been so happy when Sherlock had asked Greg if she could join reading lessons, but Greg was such a meanie!

"No, please do. I'll see you in an hour in room 214." Greg said, before heading there himself to prepare his lesson. He'd have gone to Rosie himself, but she probably preferred Sherlock's company over his own right now. Meanwhile, Charlie had let herself into Rosie's room after she'd heard her crying. Now she was crouching next to Rosie's bed and stroking her shoulder, while she tried to comfort her. "Shhh, hey Rosie, it's okay. How about we two skive the boring classes today and I'll teach you some more letters instead?" She whispered softly.

Sherlock smirked, having overheard the girls (Charlie's?) words as he was already standing in the doorway, "I should probably notify authorities about that given that I'm part of the team now.." he said and smiled, "But since they don't take advice from me like they would from a proper part of the team.. I'm not gonna act like it, want me to cover for you two?" he asked, walking into the room and crouching down next to Rosie's bed, "Are you going to come out, so we can talk, bumblebee?" he asked softly now. "No!" Rosie said, sniffling.

"Okay. Can you at least lift the blanket so we can join you, please? I could sneak some red cookies out of the kitchen and we could have those for breakfast here." Charlie suggested, to get Rosie to come out of there. "Or we could ask Sherlock to do it, if he's on our side now. I mean Mrs. Turner's his aunt anyway." She said, hoping Rosie would take the bait, and gave Sherlock a short and cheeky smirk.

"Mrs Turner is his neighbour, not his aunt.." Rosie said, sniffling again as she lifted the blanket a little to look at them, "I told you that." she said, looking at Charlie and Sherlock couldn't help but smile. Good trick, he had to give her that. "True." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Don't you want to introduce us?" he asked, wondering if that would help distract her, "Okay..." Rosie mumbled, lifting the blanket a little more, "That's Charlie." she said and pointed at the older girl, "And that's Lock." she said pointing at him.

Charlie smiled, when Rosie looked up at them again, before turning to the guy she'd just introduced her to. "Pleasure to meet you, Lock." She said politely and held her hand out. "Good to know we've got at least one thing in common. I like your Christmas tree by the way."

Sherlock chuckled, "Well, that's all Rosie's doing. She called the shots." he said and smiled at the little girl, before looking back to Charlie, "So, you two played detective last night? Hope you didn't leave marks on the door." he said and raised a brow, that could actually cause some trouble.

"No, we used a key and we made sure to leave everything the way it had been. I mean, we did leave fingerprints, but we didn't give them a reason to check for those." Charlie answered calmly, before adding. "And it's not 'playing' detective if you actually find something important out."

"Oh, I didn't mean 'playing' that way, don't worry." Sherlock said with a smile, "What did you find out, though.. Rosie already told me that you've found photos of your families.." he said and looked at Charlie. "Yeah we did!" Rosie said, she was still sniffling, but not crying anymore. "We were both two years old when we arrived here." she said.

"Yeah and.. there were complicated, long words in our files that I didn't quite understand. Maybe you could explain them to me some time later?" Charlie made herself ask; she'd just try and be careful not to tell him too much in case her intuition about him was wrong. "By the way, could you maybe frame Rosie's family picture? She said you might."

"Yeah, no problem, we can talk at lunch? Or after school?" Sherlock asked and smiled at the second request, "Of course I can frame it for you, honey bee," he said and smiled at the little girl, glad that she had stopped crying, "I can even try to find a frame with bees on, if you'd like that." he said to cheer her up, which seemed to work as she smiled, "Whoa really?" she asked and SHerlock chuckled, "Yes, really. I'll make it my top priority today, so you can have it tomorrow already."

Charlie nodded at the question, before smiling when Rosie chuckled again. After a moment she pointed at the book. "It's in there on page 221."

"That's Sherlock address!" Rosie chirped and grinned, having almost forgotten about the disappointment from before as she sat up, "I saw it on his door!" she added and Sherlock smiled at her again, "That's right! It's 221B Baker Street." he said and Rosie chuckled, "You have a bee in your address!" she chuckled.

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" Charlie asked after a moment. "I've heard he doesn't like tomato juice very much. So have you two been together for very long?" She asked, after all she'd seen a picture of the two and was wondering about their ages. And everything regarding John and Sherlock seemed to cheer Rosie up, so that was a safe topic (at least as long as they didn't drop the metaphors in front of her.

"Ah.. well, no, we haven't, just about a month, actually." Sherlock said with a laugh, "It's a bit of a long story, actually. So you're not allergic to tomato juice then?" he asked curiously, wondering how much he could tell her about this.

Charlie stopped and thought for a moment if it was wise to tell him she was a vampire.. Then again, she had already chosen sides hadn't she? And it'd be a hard lie to maintain.. "said with a smirk, figuring that

Charlie stopped and thought for a moment if it was wise to tell him she was a vampire.. Then again, she had already chosen sides hadn't she? And it'd be a hard lie to maintain.. "Nope, I sometimes even feel like I could survive on just tomato juice alone." She said with a smirk, figuring that to any normal person that'd just sound like she was very much into tomatoes.

"Right, well, same." Sherlock said and smiled, "Me too!" Rosie chirped and Sherlock smiled at her, before turning back to Charlie, "Well, let's just say John and I have been friends for a while, then recently got together and I realised that I had some.. /older/ connections to his family, which just brought us closer." he explained, not wanting to go too much into detail, maybe he could tell her when Rosie wasn't around, he really didn't want to confuse her as long as she didn't know about vampires..

Hm, interesting. She turned back to Rosie then who thankfully looked almost normal again if it hadn't been for her puffy eyes. "Now, Rosie, what about those cookies? I don't know about you, but I'm starting to feel hungry." Charlie said with a smile.

"Can you really get us some cookies, Lock?" Rosie asked and Sherlock smiled, "Anything for you, bumblebee." he said and tapped Rosie's nose, making her chuckle. "Any other orders?" he asked, looking back and forth between Charlie and Rosie, "Hot chocolate? Tomato juice?" he asked with a smirk.

"Well, if you bring Mrs. Turner's red cookies, I'll go with hot chocolate." Charlie said with a smile. "And thanks." She said and looked at the other a little curiously. By the looks of it, he could've still lived here, but that was obviously wrong.

"Ah.. Red cookies, got it." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Hot chocolate for you too, bee?" he asked and Rosie nodded, smiling at him. "Can we really stay in my room today?" she asked and Sherlock smiled, "If you want to, I'll tell Greg you're not feeling well and that I allowed Charlie to stay with you and take care of you." he said and chuckled. "I take the blame, being a 'trainee teacher' and new has got to have some perks after all."

"Nice." Charlie commented and sat down on the edge of Rosie's bed. "We could get started on numbers too, if you want. I mean, now that we've got all day." Charlie said with a smile. Her girl friends were already thinking she wasn't feeling well anyway.

"Oh! Speaking of learning to read," Sherlock said and lifted the coat he was still holding, reaching into it's inside pocket and getting out a small notebook along with a pencil that had with a wobbling bee on top, a yellow sharper and a bee shaped eraser and a yellow ruler, all held together with a ribbon, holding it out for Rosie to take. "I figured you'd need proper equipment for your lessons." he said and chuckled as Rosie gaped, reaching out to take the package and inspecting it.

Charlie chuckled when she saw that and looked at it with Rosie. "Looks awesome to me. What do you think?"

"It's amazing!" Rosie said and held it out for Charlie to look at it, "Look, I've got a pencil with a bee! And an eraser if I make mistakes and a notebook like a real student!" she said happily and Sherlock couldn't help but chuckle at how happy that little present made her, "Alright, you two get set up to study and I'll get those cookies for you." he said, standing up.

Charlie watched Sherlock leave the room and turned back to Rosie. "Okay, let's sit up then, so we can get started. How about we learn the letter 'B' today? It looks a bit like two bees cuddling on a pole." She said with a chuckle, figuring that would get her out of her little blanket ford for good now.

Being a teacher's aid had proved to be much more demanding than expected with the kids being all excited about the new addition to the teachers and then of course trying to figure out how to help each one individually with their class work as they all had different tasks given they were in different grades. Working with them really was fun, though, despite still being annoyed that Rosie was denied to join. When lunch rolled around, he grabbed three servings, plus the additional glasses of blood to go with it, before he made his way over to Rosie's room, knocking at the door, before entering.

Charlie looked up when Sherlock entered and smiled when she could smell the blood. Damn, she hadn't even noticed she'd been hungry until now. She was quite proud to be able to say that Rosie was now able to read and write six letters (B, E, I, O, R, and S) as well as two numbers (0&1) now. Also, she was quite keen to talk to Sherlock about last night's discovery. Especially since she couldn't go to one of the proper teachers, who probably knew about those files anyway (or would be mad at her for breaking into an office). "Mmh, that smells good." She commented with a smile.

“Yeah, Mrs Turner is almost as creative with tomato based recipes as my landlady is." Sherlock said with a chuckle, carefully setting the plates down on Rosie's small desk, making sure not to spill anything on Rosie's work.

"Must be great to have her as a landlady then." Rosie said and reached carefully for one of the plates. "Here, have a look at Rosie's work." Charlie then said and pointed at the latest piece of paper in front of them that read "Rosie or 2 bees?"

Sherlock chuckled, "Not bad. Did you learn all those letters today?" he asked and Rosie nodded proudly, "Yeah and it's not at all as hard as I thought it was, it's really easy!" she said and smiled brightly as Sherlock closed her notebook and set it aside, before placing her plate in it's spot, so Rosie could sit and eat. Taking his own plate, he sat down on the bed, "Bumblebee, would you mind waiting here for a few minutes while Charlie shows me her room when we're done eating?" he asked, looking meaningfully at Charlie, figuring what ever she wanted to talk about was something she wouldn't want Rosie to hear, otherwise she'd have already said it.

Glad Sherlock had got the hint, she gave him a little nod before bringing a forkful of food to her mouth. Having an adult to consult would be a very good thing for them (especially Rosie, herself and the new kid).

Rosie shook her head, "I can practice the letters some more until you're back!" she chirped, taking a bite of her lunch, "Maybe you can try to figure our how to write 'sober' and 'rise' all on your own." he said and smiled, "You can write both with the letters you've learnt."

"Yeah, I'm sure you can do it, Speedy." Charlie nodded in between bites, before asking. "So Sherlock, how's your first day at work?"

"I'll try!" Rosie said, before continuing to eat. The rest of the meal was rather quiet, until they had all finished their meals, "Right then, Charlie how about we go take a look at your room and you and Rosie bring the plates back to Mrs Turner when the next classes have started?" Sherlock asked, standing up.

"Yeah, sounds good." Charlie nodded, before getting to her feet and putting her plate onto Rosie's empty one. "It's this way." She said as she led the way back to her own room, biting her lip a little since she wondered how Sherlock would behave now that Rosie wasn't around. After closing the door behind them she breathed out. "Okay, as you might've already figured I've got something important to talk to you about. I mean you've stood up for Rosie and been nice to her, so that speaks for you.. But first, who's side are you really on here? And don't try lying to me, I know the signs of that."

Sherlock chuckled a little, "I know those signs too, but don't worry." he said and started to walk again, "But before we elaborate, let's go somewhere more private, I doubt you want to discuss last nights event in earshot of other teachers that don't appreciate a well done break in as much as I do." he said with a chuckle.

"Erm.. right." Charlie nodded and began to take Sherlock back to her own room. "Just for the record, how old are you?" She asked just quietly enough only for Sherlock to hear it.

"242, actually." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Officially 20, at the moment." he said with a smile, "And in case you're wondering, I had just turned 18 when I was turned, I wasn't born a vampire."

"242? That's ancient." Charlie said incredulously, before noticing that was probably rude and sobering up a little. "Is that a thing though? Being born a vampire, I mean. They haven't officially given me this whole 'vampire talk' thing yet."

"Ah, I just meant when you're turned as a little kid." Sherlock said and frowned, "It's basically the same though, isn't it? I mean, you get to grow into that kind of life from a young age." he said and shrugged, "It's different when you're turned and left to figure it all out on your own, without knowing the first thing about it." he said and shook his head to chase away the memory of Victor, how he had longed to know how to turn someone. "Anyway, you found out on your own then?" he asked, not surprised in the least, really.

"Yup, I made an older girl tell me after reading that there's a subject called 'vampire studies' on her time table. I mean, this hole story - well, all of those little lies you're being told as a child - doesn't really add up, if you've once only cut your finger and put it into your mouth." She said and shrugged and let them into their room. "Also explains why practically no one comes by to adopt."

"Would you like that?" Sherlock asked, curious if she'd want to leave the place she basically grew up in for a chance to live with a family that'd want to adopt her. "I mean, you've spent all your life here, haven't you?"

"Course I do." Charlie gave him a wry smile and sat down on her bed. "You're asking me whether I want an intact family with parents that would hopefully love me." She said and huffed a little. "We all secretly want that, as much as we love each other.. I mean, children come and go and there are eight adults working here. Even though they're doing their best, that's hardly a family, is it?"

"It's a version of it." Sherlock said and sat down next to her, "Trust me, that's better than spending a hundred years basically on your own." he said and sighed, "Sorry, this isn't going to turn into a 'there are people who live in much worse conditions' speech." he said and remembered her question from before, "Oh and about what you asked before, about who's side I'm on, I could lie and say I'm definitely on yours, but I can't decide anything about this before I know what's going on in the first place." he said honestly, "Now tell me about what you found in those files?"

"Okay, so Rosie came to me the other day about this new kid Timothy. Apparently the teachers said that something bad had happened to his family and she wanted to find out what." Charlie said. "Now, since I've learned about vampires there have been things about this orphanage that just don't add up. Like, if we're all vampires and presumably have all been turned by our parents, why would they then decide they no longer want vampire kids? They could've at least had the decency not to turn us, so we could go to a regular orphanage and actually have a chance to be adopted. We're currently 68 children and I doubt there are that many bad parents. Conclusion, they must've died; or at least most of them. Now, again. At least 70 vampire mums and dads must've died in this area the past 18 years alongside their possibly human significant others. That's a lot, but fine, it's possible, if strange. Now when Rosie said his parents were murdered, we decided to look into our three files. All of our parents were murdered, with us toddler being found covered in blood, but other than that unharmed. If vampires really can't be harmed/killed easily their murderers knew what they were doing and they have been doing this for at least 12 years, because I really don't believe in coincidences. And I'm talking to you because all of the other adults very much do." Charlie ended her story and looked down on her lap. "I have to find out what happened to us and our parents and if someone's out there to get us. I'm not paranoid; this just doesn't make sense..." Charlie said and glanced up at him. "Now, whose side are you on?"

"You're right.. it doesn't make sense, you know what my brother says when I talk about him about coincidences? The universe is rarely so lazy." Sherlock said and frowned a little, "You've got a phone, right? Can you manage to sneak into the office one more time and take photos of every page in those three files?" he asked and thought, "And take Rosie with you and that umbrella she has. That way if someone finds you, you can say you wanted to check on Rosie because she wasn't feeling so well today and went looking for her when you noticed she wasn't in her bed and found her snooping around in Mrs Hope's office. Greg knows about the stories you made up."" he said and smirked a little, "Rosie could have knocked the key off the frame with the umbrella." he added. "And to answer your question, if you haven't figured yet, I'm on your side here. From what my mother told me about the orphanage.. I already had a feeling something strange was going on."

Charlie sighed in relief, now that someone was actually taking this seriously and would help them. Which was quite idiotic in itself, since her worst suspicions had just been confirmed. "Yes, we can do that." Charlie nodded and looked up at Sherlock. "Why would anyone do that to us?"

"I don't know..." Sherlock said, putting a hand on Charlie's shoulder, "But we're gonna find that bastard. As hard as it sounds, the fact that this Timothy boy just arrived is actually rather lucky, I could probably find a way to get his case file and possibly even yours and Rosie's, the police must have been involved in each case."

Charlie nodded at that. Good, Sherlock knew what he was doing, which was very reassuring for a change "And then we'll see if anything suspicious is in those, yeah?"

"Maybe I can convince Mrs Hope to let you come with us when John and I take Rosie on a trip the next time, John could play with Rosie while you and I look at the files." Sherlock said and smirked at her, "Assuming you want to be involved, that is. But I'm guessing you do. And I have a feeling you do have the abilities to help with this too." he said seriously, "But, if I'm wrong and you don't want to be involved with this, it's fine. And naturally, the invitation to join us stands no matter what."

Charlie couldn't help smiling for a moment, before nodding seriously. "No, you're right. I can and want to work with you on that." And the trip also didn't sound bad. "You're finally an adult who's talking some sense around here."

"Well that's because I know what it's like.." Sherlock said and shrugged, "I can see the same thing I saw in Rosie, in you too. You're way smarter than your age suggests. Basically my whole family was like that. My mother, my sister back then, she died very young, though, but my brother and even my twin baby sisters are incredibly smart, we were lucky with my mother. She could relate, but most people can't. With Rosie, obviously we have to limit what she learns a little, since she's still young, but I'm pretty sure you have a good idea what you can handle and what not. So if at some point investigating this becomes too much for you, I expect you tell me. That's my only condition to let you help me here."

"Yes, obviously." Charlie nodded, understand and appreciating the level of trust that meant he placed in her here. Obviously, if any of this messed her up, Sherlock would be held responsible. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Sherlock said and cleared his throat, "Can you still do me the favour of talking to my mum? I'll tell her about this anyway and I'd really rather you have someone to talk about this, you know.. having a vampire therapist is incredibly useful, really. And well, smart or not, whatever we learn it is probably going to be traumatising, so.. just give it a shot." he said, hoping Charlie actually would, he did really trust her, but he did want to have his mother on board to help Charlie to deal with this.

"I'll think about it." Charlie said truthfully and sighed. She hadn't ever really confided into anyone completely, so she was quite unsure of that kind of concept. "Is this kind of thing something normal for you to get involved in? You sound so... composed. The way adults try to sound, when they want to reassure you, just that you actually do have a plan."

"Well in more than 200 years, you learn a few things." Sherlock said and gave a small laugh, "I've just been through a lot. And I've seen a lot." he added and pulled his hand back as he stood up, "But I've got to tell you about this another time," he said, "Gotta go back to class."

"I-, yeah, sure. See you later." Charlie nodded and got to her feet. Right, they'd have to go to Mrs. Turner now.

"Oh and I've already settled everything with Greg, you're not getting in trouble for skipping, but I got scolded for allowing two students to skip class on my first day." Sherlock chuckled, shaking his head, "See you later, Miss Marple." he said with a warm smile, before he turned to leave.

"See you." Charlie said and had a big smile on her face when Sherlock left. After a moment, she went out of her room too to go back to Rosie. This had gone much better than she'd hoped for.

When Sherlock arrived back home that day (two hours later than expected since he had been searching basically the whole town for a god-damned bee frame for Rosie's photo, having eventually found one, luckily), he smiled, spotting John in the living room, setting the little bag with the frame down on the coffee table, "Hey..." he said and flopped down next to him on the sofa.


	50. The Mystery Of St. Arthur's

"Hey, love." John greeted him and wrapped an arm around him to pull him closer (yeah, they'd only been apart for the day, but he wasn't used to that). "Hard day, was it?"

"Oh no, the day was actually quite nice." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, leaning into his boyfriend, "The hard part was trying to find a frame with anything like a bee pattern on it." he said, rolling his eyes, "Promised Rosie I'd get one for her. Would you believe that Rosie broke into Hope's office last night?" he said and laughed.

"She did what?" John asked and furrowed his brow. "I don't doubt it actually, but I don't know if that speaks for Rosie's abilities or the lack of security in Mrs. Hope's office."

"Well she had some help, you remember that girl she talked about? Charlie? Apparently she got over some of her insecurities and chatted her up, asking for help." Sherlock explained and sat up a bit, "They're actually friends now and Charlie helps her out with reading. But there's more to the story than just that."

"Wow, sounds like I've missed quite a lot." John said, before listening to the rest of Sherlock's story and how his initial suspicions had been confirmed. "Jesus" John said eventually. "That's... bad."

"I know." Sherlock said and bit his lip, "I'm actually not sure if it's a good idea to let Charlie work on that, I mean.. smart or not, she's still twelve. But well, I do know that you couldn't have kept me away from investigating something like this, so it's better if we have an eye on that. And.. erm.. did I mention that I kind of instructed her to break into Mrs Hope's office again?" he asked, clearing his throat.

"You instructed her to do what?!" John asked incredulously. "Yeah, neither of those things would count as very good ideas, Sherlock."

"Well, I need those files." Sherlock said and bit his lip, "And really, she'd have done it anyway, she's not stupid, she'd have realised that it would be necessary for anyone working on this to take a look at the files." he said and shrugged, "Also, I told her how to cover it up if she's caught."

John rubbed his eyes and gave him a doubtful look. "Do I have to tell you what I think of this? There's a big difference between deciding to break into somewhere and being instructed by a teacher to do so and being provided with a cover story. Let me guess, you were proud when they told you about their break-in and made sure they hadn't left any obvious traces?" He really wouldn't have expected anything else from Sherlock nor did he really condone it, but he felt like he should at least say something.

"Well.. yes, I mean, pulling something like this off without leaving traces or being caught is pretty impressive considering their ages." Sherlock said and couldn't help but smile, "Also, in my opinion those family photos belong to them and certainly shouldn't sit in some file they don't have access to."

"True, but breaking into there wasn't the best way to do it." John said, before asking. "So Charlie's a gifted one too, yeah? They've got a lot of those in that orphanage." John commented.

"Well, I wouldn't say they're all like Charlie and Rosie, but there sure are various kids with special talents." Sherlock said and sighed, "It's like someone's out there trying to raise the average vampire IQ.. someone very powerful too, given that he's got access to those kids. I mean they must somehow watch them for some time to figure out if there are any specific talents."

"Wait, you actually think that's it? That's quite a terrifying thought to be honest." John said after a moment.

"Well, I don't think raising the average IQ is their goal, but.. well, yeah, I think someone's stalking out kids like that and turning them for what reason ever." Sherlock said and frowned, "It's not a coincidence, it can't be."

"And making them orphans." John said and shook his head. "Why would anyone want to do that?"

"I don't know." Sherlock said and snuggled up closer against John, "Maybe..." he paused, suddenly remembering something Charlie had said, 'whether I want an intact family with parents that would hopefully love me'. "What if they eventually get adopted by whoever does this.. maybe they're planning something bigger than this and setting up their own high-functioning army.." he said and frowned, "I've got to look into previous adoption papers as well."

"Not now though, yeah? It's late." John said and kissed Sherlock's temple. "There's something awful going on and I'll help you, but you won't solve this tonight."

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah, you're right.. I don't even have evidence to start with." he said and smiled up at John, "How was your day?" he asked, yawning a little.

"Don't want to talk about it." John said and just shook his head. "You want some tea, love? I could turn on the kettle again."

Sherlock frowned, "Did anything happen?" he asked, somewhat worried about that kind of an answer.

"Duty of confidentiality." John reminded him kindly to ditch the subject. "So that's a no to tea then?"

Sherlock rolled his eyes at that, but decided not to nag him about telling him about what happened at work, "It's a yes to going to bed and cuddling though." he said and smiled at John, "Clothes are optional." he added with a smirk, trying to cheer him up a bit.

"Just cuddling would be nice." John said with a bit of a smile and ran a hand through Sherlock's curls.

Sherlock smiled, standing up and holding out his hand for John, "You know, I was thinking if they allow it, we could have Rosie and Charlie over for an afternoon this weekend, I'm sure you'd like her."

"I'm sure I would too. After all she's got the highest recommendations with you and Rosie, doesn't she?" John said with a smile and took Sherlock's hand, getting to his feet too.

"She's really good with her, though. Treats her like a big sister." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "It's really adorable."

"Yeah? I can believe that." John said with a chuckle. "It's a good thing they've got each other when neither of us is around."

"She's even replaced me as her reading and writing teacher." Sherlock said and smiled, "They made impressive progress today, she had six letters memorized and two numbers until lunch."

"Really? That's very impressive. She' really is a smart cookie." John said with a smile and walked with Sherlock into their bedroom. Really, he didn't care too much about Rosie's reading progress in that moment, but he liked the sound of Sherlock 's voice. Especially when he was talking about something that's important to him.

The next day passed quite uneventful - luckily, as that meant Rosie and Charlie hadn't been caught breaking into Mrs Hope's office a second time, after retrieving his phone from Charlie, who he had given it to to send him the photos while he was in class, Sherlock made his way to the registrar's office, hoping he could somehow get a hold of older adoption files. Arriving he walked up to the guy at the counter, smiling at him.

"Hello, sir. How can I help you?" The man, 'Roland' according to his name tag, said with a polite smile.

Sherlock kept the smile on his face, noticing almost instantly that 'Roland' was gay, or at the very least bisexual, which could come in handy. "Yes, I hope so," he said and cleared his throat, "You see, I'm working as a private detective and actually this is my very first case and.." he chuckled a little, running a hand through his hair, "And it would be really helpful if I could have a look into some particular adoption files?"

Roland stared at Sherlock a little longer than necessary, before biting his lip a little shaking his head reluctantly. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm not allowed to give those out to anyone."

"No need to 'sir' me. I'm Scott." Sherlock said - no way he'd give this guy his real name. "Scott Donovan." he said and held out his hand for the other man to shake it.

"Oh, hello Scott. I'm Dennis, erm sorry I mean Roland." The young man quickly corrected himself and blushed a little, as he shook Sherlock's hand.

"Well, Dennis-Roland.." Sherlock said with a little smirk, holding the man's hand longer than strictly necessary, before letting it go, "Look, how about we make copies of those files together and I'll return them to you ... let's say tonight? I could meet you somewhere for dinner. I really just need to take a quick peek into them and compare some data."

Dennis blushed a little more, before nodding. "I, erm, I think I might be able to make an exception." He said, before breaking eye-contact with the other to look for those files.

Sherlock bit his lip, before giving the other a smile, "Oh really? That's so nice of you." he said and put his arm on the counter, leaning a little closer to the other man, "I need all adoption records connected to St Arthur's orphanage from the last 30 years. That should be less than it sounds like, going by my research not too many people come by to adopt kids from there."

"Oh, yeah, you're right." Dennis said after some typing. "Looks like there have been only like 5 adoptions in the past 30 years.. And not a single one in the last two years." He said with a frown as he began to gather the documents. "Hm, must be some brats living there." He joked.

Sherlock had to force himself to keep the smile on his lips, "Oh, I don't know, from what I've found out, there are many kids with complicated backgrounds, that's probably not as fancy to adopt than a kid that lost his parents in a tragic sob-stories.." he said and shrugged.

"Hm, alright." Dennis said with a shrug, as he began to print the documents. "So you're investigating the orphanage?"

"Yeah, it's a long story, really, there's this rich guy who's incredibly picky about where he donates," Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, "Of course I can't give you any names, all I can say is that he's really paranoid about bad press and wants to make sure there's nothing fishy about that place."

"Ah, okay. That's really cool though." He said, bundling up the papers. "Maybe you could tell me some more about your work. I'm sure it's more exciting than this here."

"Oh, I don't know," Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Working here must be interesting too. I'm sure you meet all sorts of interesting people." he said, clearing his throat, "So, why don't you write your number onto one of the papers and I'll give you a call tonight?" he asked.

Dennis, smirked a little and wrote his number and name onto a free spot on the second page. "Sounds great. See you, Scott." He said with a smile and put the printouts onto the counter.

"Can't wait." Sherlock said with another dazzling smile, which vanished as soon as he had taken the papers and turned his back to the guy at the counter, leaving the building.

 

John had come home from uni about four hours ago and had been studying ever since. He'd decided to call in sick for work today, so he'd have the whole evening to work on physics and the already half empty pot of the on the desk.

When Sherlock came home with the papers, he was rather proud of himself, getting them really had been child's play. "Guess what I've got." he said as he walked into the flat, dropping the stack of papers on the table. "All adoption papers of the last 20 years." he said smugly.

"Oh, brilliant." John said with a smile and took them to have a look at what he'd found. "How did you get those though?" He asked and turned the first page. "I'd have thought those kind of documents were- who the bloody hell is Dennis?!"

"Hm?" Sherlock asked from the kitchen, where he had been just pouring himself a glass of blood, "Oh, yeah that guy. He works at the counter at the registrar's office. I promised him to return the papers to him tonight over dinner, obviously that's not gonna happen."

"So you were flirting with some random bloke and asking him out for dinner?" John asked, looking not amused at all, and set the papers down again.

"I wasn't serious about any of it." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, walking over to John, "He doesn't even know my name, John. There was no way he'd have given me those papers otherwise."

"That bloody i-dot in his name's a heart!" John exclaimed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. People were already undressing his boyfriend with their eyes as it was, so obviously John was unhappy about Sherlock actually engaging in that."

"Oh come on," Sherlock chuckled, setting his glass down and moving his arms around his boyfriend, "I'd never date anyone that uses hearts as i-dots." he said and pecked John's cheek.

"I'd hope so." John said with a sigh, before looking back down on the documents. "So those are the adoption files 20 whole years?"

"Yeah." Sherlock said and frowned a bit, "Ten adoptions in 30 years. That's a lot if you consider the fact that barely anyone knows about the orphanage and they'd probably try to avoid having non vampires adopt vampires since they'd have to tell those people about those kids."

"Hm, are those adoptions equally distributed over the years?" John asked. "I mean one adoption every two years is just as suspicious as twelve every ten."

Flipping through the pages, Sherlock frowned, "That's odd.." Sherlock said, pretty much ignoring John's words, "Seems like the kids that get adopted are between 4 and 14 years old and now what's really weird, there's another kid getting adopted by a previously adopted kid when it's full aged.." he said and frowned, looking at the age of the child that got adopted most recently, "It's about time for another adoption too.. the last one that got adopted turns 18 in a month." he said and couldn't make heads or tails of this yet, but something was very very off about this.

"What?" John frowned and looked over Sherlock's shoulder to have a look for himself. "How did the teachers not notice that? I mean, that sounds extremely dubious."

"I don't know.. maybe they just figured it's one orphan looking out for another." Sherlock said and shrugged, "It's not entirely unreasonable. It's not frequent enough to really be suspicious without further evidence."

John nodded quietly; he had a very bad feeling about this. "Wait, hang on a minute. Aren't Rosie and Charlie in exactly the right age to be adopted then?"

"Yeah.." Sherlock said and sat down on the sofa, still watching the papers, "So that leaves a month to get them safe. I don't know what this is about, but I sure as hell don't want Rosie or Charlie to be involved with this."

"But they need their permission, don't they? I mean, you can't have a child adopted against its will." John said with a frown. Not that he didn't want them out of there immediately though. They shoukd probably look into which kinds of children did get adopted; maybe there was a pattern too. "Do you think they'd just agree?"

"You know what Charlie told me just yesterday? She said that she'd trade the orphanage for a family that'd want to adopt her any day." Sherlock said and leant back, dropping the papers on the table, "As smart as they are, when they think we want to interfere with them getting that kind of family, I hardly doubt they'd still be so happy with us. We need to get to them before someone else does." he said and frowned, "We could try to become their foster parents and take them in.. at least temporary. Until we've figured this out."

"Mmh, then that's probably the best thing we can do for them." John nodded. "And they'd even already have a bedroom." He said with a dry laugh and shook his head. "Taking advantage of children like that... I can't imagine what kind of a person could be behind that."

"Some very sick bastard, that's for sure." Sherlock said, before looking up at John when the larger implications of that caught up with him, "Wait.. does that mean we're actually taking them in?" he asked, surprised even though he had suggested it himself.

"Well, I suppose so. It'd be for their own safety, wouldn't it?" John said and looked at Sherlock; this wasn't exactly what he'd imagined his second year of med school would look like. Funny, in his last job interview he'd said he loved to take on responsibility. "And with you working at the orphanage most days, I think we could do it."

Sherlock nodded, "I'm pretty sure Amy and Ally wouldn't mind lending their room to Rosie and Charlie for a while." he mused and took out his phone, "With mum's help I could probably arrange all of that and make it happen within a week.. if you're really okay with this, I'll call her now."

"Yeah, go ahead." John nodded after a few seconds of thought. "We can't leave the two there."

Sherlock nodded, "Alright." he said and sighed, "I just hope we're not making it worse for them. Charlie would probably understand this is just for their protection, but we can't tell Rosie the real reasons.. perhaps we could tell her this is just some sort of.. vacation?" he asked, frowning.

"Yeah, why not? I mean, it's Christmas anyway, so it does make sense." John said with a shrug. "But you're right, I don't want to break Rosie's heart heart when she goes back to the orphanage. Especially if they find out they'll have missed a chance to get adopted for real."

"Well.. I wouldn't consider whatever's happening with those kids 'being adopted for real'. Even if they pretend to be a family, or whatever those sickos do, I hardly doubt they'd want to stay with the people who murdered their parents." Sherlock said with frown.

"Me neither, but there might actually be a legit childless vampire-couple stopping by there every other century. And like you've said, they probably wouldn't want to miss that chance; otherwise we would hardly have to take them in in the first place." John said, though he also knew he'd feel much better about this whole thing if he knew those two would be in close proximity to at least one of them most of the time; at least until those criminals were locked away (or dead; he really wouldn't mind).

"You don't grasp what it means if only vampires can adopt you, do you?" Sherlock asked and bit his lip, "We already know that turning into a vampire can heal severe illnesses, good chance that it would heal whatever would have made it impossible for people to have biological children and well, I also don't think that people who don't know about the fact that it heals most things would know of a vampire orphanage. Being an actual community comes with all sorts of advanced knowledge.." he said and sighed, "John, the only adoption happening in the last 20 years are all tied to this. There were zero actual adoptions." he said with a sigh.

John sighed himself then. "Okay, I think I've got a grasp now. It wasn't as obvious to me." He replied dryly, before picking up the stack of papers to go through them himself. "So what do you suggest we do next? Wait until... Chloe turns 18 and wants to adopt?"

"I suppose.." Sherlock said and frowned, "From what I've gathered the orphanage has existed for quite a while, we could try to figure out where it started, but I doubt they've got archives dating back until the beginning.. and even if, how would we know it was the first case, rather than the first recorded one.." he said with a sigh.

"Hm, right." John said over the papers. "But we can start by taking Rosie and Charlie in. Can you break it to them? I'm not going to be at the orphanage the next couple of days. But anyway, we could try to talk to Mrs. Hope; she seemed like a reasonable woman."

"Yeah, I'll tell them." Sherlock said and smiled, "Well at the very least some time away from the orphanage might not be the worst thing.. you know, get a glimpse of what it's like not to live with 60 other people." he said and looked at his phone, "Anyway, I'll call my mum now." he said and stood up, dialling his mother's number.

Once Sherlock was out of the kitchen, John hesitated before taking the piece of paper second from the top and getting out his own phone to send a text himself. Fine, he did sort of feel bad for that bloke.

Hey, Jim. My boyfriend met a nice bloke working at a the registrar's office (and before you ask, no we haven't been there together). Didn't you say, you were still looking for a someone? I know you don't usually do that sort of stuff, but you know, it might be worth a shot. Anyway, this is his number; his name's Dennis. Cheers, mate. -John W.

Once Sherlock had explained everything to his mother, she assured him that she would talk to the authorities and that she was positive she could make this happen, which was good. Especially since they had both agreed that it would be more reasonable not to tell the people at the orphanage that they're investigating this, not knowing if someone working there might be involved. Returning to John, Sherlock sighed sitting down next to him. "Alright, so mum said she's got some friends who have the power to settle these things quickly, so we could probably take them home with us by the end of the week."

John put his phone away again and nodded. "Good, I'm glad we can do it that quickly. It's very useful that your mum's been working there for a while."

"Also, mum and I decided it would be best not to talk to any of the orphanage staff about investigating this. Who knows, one of them could be involved." Sherlock said, although it seemed unlikely, he couldn't even imagine Donovan stooping so low. "If they ask why we take care of them, our official reason for taking them in will be that we think we can handle them and their specific educational needs better than the orphanage can, which isn't even a lie."

"Yeah, that's true." John huffed and shook his head. "How are the two doing by the way?"

"Oh, they're doing great. Charlie taught Rosie another three letters yesterday evening and Rosie was really excited about their second break in. Seems like it was a big adventure for her." Sherlock chuckled and cleared his throat, "But uh, obviously, breaking in somewhere is wrong, I probably should tell her that at some point."

"You mean, you'll tell her to be more careful once she reaches the age where she can be held legally accountable?" John said with a raised eyebrow.

"That's basically what I mean, yeah." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Seems like I've got the fun parent role carved out for me, so you've got to take on the spoil sport role." he said with a grin and leant over to peck John's lips.

"You know what, you'll be the one to take them home from the police station, should they ever get caught." John said teasingly, rolling his eyes in feigned annoyance.

"Deal." Sherlock said with a smirk and leant in for a longer kiss, moving his arms around his boyfriend's waist.

John smiled and kissed him back deeply, bringing a hand up to Sherlock's cheek. "I haven't told you that I love you in a while." He commented softly in between kisses.

"True, I haven't heard it from you in almost 24 hours." Sherlock said and rested his forehead against John's, "Should I be worried?" he asked with a smile.

"I love you, Sher." John smiled back and pecked his lips.

"I love you too." Sherlock said and smiled against John's lips, "Even if we both spectacularly fail as trainee parents." he said and chuckled a little.

"True. I already feel sorry for the kids." John chuckled faintly. "But I've got a feeling we're better than psychokillers, so I mean there's that."

"Well, yeah, that's definitely true." Sherlock said with laugh and scratched the back of his neck, "We need to go shopping though.." he said and reached for a pen and a piece of paper, "We definitely need a larger bed for Charlie.. what else?" he asked, looking at John, while noting the bed.

"I haven't been up there in a while.. But do they already have a desk and a bigger wardrobe up there?" John asked, before frowning. "And maybe a little bookshelf?"

"Right.." Sherlock said and frowned, "Actually.. you know what, how about we clean out the storage room up there and make that Charlie's room? I hardly doubt she'll want to stay in a nursery with three toddlers sometimes." he said and chuckled. "I mean she might like Rosie, but she's twelve. She'll need privacy too. Maybe we can take both of them on a shopping trip and let them pick out their own stuff. At least for Charlie that seems more reasonable."

"Yeah, I agree. And the way you've describes her she probably knows very well what she wants." John nodded. "How about we clean up the storage room on Thursday? I haven't any classes there." He said, bed frowning. "By the way, when are your new classes now?"

"They're starting in January." Sherlock said and shrugged, "It's not that far away and well, meanwhile I can gather some experience at the orphanage." he said with a chuckle, "And really, I think with the case and Charlie and Rosie now it's probably good that I only have the orphanage to go to for a while."

"Mmh, yeah, that's quite a lot for you as it is." John said with a weak smile. "You know, I think we two should get out of London together for a while. After all of this, I mean, and when we've both got a break from uni."

"You mean like an early honeymoon?" Sherlock asked and leant a bit more into John, "Because I'd really be up for that." he chuckled.

"Good we've got something we can agree on then." John chuckled and pecked Sherlock's cheek. "Now, speaking of uni..." John started and looked back at his physics notes. "Let's talk about that mini vacation tonight."


	51. Good News And Bad News

When Sherlock arrived at the orphanage that morning, he was quite nervous about telling Charlie about the recent developments, not so much about Rosie, he was quite sure that for her it'd be a big adventure, but Charlie? He just worried having to go back would hit her harder than it would Rosie. Especially with the added pressure that the two were in serious danger. Shaking his head to clear his mind a little (after all he had a class to focus on), he went to hang up his coat in the teacher's lounge.

When Sally saw who'd just entered the teacher's room, she excused herself from a conversation with Janine and got right to her feet to talk to him. Those kinds of thing spreaded quickly in a small orphanage. "So it's right that you're taking home two of our girls?" She really couldn't see the point in small talk; especially in a situation like this.

"Good morning too, Sally, oh thanks, I'm fine, how are you?" Sherlock asked with a roll of his eyes, walking right past her, "And yes, it is right. Problem?" he asked, wondering why he even engaged in conversation with her.

"Well, you've been here for, I don't know, three days and you're already taking little girls out to your home, bringing them back later than agreed and now you want to be their foster parent to them because we don't do a good enough job looking after them? Yes, there is a problem." Sally spat out angrily.

"Well there's a psychiatrist that wholeheartedly agrees with it, but don't worry Sally, you're not that bad with average kids, but Rosie and Charlie are both smarter than you are. Both mentally and emotionally. And yes, I think you're overcharged with them. Which is why John and I are taking Rosie and Charlie home with us by the end of the week." he said and smiled at her, "Now, if you don't mind, I have to go to class." he said and turned, not noticing Rosie who had been eavesdropping with wide eyes and who was already running towards Charlie's room, knocking excitedly at her door.

Recognising the knocks (and the tiny excited steps leading up to them), Charlie got up from her desk to let Rosie in. What did she want from her that early in the morning? Maybe she'd overheard some teacher's talking about last night's coup? Hopefully not. "Hola Speedy." She greeted her with a smile and stepped back into the room. "Come inside. What's up so early in the morning?"

"Sherlock's here and you know what he just said!" Rosie said and dashed past her into the room, hopping up and down, her eyes still sparkling happily, "He said that they're going to take me home with them! By the end of the week! How long is that?" she asked, still hopping.

Ouch. She hadn't expected them to be quite that quick (then again, the family picture in front if their Christmas tree should've been a hint). So that's why Sherlock had asked. Shame, she'd miss her.. Her smile slipped from her face, before she remembered that she ought to be happy about this. "That's in four days." Charlie said after a moment. "I'm so happy for you, that's awesome news." She said with a smile and sat back down on her bed. "Have you talked to John already?"

Rosie shook her head, "No, I just heard Sherlock tell Sally! And you're coming too!" she said and grinned, moving over to hug Charlie's legs! Then we'll be sisters!" she said and looked up at her.

Charlie's eyes went wide at that as she looked down on Rosie. "Wait, what? He really said that?"

Rosie nodded, "Yeah! He said that we're both coming home with him and John! Well he didn't say John, but John is living with him, so I think he will be there too!" she said happily.

"They're gonna adopt us?" Charlie asked, her both gaping wide open. Could they do it that quickly? She didn't want to get her hopes up too high. "Are you sure he wasn't talking about a sleepover?"

"Sally said that he wants to be our erm..." Rosie paused, trying to remember the word Sally had used, "Uhm, our poster parent!" she said, quite sure that had been what Sally had said.

Now that actually made sense! - And she could inagine Sally arguing with Sherlock about that. "She said they're gonna be our foster parents?" Charlie asked with a bright smile, before dropping down to her knees to pull Rosie into a tight hug. "We're gonna have a home!"

"Charlie?" Rosie asked after a moment of thinking, "If Sherlock and John are going to be our parents, which of them will be the mummy?" she asked with a frown, she couldn't puzzle that out.

Charlie began to chuckle and kissed Rosie's cheek. "I think we'll just have two foster-dads (or maybe adoptive in the future?). "It'll be extra special, Rosie. Just the four of us in an actual flat."

Rosie smiled, "Yeah! It is special!" she said and snickered, "And Sally won't like that at all because she's a hombophob! That makes it even more amazing!" she said with a grin.

"I'll make sure to remind her next Tuesday in Religious Ed." Charlie said with a grin. "How about we get you to Janine now, but make a stop at the cafeteria first?" She asked, since she had a free period now anyway and wanted to find Sherlock to talk to him.

"Yeah! I haven't had breakfast yet!" Rosie said and held up her hand for Charlie to take it, "Do you think we'll get toys that belong just to us?" she asked happily.

Charlie took her and rose to her feet again to walk with her downstairs. "Yeah, I think so. And Mrs. Turner will be our neighbour." She said with a chuckle.

"Cool!" Rosie chirped and walked to the cafeteria with her, where Sherlock was sitting with a glass of blood, smiling as he spotted the pair, having asked Greg if he could skip the first period so he could talk to Charlie. "Ah, there you are." he said, standing up to greet Rosie with hug and with a bit of hesitation (after all he wasn't sure if Charlie would be weirded out) he gave Charlie a small hug too.

"Hey, Sherlock." Charlie smiled and hugged him back, still glowing with anticipation. "I've heard you and John wanted to take us in to your home." She said with a bright smile, before she could even really think about it. (Though she was still a little scared that Rosie'd got wrong something after all).

Sherlock frowned a bit, "How do you already..." he trailed off, looking at Rosie, "Ah, I take it Daphne's been spying again." he said and crouched down to ruffle her hair with a chuckle, "Well, basically that's true." he said and bit his lip, "But.. there's a bit more to it, look, Charlie, would you like to take a walk with me?" he asked, figuring it was best to break it to Charlie first.

"Yeah, sure." Charlie nodded and began to walk with Sherlock out of the cafeteria. "I was already expecting you to adopt Rosie, but I'd never have thought that's why you talked about family with me two days ago and I know that nicknames are used for bonding and... I can't believe I'll have a home and a sister next week..." She rattled off excitedly once Rosie was out of earshot (they couldn't both be hopping).

"Erm.." Sherlock began and god, he hated to have to tell her this, looking at her happy face. "Okay, look, it's a bit different." he said and cleared his throat, "We are going to take you in, yes. And, it's also true what we like you two very much and who knows about the future, but right now, it's mainly because you and Rosie could be in danger. I've looked closer at what's going on here and well, it seems like only the kids with murdered parents get adopted, by kids who've been previously adopted. It looks like a system and I have found clues that suggest the people that have to do with your parents murder will come around soon trying to adopt you, or Rosie.."

"Oh." Charlie said, the smile wiped from her face. That reply she hadn't expected. "I- Thank you for keeping us safe. And John doesn't know me, so he can't like me very much." She said dryly, chiding herself for not being more sceptical in the first place. Nevertheless, she understood what Sherlock was saying and wanted to show him that. "Do you want me to tell Rosie?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. I told him a lot about you and he's already quite fond of you." Sherlock said and sighed a little, sitting down on a bench outside and gesturing her to sit down next to him, "Look, Charlie, I really do like you. And as I said, we don't know about the future, John and I haven't even talked about adoption yet, I mean we have, but not in any serious terms. But we do want children. And who do you think we're going to adopt for real once we're ready to?" he asked with a smile, "And.. well you'll have your own room at our flat, which you can keep no matter what, I promise you that much. Also, you should probably think about what kind of room you'd like so you're prepared for the shopping trip we're going to make." he said with a smile, hoping that'd cheer her up.

Charlie smiled a little and leaned a bit into Sherlock's side. "Thank you. I'm still sad, but that's not your fault. You've been so nice to me." She said quietly. "It's good you're not lying to me, you know. And I like you too." She said and thought about Sherlock's words for a while, before eventually looking up again. "Sherlock?"

"Yeah?" Sherlock asked, moving his arm around the girl next to him, glad that she seemed to understand this.

"How does this murder system work exactly?" Charlie asked bluntly. "You don't have any new files about that with you, do you? You said, we'd look at those together." She reminded him.

"Yeah, but not here. I don't think anyone here is in on whatever is going on, but just to be safe, we're officially taking you two in because we're better suited to take care of your special educational needs." Sherlock said and smiled, "And of course we will, but I'd say we do that Friday night? When Rosie is in bed?" he asked and smiled, "Oh and, I was serious about your room. Money doesn't matter, so you can design your room however you want it, including floor and wallpaper." he said with a smile, "Living more than 200 years does have financial benefits." he said with a chuckle, "Oh and we'll get you a more modern phone as well, after all a good detective needs proper tools."

"One with a camera like yours?" Charlie asked with a grin. She'd been quite a bit jealous when she'd seen that compared to her own one. "By the way, is that already considered bribing?" She added with a smirk.

"It's not bribing, given that I've wanted to get a you a proper phone the moment I saw that yours is almost as ancient as I am." Sherlock said with a smirk, nudging Charlie's shoulder with his own. "Really, though. For now, I'd really like to be a good friend for you, if not your dad.." he said and despite his age, it felt a little weird to consider himself a dad.

Charlie chuckled at the first part and blushed a little, slightly embarrassed she'd called him that, before shaking her head. "No, you're not my dad. I've had enough false hopes and people lying to me, so please don't say that. This is more like witness protection, isn't it? But we can see about the good friend-thing." She said and glanced down; she did like Sherlock a lot. "John could actually be my older brother though, right? I mean, like, his age."

"Yeah." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "He could be. And hey, it's not witness protection, it's staying with friends in your second home to keep you safe." he said and smiled at her, "And, you know, apart from all that, I think you and Rosie would make good sisters. The fact that you're not getting adopted yet doesn't mean you two can't be sisters. She really looks up to you, you know."

"Yeah, she's awesome. I'm glad she came up to me two days ago." Charlie smiled and looked into the garden. "You know, when she first told me she was going to move in with you this morning, I got really upset, because I thought I wouldn't get to see her anymore. By the way, have you tried to talk to someone about her skipping a grade? They wouldn't let me do that, but maybe they've changed their minds."

"I don't know if I'll get them to do that." Sherlock said and frowned, "But well, we'll have time to teach her at home." he said and smiled, "That's also not bad. And of course if you want, we can go through some more advanced material as well." he said and smiled, "I guess you're quite bored in school, aren't you?"

Charlie looked down and blushed a little. "I don't really pay attention anymore to be honest. I mean, I used to get good grades, but when your repeating something for the umpteenth time and can't get forward... now I just draw or try to sneak a book into class."

"Well, how about that," Sherlock said and looked at her, "You make sure you get better grades and do whatever work you have to do for school, even if it's boring and you and I will put in an hour or two every day, let's say right after Rosie goes to bed, where we'll work on whatever you're interested in?" he suggested.

"You'd really do that with me?" Charlie asked with a smile. "And yeah, I promise!" She added quickly so that Sherlock wouldn't change his mind.

"Of course." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I'm a teacher after all." he said and huffed another laugh, "Well... sort of at least."

"What have you studied by the way?" Charlie asked curiously, having no doubt in her mind Sherlock had gone to university. "Once I'm your age I want to have studied everything.. or, well, realistically at least a lot of things."

"Well, I've studied chemistry over and over again. I mean, in 200 years, there was always something new to learn. And the times where I didn't study, I tried out a few things.. I've been in both wars, I've acted in a film.." he said with a chuckle.

"Whoa, you must be an absolute chemistry expert!" Charlie said, looking very impressed. "Have you met Molly yet? She teaches chemistry here and she's super nice. I mean, her class is always the loudest, but that's hardly her fault if the others can't be quiet."

"Hm, yeah, I've met her." Sherlock said and laughed, "John isn't so fond of her, though, since she was hitting on me the first time we met her, before we told her we're a couple." he said, shaking his head, "But, about the books you try to sneak into classes.. what kind of books do you like to read? Maybe we can drop by at a book store too, or you could go through the library in my family home, I've got books there that are older than me." he chuckled.

"Mmh, I've got a few ones on Philosophy; Sofie's World and things like that." Charlie explained, though she couldn't say that she really understood everything. "And English literature in general; I'm reading Frankenstein for example right now. It's really interesting, even though I probably don't get half of the references and theories yet... Anyway, you've got your own library??"

"Well, yeah, that was kind of usual back then. Have you ever read Jane Austen's books? That's the time I grew up in, she's captured it very well." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Not having a library back then would have been frowned upon like.. I don't know, maybe like people dropping out of society and living in the woods are frowned upon today. It was a status symbol, kind of. And obviously, it was an essential piece of entertainment without radios, or TVs, or phones."

"So, like, you had your house and shed and if you didn't have a whole library on top of that you were considered poor? I live in the wrong social class of the wrong century..." Charlie said and shook her head. "Yeah, of course I have! Sense and Sensibility, Emma and Northanger Abbey." Charlie remembered with a smile.

"Well, a larger room with many books inside was actually normal. Imagine it like a study." Sherlock said and smiled, "And obviously it also came down to having the best books, famous authors and such." he said and chuckled, "And erm.. it would have been quite embarrassing not to keep a proper library given that my best friend back then became a very famous author herself and well.. I kind of dated Oscar Wilde for a while and with Edgar Allen Poe being a friend of mine." he said, feeling like 'having dated' Oscar was more age appropriate than telling her they had made out.

"Hold on a second, you were also best friends with Jane Austin on top of thar?" Charlie asked disbelievingly; obviously she had to be that best friend, since Sherlock had just brought her up seemingly out of nowhere. "You have to let me read your memoirs!"

"You figured that out, huh." Sherlock said with a grin, "Yeah, I was talking about her." he said and chuckled, "Why read my memoirs, which I haven't written by the way." he said, laughing again, "But why read those if you can just talk to Jane yourself."

"Hold on a second, how many famous authors do you know?" Charlie asked disbelievingly. Sherlock must have lived quite a life. "You have to let me read your memoirs!"

"Uhm.. Well, I think that's about it." Sherlock said and chuckled, "And why would you read my memoirs if you can talk to them yourself." he said and smirked, "Well apart from Oscar, but Edgar and Jane are still alive. Jane is actually the best friend I was talking about, our parents used to want to set us up, well until I told them about the fact that I don't want to marry any woman." he laughed, "Jane teaches about her works at Cambridge, I could probably get you into one of her evening courses as an auditor, if you'd like that." he said with a smile.

"Seriously? Of course I do!" Charlie said excitedly. "Is there anybody you don't know? "

"Plenty of people." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I guess I was jsut really drawn to extraordinary people." he said with a smile, "Speaking of extraordinary people, you haven't met John, yet, have you?" he asked and frowned, "Should I try to convince Mrs Hope to let you leave with me after school, so we can go for dinner? Just the three of us, just to get to know each other?"

"You mean, like, go out into a restaurant with you? That would be awesome" Charlie nodded with a smile. "And that transition over to John was really cute by the way." She added with a chuckle.

Sherlock blushed a little at that, "Well, he is quite extraordinary." he said and chuckled somewhat sheepishly, "You're okay with that, then? I mean, apart from getting out of here, is it okay for you that John and I are .. well, gay? I don't want you to be uncomfortable." he said, just wanting to clear that up.

"I'm not Sally and I'd hardly have been excited about this whole foster thing, if that were the case." Charlie pointed out and shook her head. "And anyway, anybody who's mean to you because of that can piss right off." She didn't know much more about discrimination other than that it was unfair and irrational; though that was really all she had to know. She'd even talked to her girl friends about homophobia a couple of times.

Sherlock smiled, "Well, I just wanted to make sure. Even people that aren't really against it, can feel weird about it." he said and looked at his watch, "Anyway, it's good to know you're okay with it, but I suppose it's time for class now." he said and stood up, "And I'll let you know about tonight." he said and smiled, "Oh and about Rosie.. do you think it's better if you tell her, or should John and I do that?" he asked, because he honestly needed advice on that.

"I think it might feel less like a rejection from you if I tell her." Charlie said and stood up, even though she really wasn't looking forward to that conversation.

"Okay.." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "Thank you." he said and sighed a little, before smiling a little again, "And don't forget about our deal, you take care of your actual grades, okay?" he asked.

"You're welcome. And yeah, right." Charlie nodded with a sigh. "I've got a free period now, so I'll probably catch up on German now. Viel Spaß noch und bis dann."."

"Das klingt nicht so, als ob du viel nachzuholen hast." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Bis später ." he said, before turning and walking towards the classroom.


	52. The Young, The Fun And The Boring (Sorry, John!)

When classes were over, Sherlock went to Charlie's room to let her know that Mrs Hope had agreed (and even found that it was a good idea) for her to go out with them for dinner. Smiling, he knocked at the girl's door.

"Come in!" Charlie called and climbed off her bed. She'd changed her outfit in the meantime and was now wearing her going-out jacket and shoes (the ones she'd just got for her birthday and last Christmas), hoping to make a good impression.

Sherlock opened the door and smiled at Charlie, "Oh, now I feel under-dressed." he said with a smile and looked at her outfit, before looking down at himself. "They'll probably think John and I are your butlers at the restaurant." he chuckled.

Charlie chuckled and shook her head a little. "Nah, you look alright. We're actually going to a restaurant though?" She asked and pocketed her Nokia, before coming up to Sherlock. Charlie had done that maybe like three or four times, so she really felt quite fancy.

"Yep." Sherlock said and smiled, "John's already excited to meet you." he said and held out his arm for her to link hers through his, "Shall we go, milady?" he asked with a smirk.

Charlie chuckled and tucked her arm into Sherlock's. "Please." She was already excited to meet Sherlock and Rosie's John. "What does John do by the way?"

"Oh he's studying medicine and works part time as a paramedic." Sherlock said and smiled as he walked with Charlie towards the front door. "What do you want to do after school?" he asked curiously.

"No idea to be honest." Charlie said and shrugged. "I mean, it's gotta be something I'm good at, I can earn money with and that's meaningful and challenging,..." She sighed. "Or alternatively I'll go to Mars."

"Well.. what are the options if you scratch earn money with?" Sherlock asked and even if adopting her was a bit much right now, he could still make sure she was well off when she left the orphanage eventually.

"Painter or Photographer." Charlie said easily. "Or I'd go to Cambridge." She said with a chuckle. "Shame that's not reality. I mean, my parents could still turn out to have been rich, but I kinda doubt it."

"Well, I'm rich.." Sherlock said with a laugh, realising how that sounded, "Filthy rich, actually. And it's piling up because my brother and I made some good and early stock market decisions, so.. trust me when I say, it is reality for you and Rosie, okay? I mean, even if John and I won't adopt you, that doesn't mean we won't be there for you." he said with a smile.

Rosie bit her lip at that. "I literally just met you two days ago. How can you make promises like that?" She really wanted to believe and trust Sherlock, but this seemed way too good to be true. Especially since she definitely wouldn't have on Sunday, she felt kinda conflicted about this.

"I told you I like you, and well, I'd like if I'd lie if I said I don't see a bit of myself in you. I just want you two to be well off and able to make what you want out of your life." Sherlock said and smiled, "And if it makes it easier for you to believe, we'll go to the bank together and put some money, let's say enough to cover uni fees and get you two by for the next 50 years on two separate bank accounts and I'll arrange that you'll get it when you're full aged. I mean really, with a notary and everything."

Charlie stopped dead in her tracks and stared at Sherlock for a few seconds. "Seriously? I don't suck at irony and you're not kidding?"

Stopping to walk as well, Sherlock chuckled, "You don't suck at irony and I'm not kidding." he said with a nod, giving her a smile. "You've got to much potential to waste it on trash jobs you take on just to finance uni for another bad job you don't really want."

"Wow, I-... Thank you." Charlie said after a moment, giving him a smile. Sherlock genuinely cared about her and she definitely soaked it all up. "Like, this means a lot to me."

Sherlock smiled at her, "You're very welcome." he said and gestured with his head to the door, "Shall we then?" he asked with a smile, enjoying how happy Charlie seemed.

''Yeah." Charlie nodded and followed Sherlock out the door. "So where are we meeting John?" She asked looking up.

"Actually, we're meeting him at our flat," Sherlock said and chuckled, "I wanted to let you decide where we're going for dinner.” he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket, handing it to Charlie, "You look up which restaurant you'd like to go on the way and then we'll go there." he said and smirked.

"Awesome" Charlie grinned and unlocked Sherlock's phone, before asking. "You aren't really up for Hipchips though, are you?"

"I'm open for everything, it's completely up to you where we'll go." Sherlock said and chuckled as they left the orphanage, looking around for a cab.

"Jacob's told me they only serve crisps. Like, literally only crisps and dips." Charlie chuckled and began to google it on Sherlock's phone. "Oh, they've got a red dip, but I think that's only wine.."

"Yeah, I suppose so." Sherlock said and grinned, "Someone should open up a vampire restaurant and make a yelp page for it." he joked and chuckled.

"Tomato juice bar. Once a customer, a customer for eternity." Charlie chuckled and continued to search for good restaurants. "There's an Italian one kinda where you live." She said and showed Sherlock the homepage. "Does it look alright to you?"

"Oh, you mean Angelo's?" Sherlock asked and smirked, "I actually know him.. I suppose there /is/ a vampire restaurant..." he said and chuckled a little, "Or at least one run by a vampire."

"Bloody hell, you /do/ know everyone there is." Charlie said with a chuckle and shook her head. "But can we go there please? I'm in the mood for pizza."

"Sure we can, if we go somewhere that near, we'll save some time and we can give you a little tour through the flat too." Sherlock said with a smile, "The room that's going to be yours is currently still a storage room, but John and I are going to clear it out and we can go and get the basics on Friday. Maybe I should ask Mrs Hope if we can all get that day off so we have time to buy and also set up the furniture." he said, finally managing to hail a cab.

"That'd be awesome. I've never been furniture shopping before." Charlie chuckled. "And I'm sure Rosie will agree."

Opening the door for Charlie, Sherlock smiled, "So, do you have any ideas already?" he asked, waiting for her to get into the cab, "For the colours? You know what, while you have my phone, maybe look up wallpapers and floors, if you can decide on a style for that already, I could have that ready for you on Friday already so it's really only the furniture."

"Yeah, okay." Charlie grinned and climbed inside the back of the cab, beginning to look online for wallpapers. "This is great." She smiled to herself, before buckling up.

"Glad you're enjoying it." Sherlock said as he sat down next to her in the car, quickly leaning forward to tell the cabbie his address, before he leant back again, fixing his seatbelt.

"So John's a doctor yeah?" Charlie asked over Sherlock's phone, deciding between a yellow and a blue wallpaper. "Did you two meet when you were studying chemistry?"

"We met in our last year on secondary, actually." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I gave him a bit of a hard time to be honest." he said and thought about how he had been nearly abandoning John, "We became friends and well, it soon looked like it was becoming more than that and then.. I cut off contact with him." he said with a roll of his eyes.

"What? But why? I thought it had been going well?" Charlie asked with a frown.

"Oh yes, it was going well, really well and well.. I was scared. Partly because I didn't know how to tell him about my.. erm.. diet issues, but also because I feared it would end like my erm.." Sherlock paused, glancing at the cabbie, before looking back at Charlie, "My former boyfriend, who was allergic to tomato juice.. he died." he said, hoping that was somewhat understandable. He couldn't really go into detail with a human in the car.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry about that Sherlock." Charlie said, now looking up properly. "And who poke the silence?"

"Well.." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Me." he said with a laugh.

"Yeah? And you asked him out or what?" Charlie asked with a smile.

"Yeah," Sherlock said and smiled a little, "God he was so mad at me, but he said yes. Unfortunately, my idiotic brother had smuggled an old /portrait/ of me and one of Victor, my former boyfriend into the exhibition we went to and well.. that gave him a hint that I kind of.. lied about my age." he said and huffed a laugh, that was a bit of an understatement.

"Oh, that happened on your first date?" Charlie asked wide-eyed. "That must've been quite a shock."

"And then some." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "Took me the whole night to convince him that I'm not lying to him and he was more than once about to leave." he said and smiled, "But eventually he believed me."

"Damn. That's not how your first night together should've gone." Charlie commented. "And what did you do afterwards?"

"We uhm.. we made wedding plans." Sherlock said and laughed, "I know that escalated quickly. But, well, I realised I don't want to be without him ever again and he for some unknown reason I'm incredibly thankful for, doesn't want to be without me either." he chuckled.

"You're a really cute couple, you know?" Charlie said with a chuckle. "I hope someday I'll find someone who I can make me just as happy as John does you."

Sherlock chuckled, "You will." he said and smiled at the young girl, "I could check if John has a younger cousin," he said with a laugh, "The Watsons do have an astounding ability to deal with people like you and me. My mum is actually married to his uncle."

"Yeah? I'm already excited to meet him then." Rosie said with a smile. "What do they know, what we others don't?" She asked curiously.

"Maybe they know that being with someone smarter than them isn't a bad thing, I don't know." Sherlock said and shrugged lightly, "Wish more people would know that, then Rosie and you wouldn't be struggling like that in school."

"Mmh, that's true.. Have you ever met someone smarter than yourself?" Charlie asked, though even after only knowing him for a short while, she couldn't think of many people fitting that criteria.

"Well, my brother, my mother and.. John. In a way at least. Maybe not mentally, but he sure is smarter than me when it comes to emotional intelligence." Sherlock said and smiled.

"What's that?" Charlie asked. "Isn't intelligence how well you do on an IQ test or how quick you understand stuff? How can you be smart about feelings?"

"Emotional intelligence is basically how well you do with other people, being empathetic and understanding.. It's also about being aware of your own and particularly others' feelings and how to manage them." Sherlock explained and smiled. "I'm not too good at that, it's easier for me with people that are smart, or people I like, though."

"Ah, okay. We should learn that at school, because it sounds really important." Charlie said. "Do you think I could improve my emotional intelligence or is that something we can't learn?"

"You can. I mean.. I have at least," Sherlock said and chuckled, "When I was your age, I used to be incredibly awkward with people I didn't know, unintentionally rude too." he said and rolled his eyes, "Which of course was much more of a big deal when you're living in a society that's centred around politeness and what people think of you." he chuckled.

"That's cool though. I mean you seem to be pretty affable around other adults." Charlie commented. "I could almost explode next to some people." She said and shook her head. "Patience is a virtue. That's what Mrs. Hope always says."

"Yeah well, I found that passive aggressiveness helps a little when you feel like wanting to stomp another person into the ground and point out exactly how dumb they actually are." Sherlock said with a laugh. "Sarcasm is good too." he said and frowned, "But erm.. I guess it's better if you ask John about that sometime." he chuckled.

"Alright, that's noted." Charlie said with a smile, before thinking about that for a moment. "Do you think I'm good at that or do you think I'm better at, like, textbook stuff?"

"Hm, I think you're good at both, really. Especially after seeing how you treat Rosie." Sherlock said and gave her a smile, "And you've got good friends at the orphanage who like you."

"Yeah? I'm always taking on different roles there. It's really weird though, if you think about it. You have to treat everyone so differently. It's almost like work." She said with a shrug. "By the way, I think I want a green room with that wallpaper." She said and gave Sherlock his phone back.

"Well, I'm not a social expert, but I really don't think you should try to be the way people want you to be." Sherlock said and frowned a bit, "You know, if you want a real friend, who likes you for the person you are, I could introduce you to Amber, John's cousin. She's 17 and she's a big fan of Jane Austen too for example."

"What else am I supposed to do? If I didn't know much about those girl magazines, make up and all of that other stuff, then we'd have not much to talk about anymore." She said with a shrug. "I can make myself sort of like that so I can have something in common with them to have friends. And I genuinely like them. When I was Rosie's age I had the same problem she has now; I thought the other people's games were stupid, so they thought I was stupid." She said and sighed. "So Amber Watson's nice and likes literature?"

"Look, if you genuinely like them even though they're not as smart as you, maybe they will genuinely like you even though you're so smart and more into other things." Sherlock said and smiled lightly, "And if they don't.. well then you deserve better." he said and then realised something, "But.. probably that's bad advice given that you've got to live with them for another six years.." he said with a frown.

"My point exactly. Emilia's the only other girl my age for example." Charlie said with a shrug. She didn't want to make her own life harder than it had to be by being all nerdy and stuff. "You don't get to choose your family I guess. By the way, what do you think of us? Well, the ones you've met."

"So far, I think all of you kids are great, just a little narrow minded sometimes. Not you, I mean.. but I really think the teachers should put more effort into explaining that some people are different and that it's not a bad thing to be." Sherlock said with a small smile, "But .. since John and I already agreed that I'm the fun trainee parent.." he said with a chuckle, "Would you like to go with Emilia and your other friends on a shopping trip? Naturally you won't have an open end budget there, but that sounds like something people your age do these days and well we could arrange for either of you to have maybe 100 pounds to spend?" he suggested.

"Really?" Charlie asked, really unused to getting that many things at once. "I mean, if you're offering, I'm not going to say no." She said and gave him a smile. "Thank you."

"And.. if we happen to pass a boring book store, it'll obviously be me who wants to go in and if someone wants to sneak a couple of books into my basket so the others don't see her buying them... I wouldn't mind." Sherlock said with a laugh, looking up as they arrived at the flat.

Charlie had to chuckle a bit, already grateful for that. "Good to know." She looked out of the window out onto the building. "Do you live next to Speedy's?" She asked; their house looked so old and big.

"Yeah. My landlady is on-off dating the owner.. although most of the time she beats him with the lunch meal whenever he flirts with someone else again." Sherlock said with a chuckle, shaking his head as he paid the cabbie.

"Oh dear." Charlie chuckled and climbed out of the cab onto the pavement. It was already dark, so Baker Street had an almost magical (if cold) charm. Living here must be great, she thought quietly as she waited for Sherlock.

"Yep." Sherlock said and chuckled as he got out of the car, pulling his keys out of his pocket as he walked towards the door, "Do you want the tour through the flat now, or after dinner?" he asked, looking over at Charlie.

"Mmh, let's do it after dinner. So I've got something to look forward to." Charlie said with a smile. "And John's upstairs now?"

"Yeah, if you want to keep it a surprise, I'll just shoot him a text, can you ask the cabbie to wait for a second?" Sherlock asked, noticing that the cab hadn't driven off yet.

"Yeah, sure." Charlie nodded and ran back to the cabbie to tell him to please wait a minute. However, she was a bit too scared to get inside without Sherlock, so she came back to him right away. "Yup, done."

"It's good you didn't get into the cab alone, by the way." Sherlock said as he sent the text to John, realising he should have told her that before, since a 12 year old sitting alone in a car, in the dark with a stranger screamed danger, even if it was a cab.

"Nah, wouldn't have the guts to do that." Charlie said and shook her head, stepping a little closer towards Sherlock. Meanwhile John had put on his jacket and shoes and made his way down the stairs.

"Well, it's a good thing you don't. And it's got nothing to do with being pave, it'd be just plain stupid if you'd do that. And the worst kind of danger is the kind that could have been avoided if one had just been smart about their actions. Good thing you are smart." Sherlock said and smiled at her.

Charlie smiled back at him, feeling a little proud of what she hadn't done, before looking up when the front door opened to reveal a not as short as she'd expected guy, a tad older than Lucas. John came down the stairs and gave them both a smile. "Hey there you two. Hi Charlie, I'm John by the way." He told Charlie. "Great to finally meet you." He said and held out his hand (he didn't want to be too pushy by hugging her right away), which Charlie immediately shook. "Hi, nice to meet you too." John gave Sherlock a look, before giving his cheek a quick kiss and turning to his boyfriend. "You should've told me we've got a sophisticated dinner tonight. I feel quite under-dressed, I hope you don't mind." He told her with a wink, causing her to chuckle a little. "Not at all."

"Yeah, I already noticed we'll be looking like milady's butlers tonight." Sherlock said with a chuckle and smiled at John, glad to /finally/ see him today, he really wasn't used to seeing him less often yet (and he doubted he'd ever be).

"So, where are we going?" John asked and reached out to hold Sherlock's hand again (he hadn't noticed until this week how much they did that; especially during lunch.) and give it a squeeze.

Sherlock smiled, "Angelo's." he said with a chuckle, entwining his fingers with John's, "Interestingly Charlie decided that without any influencing on my part." he said and chuckled.

"Sounds like we've got a psychic among us." John said with a chuckle. "Well, I'm already looking forward to the food then." He said with a smile and began to walk towards the cab. "So Charlie, I've already heard a lot about you. Good things only, of course." He added with a smile and opened the cab door for her. "Same goes for you." Charlie said as she got into the car. "Sherlock's already told me the story of how you've met and all.”

"Including the story of how much of an idiot I've been thinking I could forget you if I just don't see you anymore." Sherlock said and quickly pulled John in for a proper kiss, before he could get into the car.

John kissed him back deeply, before pulling back again after a few seconds. "I've missed you, love." He whispered into his ear. Meanwhile Charlie had buckled up and looked out of the other cab window with a smile to give them some privacy.

"Missed you too." Sherlock murmured back and pecked his lips again, before he gestured him to get into the cab.

John sat down next to Charlie and fastened his seatbelt. "So, how has your day been so far?" He asked her interestedly. "Well, I've only been to classes until now. Oh and I've read a bit and played with Rosie. So, I guess it's been alright. But Sherlock said you're a paramedic; that must be exciting." John chuckled at that. "Yeah, the adrenaline's one of the reasons I like that job. And I can always see the impact the things I do have." He said. "Do you already know what you want to become?" Charlie nodded with a grin, reminded of what Sherlock had promised her. "Yeah, I want to become a photographer."

 

Sherlock smiled, "Don't start on financial nonsense and telling her to learn something with substance first." he said with a chuckle, "The fun trainee parent's already taken care of the financial side of things." he said and figured John wouldn't be surprised about that.

John gave him a bit of a look. "Yeah, I can't say I'm surprised about that. It's great you already know what makes you happy by the way. I've got classes with some people who are still trying to figure that one out." Charlie frowned. "Isn't that a bit late?" John chuckled a little. "Well, yeah, but at least they've got a direction. And I guess they can still change subjects once they know what they want." "When did you know what you wanted to become?" She asked him. "Hm, I actually already wanted to practice medicine when I was little. And I suppose it's just stuck over the years." He told her with a smile.

Sherlock smiled as John talked, glancing over at him for a moment with that dazed expression again, being shaking out of it when the cabbie asked where they wanted to go, sounding rather impatient. "Angelo's restaurant." Sherlock told him, before looking at Charlie. "Is there a specific branch of photography that interests you?"

"Mmh, I'd love to do street photography. Or portraits; proper ones, I mean, not the ones for your ID." Charlie told him. "I just.. I don't know, I could watch the people out on the streets for hours and think about where they're from and what there doing. You know, it's almost as if the city's living and breathing through everyone and I'd like to capture that."

Sherlock smiled at that, "You know, I could show you a game my brother and I sometimes played, it's called 'deduction'." he said and chuckled, "It's basically watching people on the street and guessing all those things by the clues they give you with their appearance and behaviour."

"Yeah? What kinds of clues?" Charlie asked curiously, leaning forwards to be able to look at Sherlock more easily.

"Everything, really. Wrinkles, hairs on their clothes, lints, their skin, the way they walk, the trick is to pick up on all those little things." Sherlock explained and chuckled as they arrived at Angelo's, "You know.. technically, we could have walked." he said with a chuckle.

"True that." John chuckled and got out his wallet (because he already knew which one of them was going to pay for dinner and admittedly letting Sherlock pay for everything made him feel cheap.) Charlie meanwhile opened the door on the side of the busy street to get out faster only to have it quickly closed again by John. "Let's best get all out on the side of the pavement, okay?"

"See.. told you I'm the fun parent." Sherlock said with a chuckle, before getting serious again, "He is right though." he said he said and got out of the car, so the others could as well.

John and Charlie got out after him and while John was talking to the cabbie, she went back to Sherlock and looked up to him. After thinking about being kidnapped by a cabbie earlier on, she'd thought of something. "Hey, Sherlock. Guess what's the best getaway car in London?"

Sherlock thought for a moment, "I've actually never thought about that before," he said and shrugged, "What is the best getaway car in London?" he asked, having a couple of ideas to answer that question, but he didn't want to spoil this for her.

"It's a cab." Charlie revealed, feeling kind of smart about it. "There a so many of them, that you ignore a cab without its lights on. And even if you're sitting in one, you're probably not going to recognise the driver's face and if it's a criminal. And if something's going on inside one and people don't have time to look at the number plate, they can't even really give a good description of the car to the police. Like e.g. a blue Mercedes or something. I'd just remember it's a cab." Though, with that in mind, she'd definitely never enter one of those on her own.

"Well every cab's got a specific number, though." Sherlock said and smiled, "But yeah, you're right, no one really looks at it." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "Though I'm not sure if I should be proud or scared of you for thinking about that." he teased and smirked at the girl.

Charlie began to chuckle at that. John came up to them again and instinctively took Sherlock's hand again. "Let's get inside. You've picked out one of our favourite restaurants." He told her with a smile as they went to the door together.

Sherlock smiled as Angelo came up to him the moment he entered the restaurant, giving him a bear-hug, "Sherlock, my boy." he said, "Good to see you again." he added and let go of Sherlock, "Hello Angelo," he said with a laugh, "And John, come here." Angelo continued, walking up to John and hugging him just as tightly, "And who's this young lady?" he asked, looking at Charlie, "Angelo, this is Charlie, our... foster daughter for the time being, also she is a huge fan of tomato juice." he said and Angelo beamed at that, "Hello, Charlie." he said, holding his hand out to shake hers.

"Hello Angelo, nice to meet you." Charlie replied politely and shook Angelo's hand. "I've heard you make the best food around here." She said with a smile, figuring that was probably one of the things Angelo was most proud of.

Angelo smiled happily at that, "Well, let me tell you, if you ever have a restaurant, never give your recipes to your friends or you won't see them so much anymore." he said jokingly and Sherlock rolled his eyes, "John and I were here last week, Angelo." he said and chuckled.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Charlie said with a chuckle and gave him a wink.

"Your usual table is free." Angelo said and smiled, "So I take it, whatever meal you choose, I don't have to hold back on.. tomatoes?" he asked, looking from Charlie to John, "No, John is still allergic .. for now." Sherlock said, just wanting to make sure John wouldn't get anything that included blood.

"Yeah, still no tomatoes for me." John said with a nod. "Pity, John, you're missing out." Charlie teased lightly, which made John shake his head with a chuckle.

Sherlock chuckled a little at Charlie's quip as he walked towards their booth, right next to the windows, "I doubt John's seeing it like that, actually." he said and chuckled a little.

"I'm still undecided." John said with a shrug and sat down in one of the booths. "Really? But ..tomatoes are awesome. I mean, sure we can't all eat them and surely need some allergics ...or tomato farmers?" She frowned, sort of lost in the metaphor. "Anyway, I'm hungry."

"You know, it's different for John and me, than it is for you." Sherlock said as he sat down, "You've never lived differently. You always had to .. drink tomato juice." he explained and smiled a little, "John is and I have been ... erm.. allergic before.." he continued, wondering if she'd understand that difference.

"But erm, tomatoes are good for you. We've learned that allergics like John have the flu for over two weeks or have to wait really long for their bones to heal." Charlie said and looked at them quizzically. "Why would you want that? And I thought no one liked to have wrinkles and grey hair, like, that early." John thought a moment about how to answer that unsuspiciously. "You know, it's that everything this entails is something so unusual for people like me and that it needs quite some getting used to. And it's a very strange thought where tomatoes come from too. You know, that choice isn't a very easy one for me; my gran for example decided against it." Sure, she'd regretted it, but that wasn't something they had to discuss over dinner.

"For John it's like it would probably be for you to suddenly realise that.. I don't know, fairies are real and sure they have some interesting traits, but if you'd have to drink.. for instance cow pee for the rest of your life. It's hard to imagine drinking that, isn't it?" Sherlock asked, explaining all of this quietly, because really it would have been way too confusing to find metaphors here. "It's turning a human's life upside down and well, they grow up with the idea that drinking blood is something from horror films and scary stories."

"Right, yeah, that'd be weird." Charlie nodded slowly. "And I guess that's why we don't tell the little ones. It's still weird to say we're not humans though." She told Sherlock very quietly; she'd only got vampire studies on her schedule for maybe a few months now and found it hard to wrap her head around that one.

"Well, I do think we're still humans.. I like to see it like birds.. there are finches, ravens, doves, night stand gales, eagles and so on, but in the end, they're all still birds." Sherlock said and chuckled, "And hey, it could be worse. We could have ended up having to drink pee to survive." he joked, referencing to his explanation from before.

"Hm, well it would be more sustainable." Charlie chuckled and sat back. "Did you decide to become like us though?"

Sherlock huffed a small laugh at that, "Not really." he said and sighed, "Jane, my brother and I we were travelling into town to visit some relatives, on our way back, we were assaulted. We woke up like this with no one to tell us what 'this' was exactly. Took us a while to figure out we needed.. tomato juice in the first place."

"Oh. How do you even-?" Charlie began and stopped, frowning. "Did you actually have to... you know?" She asked, feeling a bit stupid about it; for her, blood had just always come out of a package, or well, wounds.

"Go and bite people?" Sherlock asked and chuckled a little, "Well, yeah, we did, did you already learn that your saliva works on humans like a drug? That it makes them dizzy and feel really really good?" he asked, "Well anyway, that makes it easier, you bite them and a few seconds later they relax against you and you can drink without any difficulties. But erm.. how we actually found out it's what we need is a different story. I'm not sure if we'd have ever found out if Mycroft, my brother, and I hadn't found a dead body in the woods. And that was weird. The guy had fallen and hit his head, probably.. and yeah it sure was very disturbing to see a puddle of blood and all of a sudden it looks mouthwatering to you." he said and glanced at John, that was something he hadn't told John yet, mostly because he hadn't specifically asked. It just wasn't something he liked to think about.

John listened to that story and was frankly not too surprised by it; they'd had to find out somehow, though an experience like that would've definitely been very disturbing for himself too. Charlie listened to him very carefully, frowning throughout. "Jesus. I think I'm grateful to live in a time where I don't have to slaughter for bacon and bit for blood." She concluded after a few seconds of thought.

"Hm, yeah. Me too." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the person that invented blood bags was a vampire who was tired of biting." he said smiled as Angelo returned with their drinks – wine for John - and three menus. "Here you go." he said and set the glasses down.

"Thank you, Angelo." John said with a smile and took a look at the menu. Charlie drank some blood, before following suit, feeling quite fancy. "I like it here." He commented with a smile as she looked through the menu.

"Hm, it's rather cosy, isn't it?" Sherlock asked and smiled, "And well it doesn't hurt that he's got.. tomato juice on the menu." he said and chuckled a little, "Although I do wonder how he keeps passing the random hygiene checks when he's got ... tomato juice stacked here." he chuckled.

"Yeah, if it weren't for the food, that'd be the most impressive thing about this restaurant." John said with a chuckle and drank some wine. "Oh, is it illegal to keep those in a fridge?" Charlie asked, never having thought about that.

"Well it depends on the blood if it's hazardous." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "And obviously it'd be rather hard to explain why a normal person would keep blood bags at home or why a restaurant owner would have it in his restaurant."

"Oh, yeah. That's true." Charlie chuckled. "Did you ever have to do that? Explain that to someone I mean."

"No. Well that is, yes." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "My landlady stumbled upon my stack of blood when she came upstairs to dust the place. She played me a little, letting me try to come up with a reasonable excuse before she told me it's fine and that she's a vampire herself." he said with a roll of his eyes.

Charlie and John began to laugh, John especially because he could definitely see her do that. "She sounds pretty funny. How old is she by now?"

"I don't know." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "I've known her for about 70 years and she hasn't told me yet, whenever we ask she just says, 'you don't ask a lady about her age, young man'." he said and smirked a little. "But she did say once that she's a way older than I am."

"Now that's impressive." Charlie said, looking in fact very impressed. In her mind Sherlock was already ancient, so Mrs. Hudson was completely off her scale. "I'd love to sit down and have a cup of tea with her. She must have a lot of stories to tell." Charlie said with a smile.

"Oh that she does." Sherlock said with a laugh, "And she's already very excited to meet you and Rosie, so you'll have lots of chances to have tea with her. She already considers herself your grandmother." he chuckled.

Charlie smiled and glanced down for a moment. "Do you think I could already meet her on the weekend?" She asked. "I'm sure can." John chuckled. "Even if you don't knock on her door the next couple of days, she often comes up to our flat anyway, so it'd be hard to miss her; especially since she really wants to meet you."

"She's the kind of person that basically adds everyone she likes to her family right away." Sherlock said with a small smile, figuring the reasons for that were that she never had children and he assumed she was turned after her menopause. He supposed there was a chance that it'd revert back to before after being turned, but it didn't seem likely since it wasn't something that was wrong with the body, but something that occurred naturally.

"Yeah?" Charlie asked with a smile. She was already really looking forward to Mrs. Hudson. "Sounds like she's pretty great. Are you her only tenants right now or are there other people too?"

"No, we're the only ones." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "Strangely no one replied to our ad in the papers looking for vampire tenants." he joked, "No but seriously, I think it's better that way, with mortals in the house it would be just too much hiding and watching what you say."

"But one isolated mortal is manageable, right?" Charlie chuckled and looked cheekily back at John. "Right, I'm completely outnumbered now, even in the flat, aren't I?" He laughed a bit. "I do hope you'll show a bit of mercy." He joked. "Hm, I'm not sure, will we?" Charlie asked Sherlock with a chuckle.

"Hm..." Sherlock hummed, biting back a quip about their love life, remembering just in time that he had to watch what he said now with kids around, "I think we will." he said and smiled, "At least until I got that ring he promised to give me." he said teasingly.

John rolled his eyes in good humour. "Even if I had amnesia, I couldn't forget that, since thankfully you remind just about every other day. You know, there are couples patient enough not to get engaged for years. And I'm working on it, before you ask again." John said with a chuckle. "You aren't engaged yet?" Charlie asked, though then again Sherlock had said they'd only been together for a short while. "Rosie's been saying difference things."

"Well, we do know we're going to get married in the near future, but Mr I want to work for it, insists on saving up for a ring and a proper proposal." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "Rosie's overheard that we're engaged when we told Greg, because John was jealous." he said, giving John a smirk.

"You're impossible" John mouthed and bit back snort, which made Charlie giggle. "And just for the record, I'm not saving up to propose on a white horse, so please don't expect too much." "I'm only surprised, because you've got the dynamic of an old couple." If she hadn't known better, she'd have guessed they'd been a couple since earth childhood.

"Yeah, we kind of get that a lot." Sherlock said with a laugh, "Although mostly people say we seem like a cheesy Disney couple." he said with a small smile.

"Yeah, Disney couple pretty much nails it." Charlie said and laughed. "So you're still still get a fancy proposal out of this though, yeah?" She asked Sherlock with a grin.

"I should hope so." Sherlock said with an answering grin, before he turned to John and smiled at him, "Although you could make a ring out of tinfoil and I'd still say yes." he said softly.

"Good, because I actually might. Prices for white horses are sky-rocketing at the moment, you know." John joked mildly and kissed the back of his hand. Charlie smiled to herself; yeah, those two were Disney material.


	53. In Which Sherlock Doesn't Pay For Dinner

Sherlock smiled for a moment longer at John, before turning to Charlie, "Right, then what about you? I assume John and I will be fending off boys once you've moved in.." he said with a smile, joking now, but really, give it two or three years and she'd be surrounded by boys wanting to go out with her.

"I wouldn't quite put it that way." Charlie said, though she really wouldn't have had anything against that. "And you'd probably have to take them with us from the orphanage to Baker Street anyway, so yeah." She said and gave a shrug. There was maybe one boy she kinda liked, but she still had to make a first move, so yeah.. There was nothing happening any time soon.

"Oh they'd find a way." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I even found a way to live with a man back in regency times when I was in love for the first time and that was much more difficult than it'd be for a lovestruck boy to get from the orphanage to Baker Street." he chuckled.

"You think someone would actually do that?" Charlie asked, trying not to imagine vividly how Lucas snuck around London to get to her house in secret... "Anyway doesn't matter, I'd first have to find ons." She interrupted her own train of thought to look at the menu again.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "Alright, I'll stop torturing you with that subject." he said and smiled, "Right then, I think I'll go for the lasagna. I make it good, but Angelo's is always a tiny bit better even though it's the same recipe."

"I think I'll have a nice pizza; after yours I'm actually convinced all the other ones have to be worse." John said with a warm chuckle, giving Sherlock's hand under the table a squeeze.. "Erm, is it okay, if I eat a tiramisu?" Charlie asked after a moment, unsure if that was maybe bad etiquette or too unhealthy or something.

"Sure, go ahead." Sherlock said and frowned, "Said the fun parent, does the boring parent have an opinion?" he asked with a chuckle, looking over at John.

"I'm curious. Apart from legal, what exactly is your definition of boring?" John teased with a chuckle. "And sure, you can have whatever you want." Charlie smirked after a moment, having an idea how to wind John up a little, and opened her mouth, before John cut her off. "Okay, I know that look. Except for alcohol and espressos obviously." Charlie had to chuckle at how quickly he'd seen that one coming and turned to Sherlock. "He really is the boring one, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Sherlock said and laughed, "But on the other hand he's terribly good at keeping the fun parent alive, well and very happy, so I think we can let the boring thing slide." he chuckled, leaning over to peck John's cheek.

John shook his head but relaxed a bit when Sherlock kissed him. "You two are perfect for each other." He commented and Charlie laughed a little. "Yeah, I agree, Sherlock."

"Yeah, we make a good team." Sherlock said and smiled, "All of us, I mean. Including Rosie. How did she take it that she can't stay forever with us, though?" he asked, suddenly remembering that Charlie had wanted to tell her about that – although maybe wanted wasn't the right word, neither of them had been eager to do it.

Charlie sobered relatively quickly at the mention of that. "Well, she was disappointed, but she'll come around. I've told her it's like a really long sleepover even over Christmas and New Year's and I think that thought cheered her up. I didn't really know how to properly explain to her your reasons without scaring her, so you might want to sit her down too yourself sometime. But she knows it's for safety and that it's not her fault." Charlie summarised.

"You know, if you want an alternative career on the side, you could consider doing something with kids. The way Rosie adores you, you seem to be very good with kids." Sherlock said and gave a small smile, "But, yeah, I think John and I should really talk to her, I mean, I won't tell her the actual reasons either, but she deserves to have it explained by us as well."

"Mm, I think that'd be good. You might also want to do something only with her once we've moved in; I think she's missed having you just to herself a bit." Charlie said, not sure if Rosie'd say that herself (well, if she was right). And working with kids.. that actually seemed like a cool idea; she should keep that in mind for later.

Sherlock nodded, "Yeah, we definitely will." he said and smiled at the girl, "Actually, how about you get the flat to yourself every once in a while, when John and I take Rosie out for some alone time with her while you have some privacy. Guess that's something you're really lacking in the orphanage, isn't it. Although you will have some rules, obviously."

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, that sounds smashing." She smiled already looking forward to the prospect. "And I'm fine with rules; it's not like we don't have those." She said, though seriously: most rules (she'd admit that some made sense) were meant to break anyway, so she didn't see the problem with having those around

"I know, I was just going to mention it." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "Being the fun parent doesn't mean I'm okay with everything." he said and smiled a little, "You probably shouldn't throw a wild party when we're out." he said and chuckled, "You're okay with being home alone then?" he asked, figuring that wasn't something that had happened to her yet. "I mean.. sometimes Mrs Hudson will be downstairs, but she might be out every now and then too."

Charlie frowned; she'd never been alone in a house in her life. Weird, if she thought about it that at way. "Yeah, the emergency number is 999 and in case I need help there's still Mrs. Turner next doors and that Speedy's café downstairs and you've got phones too." She recited as if she'd done so several times before. "I think I'll be fine."

"Just to make me more comfortable with it," Sherlock said, by which he meant, letting Charlie try it out and see if it was okay for her, "We could try it out first, like maybe you stay home alone for about half an hour while John, Rosie and I go to the supermarket down the street?"

"Yeah, okay let's do that." Charlie said with a nod. People did that all the time though, so she didn't think it could be that big a problem. "By the way, am I allowed to leave the house by myself?" Now that she was twelve she was allowed to go outside with others for a few hours, but not alone yet.

"Well, normally, I'd probably say we can try that for short ways and things, but.. better not with the current situation." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "I mean, it's really nothing to do with you, but you're still in danger.. thinking about that.. perhaps we'll make sure that Mrs Hudson /is/ always home when you're alone in the flat." he said, realising they might just skip the adoption step if they couldn't get her legally and just take her.

"Oh, yeah, okay. I guess that makes sense. Are we really in that much danger? I mean, It's probably not just Rosie and me. Shouldn't we do something for the others in the orphanage too?" Charlie asked after a moment.

"To be honest, I don't know." Sherlock said and gave her a warm smile, "But I'd rather not take any chances. And about the others, it really looks like you two are the only ones that fit their.. erm.. requirements." he said with a sigh, "They seem to be pretty specific about this."

"Hm, weird. I'd actually kind of like to know who the people in this group are.. Just out of interest. From what you've said they're probably brainwashed anyway. A few moments later John returned from the loo. "Have I missed anything? He asked with a warm smile and sat back down next to Sherlock. "By the way, I've just told Angelo what we want to eat."

"There you are." Sherlock said with a smile as John returned, instantly taking his hand again, "Oh and Charlie and I were just discussing a few things about what living together is going to be like." he said with a smile.

"Ah, I see. Doing those kind of things while the strict ones away, yeah?" John joked with a chuckle. "Well, not even Sherlock will allow me to throw house parties while you two are away, so I don t know about who's stricter." Charlie teased with a laugh, before sipping some blood.

"Well, I have a strict no house parties while the parents are out until you're sixteen." Sherlock joked and chuckled, "But seriously, we were considering her staying alone at home sometimes and perhaps going out alone as well, although.. I still think the latter is too dangerous with how things are."

"Mmh, yeah, I agree with you on that. And if you don't think that's too big a change for you, you can definitely be alone in the flat some times. I think we can trust you to be responsible enough not to set the house on fire or let strangers inside while we're not there." John said with a smile and Charlie shook her head. "Yeah, I promise I won't disappoint on those point."

"And don't snoop around in cabinets or something." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "That's actually not because we have secrets, but I've only recently found an experiment I've forgotten for erm.. quite a while." he chuckled again remembering the brain, or what was left of it. "So.. I just don't want you to find something that'd scar you for life."

"And if you're anything like Sher and Rosie that'll probably have encouraged you to have a look for yourself. But seriously not even I want to see a lot of the things hidden here and there so best just avoid them altogether." John told her with a smile. "You sound like you're living together with a mad scientist." Charlie stated after a moment, which made John laugh in turn. "I think mad's a bit harsh. How about he's got a strong drive for research that's sometimes paired with an almost negligent disregard of safety?" John said, before pecking Sherlock's cheek.

"Actually I think negligent disregard of safety is in a mad scientists job description." Sherlock said with a chuckle, not feeling too offended by that label, after all he did forget a dissolved brain in a plastic bag for a few decades in his flat. "Maybe we can do some experiments together, though." he said and rolled his eyes at the 'are you out of your mind?' look John gave him, "Not that kind of experiments. I just meant more advanced secondary things."

"Okay, I'm fine completely fine with those. You know, we just don't need Child Protective Services to show up in front of our doorstep within the first week." John said, visibly glad Sherlock hadn't wanted to dissolve a hand together with the girls in the bathroom sink. "What stuff do you usually do?" Charlie asked after a moment. "Must be interesting the way John looks." She teased John with a chuckle.

"It is, but even I agree that you shouldn't be involved with that..." Sherlock said and cleared his throat, "Not yet anyway.. maybe when you're sixtee-" he cut off, seeing John's look out of the corner of his eyes, "Eighteen, I meant eighteen, obviously."

"Obviously." John agreed and shook his head a little, giving Sherlock another look. "I would've thought John's a bit more laid back and less responsible actually." Charlie said after a moment. "Like, no offence but you're twenty and Sherlock is... erm older." "I think I know what you mean, but I've always been someone who's liked responsibility. And not to mention that people are treating me more respectful the older I get whereas Sherlock's had to deal with everyone treating him like a teen for ages." Charlie nodded. "That must be awful though."

"It's not awful, but I agree that it does make me feel like I'm younger than him sometimes. I really don't feel like there's that big age gap between us most of the time." Sherlock said and cleared his throat, "You'll know what I mean soon enough, did they already tell you that you'll stop ageing once you're about 18-20 years old?" he asked, figuring that even if they hadn't told her about that yet, she could deal with that.

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, we've already learned that. So at least the two of us are gonna end up looking exactly the same age in six years, yeah? Though, I mean I hadn't thought about it that way yet." She said and sipped some blood.

"Probably." Sherlock said and nodded, "What do they teach you about pretending to be older and eventually going away for a while when you look way too young for your age? I mean do they teach you strategies for that, or?"

"I don't know. I've had vampire studies for less than half a year now." Charlie said with a shrug. "I mean, I've learnt how turning and ageing works. Now we're talking about health and healing; that's probably what we're going to do for the next couple of weeks or months. I think biting is sixth grade stuff, but I've no idea about strategies."

"Well, if they do and they tell you about keeping it from your friends and possibly just disappearing from their lives.. well, John and I are the best example that it isn't always necessary. You should think for a while about it if you want to tell someone about .. well all of that, but sometimes, it really is worth it." Sherlock said and looked at John, before looking back to Charlie, "I just wanted to tell you that, since I'm not sure how they'll handle that in class."

Charlie nodded. "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind." She said. "Is it hard to have a mixed relationship?" She asked after a moment. "You know, I think the revelation part was one of the most difficult things about this for me." John said and glanced over to Sherlock, remembering that evening only too well.. "and I don't think there's a manual for that. Other than that, I mean my grandparents were 'mixed' too and they had this ageing problem too. They wanted to have children, but not to have to move every few years so that caused some problems.." He said, purposely leaving out the part about his grandmother regretting her decision to change and the fact they had this problem too. "Oh, okay." Charlie nodded with a frown and looked back at Sherlock; obviously she was especially interested in what he as the vampire thought.

"Well.. it's actually not that hard, I mean, it was difficult to make John believe me, but after that, it went rather well." Sherlock said and smiled again at his boyfriend, before he focused back on Charlie, "It's just the ever looming question over us.. is he going to turn, or not... that's what's bothering me, but ultimately it's his decision and well, I'm going to stay with him whatever he chooses to do. It's got nothing to do with his feelings for me, or if he wants to stay with me or not, this something else. It's a lifetime decision – or well, more than just one lifetime, actually."

"Exactly. And I couldn't wish for a more understanding boyfriend in that regard." John said with a soft smile and gave Sherlock's hand a squeeze. Charlie watched the two and remembered what Sherlock had said about his first boyfriend... "It's really impressive you're not pushy about John not dying while you're together." Charlie said, before quickly shutting up as she realised she was probably crossing a line with that kind of a statement. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"No need to be sorry, Ms Marple." Sherlock said with a warm smile, "You're right, I am terrified he'll die, I'm terrified he might die before he's even decided if he wants to become like us, but that shouldn't influence his decision, if I push him into this and it turns out he didn't actually want this, that'd ruin our relationship.." he said and smiled, "Which is why I'm talking to my mum about this.. as a psychiatrist rather than talking to her as my mother. Having problems with dealing with all of this isn't anything to be ashamed of, you know. That's why I'd like you to talk to her as well, you know."

"Mmh, I understand." Charlie nodded and glanced down. The way Sherlock talked about this really showed her she still had a lot of personal growth to do herself. John stroked the back of Sherlock's hand quietly with his thumb. He'd seen a psychiatrist too for a short while but he doubted that that was the best thing to talk about right now. "Your parents were mixed too, right?" She asked after another moment; Sherlock hadn't mentioned his father once but apparently his mum was together with John's uncle.

"Well, no. My mum was human when she was still with my dad." Sherlock said and smiled a little, "She had faked her death after she was turned, she didn't know my brother and I had been turned as well, after all and she thought it was the best she could do. I didn't know she was still alive until about two weeks ago. Just like I didn't know that my cousin Clara was still alive, she's married to John's sister." he said with a laugh.”

"I should add that we each found our significant other randomly and not at family events." John said after a moment with a laugh, because even he thought their family trees looked weird at this point. Charlie frowned. "Wow, that's a lot of coincidences. You really weren't lying when you said the people in John's family are good at relationships with Holmeses."

"Especially when you consider that John's grandfather and I have been good friends since long before any of my family members met any of his." Sherlock said and shook his head with a chuckle, "Well at least none of my family members is married to him." he added with a smirk.

"You two didn't have another choice but to get together, did you?" Charlie chuckled. "Sounds like the universe made its decision a while ago." She giggled a little and John looked at Sherlock. "Yeah, it's strange how those things can go sometimes."

"Well.. if you see it like that, I suppose in a way, the universe decided we'd meet you and Rosie a while ago either, given that my mother is working in the orphanage, just like my neighbour does." Sherlock said with a smile. "And I'm actually rather grateful for both of those decisions."

"And so am I of course." John told Charlie with a smile. Charlie looked down for a moment. She didn't even know what to say to something like that. "Yeah, looking at it that, that's actually pretty great, I guess." She said and bit back a big smile.

Sherlock chuckled, "It is pretty great, I agree." he said as Angelo arrived with their food, "You know, Charlie, that boy here got me off a murder charge once." he said as he placed her plate in front of her, "It was in the thirties, not a good time for immigrants, I tell you." he went on and Sherlock chuckled, "I proved that he was at the other side of town, housebreaking." he said deadpan, "Without him, I'd have gone to prison." Angelo said and Sherlock chuckled, remembering they had about the same discussion when he was here with John for the first time, "You did go to prison, Angelo, and the real challenge wasn't to get you off of that murder charge, it was to smuggle enough blood into prison in those two years." he said with a roll of his eyes.

John and Charlie began to chuckle a little at that; John mostly because he remembered the last time they'd had the last time they'd been there. "Thank you for the food, Angelo. It looks delicious as always." John said with a smile, figuring they weren't going to have a discussion about this again. "Yeah, it looks great." Charlie nodded and looked at her cake (best dinner ever).

"Well, whatever, you did save my life." Angelo said, before he ruffled Sherlock's hair (which always made Sherlock feel like he was five years old), "Would you just not do that, thank you very much." he said and shook his hair a little, hoping it wasn't too dishevelled. Angelo just chuckled and turned away, walking back into the kitchen.

John and Charlie both began to eat their meals. "Your hair looks fine." John said and Charlie bit back and laugh and nodded in agreement; funny was in her opinion fine. Wasn't it very possible that Angelo was a lot younger than Sherlock though? She still had to wrap her head around this age thing.

Sherlock chuckled, starting to eat as well, "It doesn't." he said and rolled his eyes a little, "He's such a... dad really." he said and laughed again.

Charlie chuckled and sipped some blood. "You're the one talking. I'd think you two should get on well because of that." She said with a smirk.

"I don't ruffle the hair of adults." Sherlock said and chuckled, rolling his eyes, "But.. yeah, I may or may not have a bit of a protective streak.."

"Just maybe." Charlie said with a chuckle. He'd taken Rosie and herself into their home after barely knowing her; she did think that counted as quite protective. Same went for John obviously. "I don't quite know the strict one well enough to be able to tell.." John rolled his eyes in good fun; that really wasn't a nickname he wanted to stick though. "You know, I do have a name, cheeky."

"Oooh nicknames." Sherlock said and smiled cheekily at John, "Our favourite subject, isn't it, John-boy?" he asked and chuckled.

"Definitely, Scottie." John said with a sigh. "Oh, you like Star Trek?" Charlie asked curiously, wondering where that had come from.

Sherlock chuckled, "It's not because of Star Trek. Although I'm still convinced that John has a crush on the bad guy of Star Trek Into Darkness." he said with a grin, "Anyway, it's because Scott is my middle name. And actually, we're joking here, just for the record." he said with a laugh, "We had that discussion a while ago and decided that after listing all the worst nicknames we could think of for each other, that we'll just stick to our names or things like 'love'." he chuckled.

"I still think that's the best way to be able to live together by the way." John said and shook his head. "You two really are a cute couple." Charlie chuckled. "But you already have nicknames for Rosie and me, so it'd only be fair for you to have ones too." She smirked before adding. "And 'love''s out apparently."

"Well.. it might be weird, but.. I mean.. how about trainee dad for John and trainee papa for me?" Sherlock asked and chuckled a little, "I mean.. it would also strengthen our cover story and it would settle the nickname question." he suggesting, hoping his new nickname wouldn't be 'weirdo' for suggesting this.

Charlie thought about that. "Yeah, alright, t-paps." She said with a smirk. "Those ones are fine with me; anything's better than the strict one." John said and shook his head, which made Charlie laugh. "If you continue to say that, I might reconsider, t-dad." She teased with a smirk.

"T-paps?" Sherlock asked after a moment of letting that sink in. "Well.. I suppose I can live with that." he said with a laugh, finding that it was still better than nicknames along the lines of 'the ... one'.

Charlie chuckled. "Good, that's settled then." She said and took another bite of her dessert. This was going well in her opinion; Sherlock still seemed to like her and John.. Well, she didn't know if he was just always nice, but at least he didn't seem to be put off. "So, erm John, Rosie said you play rugby?" She said, since she literally only knew five things about him (and two of those were vampire-related) and figured that she should show an interest. "Oh, yeah, I do actually. I've played it for over ten years at this point. That's why I'll begin to coach a rugby team in the orphanage in a few weeks. Well, if enough children actually want to join. What about you? Ever done anything like that?" John asked her with a smile. "No, I haven't really. I mean, I play basketball with my friends, but not in an actual team, you know?" She shrugged. "Mmh, yeah sure. Maybe you could try it out at our first few practices. Just to see if you like it." He suggested with a smile. "I suppose it can't hurt." She shrugged which made John chuckle a little. "Well, it can actually. But in my opinion the fun far outweighs the pain."

Sherlock rolled his eyes, "And just like that, you don't sound like the strict one anymore." he said with a chuckle, "Apart from the shorts," he said with a smirk, "I don't understand what other people find so appealing about that." he chuckled.

Charlie suppressed a laugh while John chuckled and shook his head. "You're impossible. It's about team play, developing strategies and that nice feeling of being exhausted after a good practice session." He said, before adding. "And it keeps you fit, obviously. So I'm already looking forward to seeing you there." He told Charlie, who shot Sherlock a quick glance before smiling. "I'm already curious what it's going to be like."

"Well, if you decide that bruises and mud isn't your thing, I could teach you ballet." Sherlock said and chuckled a little biting back a joke about that nice feeling of being exhausted, because kids in the room.

"You do ballet?" Charlie asked with a grin, because really, that was some very interesting new information about her new, erm, trainee paps. And who hadn't thought about becoming a ballet dancer as a child?

"Yeah, remember when I talked about the things I've tried out, that's one of them, I was actually rather successful, but.. but too much success comes with the risk of becoming popular, which is not good for fake dying and starting over somewhere else. So.. I stopped, but I still dance on my own." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "To be honest, that's almost more fun than dancing on a stage."

"That is so cool though!" Charlie said, quite clearly not thinking about rugby anymore. (Which John thought was a shame, but well) "Could you show me some time?"She asked him with a smile.

"Sure, but don't brush off rugby like that." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "You should at least try it out, who knows, you might be missing out on something you'd have really liked. That'd be a shame." he said with a smile, reaching for John's hand under the table and giving it a gentle squeeze.

Bloody mind reader, John thought and almost snorted out loud, instead brushing his thumb over Sherlock's hand. "Yeah, okay I'll make sure not to miss the first couple of practices." Charlie said, before spooning the last bit of cake into her mouth. "What else do you do in your free time?" She asked after a moment. "Well, beside uni, work and rugby, I don't have very much free time left. I mean, Sherlock probably doesn't qualify as a hobby, does he?" He asked with a chuckle.

"As long as I'm your favourite hobby, I'd be okay with that." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, smiling at John, "He did forget to mention that he's also planning to join the service in his free time," he said, not in an accusing tone, but he just thought Charlie should be prepared for this, rather than hearing about it when John actually had to go.

Charlie frowned a little, she wouldn't have thought John wanted to join the military. "Really?" She asked and John nodded in response. "Yes, that's right. I don't expect you or anyone else to understand it, but feels like something I ought to do. It'll be my way of giving back, you know." Obviously there was a bit more to it, but they didn't have to discuss that here. Charlie didn't know John very well, but the idea of him going off to war wasn't one that sat well with her. He seemed to be more sure about this than about turning, weirdly enough. The way Sherlock looked, she almost felt like she was being unreasonable. "No, I don't really understand."

"I do understand" Sherlock said, sounding unhappy before clearing his throat, "But.. on the bright side, John and I agreed that he will let me know if he wants to turn or not, so I'm still hoping he'll be immortal when the time comes." he said and gave Charlie a smile, "But I can't say I'm happy about it either way."

"Mmh, thanks for telling me that early." Charlie said; but she'd most likely be back in the orphanage by the time John left, so there was that. Sort of. Either way, she wouldn't get too attached. "Of course. It's only fair. And by the way, I'm not going to be done with uni any time soon, so we're talking about things still years ahead." John added and Charlie nodded. "Yeah, I get it."

"I didn't tell you that to put you off, you know, as for me, you're already part of the family. I told you, we'll be there for you even if we don't actually adopt you." Sherlock said and shrugged, "All I wanted was for you to know what's gonna happen. And he is going to come back. Otherwise I'll kick his arse and he wouldn't risk that." he said with a small laugh, not feeling bad for saying that in front of a teenager - she probably knew much worse words already.

"No, I'm not insane." John said and shook his head, looking as if that was as a serious threat he wanted to avoid, which in turn made Charlie chuckle a bit. "And I should say that I strongly agree with Sherlock there. You and Rosie belong to our little family and nothing's going to change that, so now I just really want to get to know you." John said with a smile. Charlie looked down, not really knowing what to say that. "I- yeah, me too. Thank you a lot." She said to them after a few seconds.

"You're welcome, in all senses of the word." Sherlock said and smiled, looking at their empty plates and glasses, "So, how about we make that tour through the flat now." he said, looking at his watch, they still had about two hours until they had to bring Charlie back, so that was more than enough time.

"Yeah, let's do that!" Charlie smiled and slipped back into her jacket. "I'm afraid, I didn't get to clean up, so be warned, the flat is in a bit of a state. "John said with a bit of a laugh, before getting to his feet.

"You mean the state it's always in?" Sherlock asked with a chuckle, standing up and slipping into his coat, before wrapping his scarf around his neck.

"Yeah, I guess I'm still in denial about that." John said and huffed a laugh, before taking Sherlock's hand to walk outside. "It looked cosy on the picture." Charlie commented with a smile.

Sherlock smiled, "Well it is. I don't like places that are so clean that it looks like no one's living there anyway." he said as they walked through the door and into the cold evening air, that seemed colder now that they had been inside for so long.

Charlie walked with them a few steps outside, before frowning and looking up at them. "Erm.. I'm pretty sure you guys have forgotten to pay."

Sherlock chuckled a little at that, "Well Angelo apparently refuses to let me pay for anything ever since I got him off that murder charge." he said with a roll of his eyes, "Pretty sure if you ever come here alone, or with a friend, he won't charge you either."

"Oh, okay. That's really nice of him though." Charlie said, before asking. "Why did you do that though? Have you ever worked with the police?"

"Hm, no, it was just a right time and right place kind of thing." Sherlock said and laughed a little, "I was in the restaurant he worked at when they arrested him and I've read in the papers about the case and knew it couldn't possibly be Angelo."

"No? How'd you figure that out?" Charlie asked, looking up and wrapping her jacket a little tighter around herself.

"Well, he told me he was housebreaking at the time." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I checked his story, it turned out to be true, so I pretty much filed a report against him for housebreaking since he had confessed to me, at first he was outraged, obviously, accused me of breaking his trust and so on, but he soon realised that housebreaking wasn't as bad as being considered a murder and that it certainly resulted in less time in jail."

"That's awesome though. I get now why he won't charge you for your meals" Charlie chuckled. "I hope I'll get the chance to help someone like that too in the future."

"Well who knows, maybe your photography takes a private detective turn." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "I'm sure you could do it, with your mind, I'm sure you'd already be a better detective than three fourths of London's police." he said earnestly.

"You think so?' Charlie asked with a frown. "I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing to be honest. But I'll make sure to go to you first the next time I need help with some murderers." She said with a chuckle, though she did mean it.

"Actually, come to me /before/ you're in trouble with some murderers." Sherlock said jokingly, but with a serious note in his voice, absolutely not liking the idea that Charlie would ever need 'help with some murderers'. Actually, if he could, he'd probably wrap up Charlie and Rosie into suits made of cushions, put a helmet on their heads and keep them away from any kind of danger - which obviously wasn't possible, but he'd still do anything in his power to keep them safe.

"Or rather the both of us. I'm not the Met, but someone should keep an eye on you two." John added. He could absolutely envision both of them getting into and running after god knows what and only leaving a note on the kitchen table. Well, he could imagine Sherlock leaving Charlie with Mrs. H, who'd then sneak outside to run after him.. He hated the thought alone. "So I've got my own murder prevention squad now? That's an improvement the orphanage." She chuckled, actually finding it cute they sounded that concerned already.

"And then some." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Your.. er.. lets say your sort of uncle is pretty much the head of the government, so there are quite a few methods to get rid of people that bother you." he said and smirked, already envisioning to deport everyone who would even so much as think about harming Charlie or Rosie to the most awful prisons he could find.

"Boy, I'm already looking forward to introducing you to my first boyfriend." Charlie snorted and shook his head a little. "You already have a boyfriend?" John asked immediately, which made Charlie chuckle in turn.

"Can you wait with that until John finished gun training?" Sherlock asked jokingly, "That'd be very useful." he added with a smirk.

"Yeah, I second that." John teased her with a chuckle. "You're terrible, you know that?" Charlie said, unable to hold back a laugh.

Sherlock smiled, hearing her laugh, he certainly felt better about her mood now than back at the orphanage when he had had to tell her that they weren't actually adopting her. "We're just looking out for you." he grinned.

"Yeah, smashing" Charlie said with a chuckle, failing at sounding annoyed. Being able to be outside and not having to think about the 'safety issues' at the orphanage was a really nice change lately.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "Well, it was about time someone does though." he said with a serious note in his voice as they arrived at the flat, pulling his keys out and unlocking the door, "Alright, here we are." he said, opening the door for Charlie, stepping a bit aside, "After you."


	54. Back At Baker Street

Charlie grinned at that and walked inside. "Thanks" She said and looked around the dark hallway. John had come from upstairs, she thought and went up to the stairs, waiting for Sherlock and John. It was a bit intimidating in the dark, buy she liked the smell of home. John meanwhile let go of Sherlock's hand for a moment so they could get inside.

Sherlock followed them with a smile, flicking the lights on in the hallway as he did so. When they walked into the flat, he turned the lights on there as well, "So.. that's it." he said, finding that John had a bit exaggerated about it's state, it was rather tidy by his standards.

Charlie smiled, immediately catching sight of the tree and recognising the smell from chemistry class. "Is that sulphur?" She asked, taking a few steps into the living room and looking at the skull picture a little.

"Uh.. yes, reminds me that I should probably clear out the microwave." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "Also.. it's probably best if you just never open the microwave." he added with and laughed a little.

"But otherwise the kitchen is mostly safe except for the chemicals." John added. "Really?" Charlie asked and went straight to the small shelve in the corner in front of her, suddenly really curious since she'd never seen books that old. " wild flowers as they grow, the history of the world ..." She read the titles quietly without touching them. "Where'd you get those from?"

"Well, I bought them in book stores when they were released, mostly." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Officially, I collect old books." he said with a smirk. "I actually got that one," he said, pointing at 'wild flowers as they grow' when I was on my way to board the Titanic." he said, walking over to Charlie. "By a weird coincidence, my brother and I didn't get to board in time and the ship left without us." he said with a frown.

"Wow, lucky you." Charlie said after a moment and looked from the books to Sherlock. She wondered what else he had seen in his life. He'd for sure led a dangerous one. "Why did you want to go to America?" She asked.

"Well, I was more interested in the ship, to be honest. I mean.. it was huge, both literally and metaphorically. It was the height of engineering back then." Sherlock said and sighed a little, "Ships these days are nothing special anymore, you know. It's simple, no one's surprised when they create a larger one, but in those days.. everyone was blown away."

Charlie nodded. "I've read that people even thought it was unsinkable.. " She said and paused. "Do you think life was better back then?"

"I wouldn't necessarily say better, but everyday life was certainly more exciting, since there were a lot of things that just got invented and discovered." Sherlock said and smiled a little, "There were a lot of things that were considered impossible, which were suddenly just there. Cars, phones, electricity, planes." Sherlock said with a smile. "Many inventions had the magnitude of .. I don't know, probably like the first man on the moon, or if they'd find extraterrestrial life." he said and chuckled a little.

"Hm, that must've been cool... It feels like nothing is going on in the world except for Climate Change and the new iPhone." Charlie commented with a shrug, while John was turning on the kettle and getting some cups out of the kitchen shelf. "Well, I guess everyday life has become more exciting for us. Speaking of which; do you have those documents here?"

"Yeah right here." Sherlock said and walked over to his desk, grabbing a stack of papers, "We just need to sign." he said, handing John the papers.

John came over to the desk and grabbed a pen to sign them. "So... there we go." He said and handed Sherlock the pen. Meanwhile Charlie watched them with a small smile on her face. She was going to get out of the orphanage for a while...

Sherlock smiled, signing the papers as well, "And done." he said with a smile, "You want to read the papers?" he asked, holding them out to Charlie, after all this was about her as well.

"Definitely" Charlie nodded with a smile and took them from Sherlock. Already skimming the first page excitedly, she walked backwards to the couch and sat down to put the document's onto her lap. "You weren't lying, she really is a dear." John told Sherlock with a smile, quietly enough for her not to hear them.

"Yeah.." Sherlock replied quietly and watched Charlie with a smile, "I really hope that the two of them will grow close together. She and Rosie, I mean. They'd make great sisters." he added and gave John a smile.

"Mmh, I can see what you mean." John nodded with a smile. "I'm interested to see how she acts around Rosie to be honest. How much more time until we have to get her back by the way?

"About an hour," Sherlock said and frowned, "Actually, Charlie," he began and walked over to her, "How about you take them with you to read them tonight?" he asked and smiled, "Otherwise we won't have time to show you the rest of the flat."

"Oh, sure alright." Charlie said and got back to her feet, putting the papers back on the desk. "So, where are the bedrooms and where do you store the gory Frankenstein-stuff that'd potentially traumatise us?" She asked lightly, genuinely wondering if she was going to be allowed to touch any of the drawers here.

"The gory Frankenstein-stuff is going to be on the /locked/ attic." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, gesturing Charlie to follow him upstairs, "Oh, by the way, the fact that Rosie's room already looks like a kids room is because it was actually meant to be my sisters' room when they're over, but they probably won't mind sharing, especially because they basically adore Rosie. She's their Charlie." he said with a smirk.

Charlie chuckled a little, feeling actually quite honoured to be important to Rosie. Following Sherlock upstairs, she smiled; she'd even get her own room again; before smirking. "And where exactly is the key? I just want to make sure I know which place to avoid, so don't accidentally stumble upon it."

"Nice try." Sherlock said with a laugh, shaking his head, "Right then, that'll be Rosie's room." he said, opening the door to the twins room he had only recently finished.

"Aw, that's really cute." Charlie smiled as she walked inside. "Though maybe not the best idea to have toddlers sleeping next to the stairs on first floor when you two aren't." She commented, going up to one of the beds with a chuckle. "Did you decorate all of this?"

"That's actually a good argument." Sherlock said and frowned, "Maybe we'll need one of those gate thingies for the stairs." he said and smiled again, "Well, yeah, I did."

"That's sweet though. I'm sure they'll love it, all three of them." Charlie chuckled. "Was the room pink before or did you do that especial for them?" She asked with a smile, sitting down on one of the beds.

"Uh, no that was me." Sherlock said and smiled, "I thought they'd like that better than the plain grey it was before." he said and smiled, "So.. you want to see your room? It's not ready yet, obviously, but on the bright side, you get to do all the customising."

"Yeah, definitely." Charlie smiled and stood back up. "So it's the unlocked part of the attic, I take it?" She asked, walking back over to Sherlock.

"No, the attic is a level higher." Sherlock said and smiled, "I actually don't know what's behind those walls, maybe it'd be worth it to extend the flat at some point, there's got to be more space on this floor."

"I can't believe you're someone who'd put something like that off. Maybe someone"s hid a skeleton somewhere in there." She joked with a chuckle and followed Sherlock into the other room.

"Well it's more fun not to know." Sherlock said and chuckled, "As long as you don't know you can imagine loads of interesting stories and what might be lying behind those walls, when you break them open and find nothing, it ruins the mystery."

"Okay granted. You so have to tell me the best story you've come up with so far some time." Charlie chuckled and looked around the room. "Whoa, this is almost twice the size of mine."

"Plus behind that old wardrobe there is a little bathroom, it's pretty small and old, but we could modernise it if you'd like to have your own bathroom." Sherlock said and smiled, "Otherwise, we could also turn it into a walk in wardrobe." he offered.

"Oh, that's a tough one." Charlie chuckled and thought about that for a moment. "I think I might go for the bathroom though. I don't have enough clothes for a walk-in closet not to be a waste of space. Plus Rosie and I wouldn't have to go through the whole flat just to take a shower and get dressed."

"You do realise that we will go shopping too? For clothes I mean?" Sherlock said and smiled, "So a walk in wardrobe might not be that much of a waste of space." he said and chuckled, "But well a large wardrobe would probably do the trick as well."

"Okay, in that case I'll wait with the answer until after that shopping trip." Charlie grinned, letting her guard down and giving him a smile. "Seriously though, thank you. No one's ever been that nice to me."

"Well, you deserve it." Sherlock said and frowned a little, walking over to the heater and turning it on, "Best to try if it works, or if I have to get someone to fix it, before you move in." he said and walked back over to Charlie.

"Yeah, that'd be a nice thing to have." Charlie said and looked out of the window, wondering if it'd snow this year... "By the way, can I ask you for your opinion on something Sherlock?" She asked after a moment, looking back to him again.”

"Er.. sure, what it is." Sherlock asked with a smile, forcing himself to keep it casual while praying to everyone who was listening that it wasn't a question that would lead to 'the talk'.

"I, erm, do you think John likes me?" Charlie asked after a moment and let out a sigh. "He seems really nice and I don't know if he's just on that level of niceness that he's just putting it on to be polite or not make feel bad or something." She shrugged, figuring he didn't have to like her very much to not want her to get adopted by some psycho-murderers.

"Oh.." Sherlock said and smiled at Charlie, "Of course he likes you, little Marple." he said gently and chuckled a little, "You know what he only just told me downstairs, 'you weren't lying, she really is a dear'. That's an exact quote."

"Really?" Charlie asked with a smile, before catching herself a little. "Oh, okay, that's good to know. Thanks." She said before adding with a chuckle. "It's pretty obvious though that he's head over heels into you. I'd really like to find someone someone that looks at me the way you look at each other."

Sherlock smiled at that, even blushing a little, "You will." he said and chuckled a little, "If even I can find someone like that, I have no doubt that someone as charming and pretty as you will find someone like that as well." he said with a smile, "Anyway, should we go back downstairs, or do you want to rummage around on the attic a little, I've got a lot of old things up there that piled up over the years, I think I might even have some old dresses of my mum up there, old as in regency times. I'm sure there are a few cosplay events for Jane Austen fans, if you're interested in something like that.. and to be quite honest, I have been trying to find an excuse to get John to put on regency clothes as well.. and since we'd have to accompany you.." he chuckled.

Charlie began to laugh a little at the idea of seeing them both all dressed up. "Definitely! I like how you've already got this all figured out." She said with a smile. "Could you help me find a cosplay event like that?" She asked and walked back out of the room.

"I uh.. may or may not have a list of them with dates and ticket websites saved to my phone." Sherlock said and smirked at Charlie, "Oh by the way, if you were hoping to find Frankenstein stuff up there, you'll be disappointed, I haven't moved all my experiments yet." he said with a laugh, "I'm actually on John's side there. But nothing speaks against letting you snoop through the other stuff." he said with a grin, "Do you want to go up there alone or should I join you?"

"Nah, that's alright. I'll come back downstairs in a few minutes." She said with a chuckle. "Well, unless I find something really interesting. In that case maybe call so I don t spend the next hour there."

Sherlock chuckled a little, "Alright." he said and smiled at her, before turning and walking down the stairs, smiling at John as he spotted him and pulling him into a proper, deep kiss now that they had the chance to do so.

John kissed him back passionately, running a hand through Sherlock's curls. "Hey there" He smiled after pulling back, glad they finally had a moment to themselves. "I've been looking forward to you all day, you know?"

Sherlock smiled, "Oh I do know, as I've been looking forward to you as well." he said and smiled, wrapping his arms around John's waist, "I don't think I'll ever get used to not being able to snog you whenever I want." he said with a chuckle.

"No, me neither." John smiled and pecked Sherlock's lips once more. "So, what's Charlie doing upstairs? I heard laughter; I don't have to be worried, do I?" He joked with a chuckle.

Sherlock chuckled, "Well, I allowed her to look through some of my old stuff on the attic as long as it's still Frankenstein stuff free." he said and smirked.

"Ah, alright." John chuckled. "We really have to clean up the flat then the next couple of days. Anyway, how was your day? Did anything happen you want to talk about?"

"Well, there is that guy, you know. Charming, very cute and I keep missing him terribly already when he's not around.." Sherlock mused and smirked cheekily at John.

John began to chuckle and gave Sherlock's a smile. "Funnily enough I know a bloke that fits your description perfectly."

"Oh do you?" Sherlock said and chuckled again, "What a coincidence." he remarked with a laugh and pecked John's lips again.

"I think both of them would get along brilliantly." John remarked with a chuckle, before pulling Sherlock into another kiss.

Sherlock chuckled at that, "Yeah, we should probably get them to go on a date sometime." he murmured against John's lips, "Just the two of them." he said and smiled happily as he broke the kiss.

"Yeah, that'd be lovely." John smiled back and took Sherlock's hand. "Do you think tomorrow would be a good day for them?"

"Hm, I think tomorrow would be perfect." Sherlock said leant a bit against his boyfriend, "I really miss .. just..being with you, you know." he said and chuckled, "I don't know how actual parents do it."

"Me neither. And it's going to get interesting once they've actually moved in." John said. "But we'll manage and figure it out eventually. I'm absolutely sure of it."

"You know, I doubt that occasionally seeing us kiss would harm them." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I mean.. after all they see people kiss on TV and films all the time, even in Disney films they kiss."

"Yeah, I would hope so. I don't like the thought of having to disappear into the bedroom with you just to kiss." John chuckled. "No, I was actually thinking about the two of us having having some alone-time in between work, uni, children and whatever is going on in the orphanage." And that proposal, he added in his mind. "But I guess those have to be our priorities right now."

"Well, then we need a date night." Sherlock said and lifted John's hand to his lips, to peck the back of it. "How about we take one night a week, where whether my mother, or Angelo, or Mrs Hudson take care of Rosie and Charlie, while we go out."

"Okay, that's an arrangement I'd be happy with." John smiled. "How about we have some tea while Charlie is going through your old clothes?"

"Sounds good." Sherlock said and smiled a little, "You know, Charlie was asking me just now if I think you actually like her, or if you're just that nice to everybody."

"Oh, no I genuinely like her." John said and gave him a smile, wondering if he actually came off as that nice. "I think being 'civil' would be the right word for the people I don't like. What did you tell her?"

"I told her what you told me, that you think she's a dear." Sherlock said and smiled, "It's kind of sad that she's that insecure, though.. she's playing a role with her friends, you know, because she thinks they won't like her when she's herself."

John frowned. "Oh, that's awful. When did she tell you that?" John asked glancing to the staircase.

"When I picked her up." Sherlock said and sighed, "I'm actually pretty sure that, if she'd give them a chance to actually like her for who she is, they would."

"Mmh, yeah, I wonder where she got that idea from." John said and sighed. "Once I know her a bit better, I'll talk to her about why she started to do that."

"Well, she had the same problem Rosie has now. Her way of solving it was pretending to be interested in whatever the other kids her age were interested in." Sherlock said and shrugged, "I can sort of relate to that, although I never really tried to adjust.. but maybe that's because she can't really say so what and go look for some other friends, she lives with them..."

"Hm, okay. Maybe getting out of there in the afternoon will help her a bit. I'm sure we can find time to bring her to classes once or twice a week. At least she'd meet some kids her age." John suggested with a shrug.

"Well, I did promise her to get her into some of Jane's evening classes as an auditor." Sherlock said and smiled, "It might actually help more to have her meet girls that are a few years older than her and who are rather smart, which they should be since they're attending Cambridge." he said with a laugh. "They're more likely to be on her level, than kids her age."

"That's probably true." John chuckled. "Still, I think she should get an opportunity to be herself among girls her own age and not only her foster parents' one, you know?"

"True.. but maybe.. we should give her the opportunity to decide what opportunities she wants to have in the first place, we're being very heavy handed with her life here." Sherlock said and chuckled a little.

"You're right about that. And she hasn't even moved in yet." John said and huffed a laugh, before letting go of Sherlock to go into the kitchen. "Anyway, tea."

"I do, but I like it a lot when you remind me." John said with a smile and rested his head against Sherlock's, getting out some tea bags. "I love you too."

"I actually only say it to hear you say it." Sherlock joked and chuckled again, before he let go of John, starting to make a sandwich with 'ketchup' for Charlie, since she's only had a glass of blood for dinner.

John huffed a laugh at that and put some milk on the stove. Meanwhile Charlie came quietly down the stairs, wearing a neat bonnet she'd found to continue to read her fostering-documents, while Sherlock and John were busy.

Sherlock smiled, kissing John's cheek and walking back into the living room with the sandwich when he heard Charlie come back, stopping in his tracks when he saw Charlie wearing that Bonnet, which had been his mothers. "You know, that style really suits you." he said and smiled, "You've got a good face for hats, ever tried one?"

"Not except for the ones they sell on street corners." Charlie said with a chuckle. "But thanks, I wasn't sure if I could pull this look off. That looks good by the way." She said and nodded towards Sherlock's sandwich.

"Hm, good thing you think so, because it's for you." Sherlock said and set down the plate and a glass with blood next to it, "I figured that cake and a glass of blood wasn't really enough to tide you over until breakfast."

"Awesome, thanks." Charlie said with a smile and looked up when she saw John coming back to them, balancing three mugs of tea. "Just in case you wanted something warm in your belly.." He said and put them next to the plate. "It's good to know Rosie and I aren't gonna starve here." She said and chuckled. "Though I should probably mention that two of the mugs were meant for Sherlock and me." He added with a smirk, which made Charlie laugh a bit. "Yeah, you know, I did figure that much."

Sherlock chuckled, "He's just saying that to not look like a fool, he actually did mean to give you all three, that mother hen." he teased, leaning over to peck John's cheek.

Charlie began to chuckle at that and John rolled is eyes a little. "Ah, the fun one has spoken, yeah?" He asked teasingly.

"He has." Sherlock said with a nod, chuckling along with Charlie, "I'm just saying, 'something warm in your belly'." he added with a grin, "Spoken like a true mother hen."

John gave an exaggerated sigh and shot him a feigned annoyed look. "I mean, t-paps does have a point there." Charlie said with a grin, still chuckling.

Sherlock laughed, "I think it'll take a while to get used to 't-paps'." he said and sat down next to Charlie on the sofa. "Should we bet on how fast Rosie will pick up on it once she hears you call me that? I'm guessing 10 seconds, maybe less."

"Yeah, my bet's on seven." Charlie chuckled and picked up her glass of blood. "I think Greg and Mrs. Hudson are the only people actually calling you 'Sherlock' at this point, Sher." John said with a chuckle and sipped his tea.

"Well.. Mrs Turner does too.. and Angelo." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "But other than that.. I hear my full name rather seldom." he agreed.


	55. Beginning Of The Big Sleepover

Charlie was already excited; she'd get an early weekend, plus (a big plus) a temporary home. She really did try to see it as a big sleepover, just the way she'd told Rosie, so now she was looking forward to finally having Sherlock and John come around... After double checking she'd packed her suitcase, she went over to Rosie's room to help her get ready. With a smile I'm her face she knocked on her door.

Rosie had already pulled all her clothes out of the wardrobe and was now chuckling and entertaining herself, by sitting next to the pile and trying to hit her suitcase on the bed as it knocked at the door, "Come in!" she chirped, chuckling as a sock flew past her suitcase, landing on her bedside lamp.

Charlie opened the door and had to laugh a little when she saw how Rosie was packing her bag. "Good morning, sis. Packing is going well?" She asked Rosie sat down next to her on the ground.

Rosie nodded and chuckled again, cheering a little as a jumper she had thrown hit the suitcase, "You want to play too?" she asked and held out a pair of pyjama bottoms to Charlie, "It's really fun!"

"Yeah, I can see that. But how about we put them all in at once?" She suggested, figuring that not having her clothes all wrinkly was probably better. "Sherlock said he was gonna pick us up in half an hour. Then we'd still have time to double check and say our goodbyes for the weekend."

"Oh, okay!" Rosie said and stood up, picking up a few clothes and carrying them as a ball over to her suitcase, dropping them into it.

"Awesome." Charlie cringed sightly and laughed a bit, before going up to Rosie to help her gather up the clothes lying all around her bed. "Have you already packed your toothbrush and toys?" She asked her, picking up one of the socks.

"Mhm." Rosie hummed, pointing at the small toiletry bag sitting on her night stand, "Janine gave it to me, it's a bag especially for toothbrushes, hairbrushes and soap!" she said, still amazed there was a bag especially for those things. "She said I can keep it and my toys are in that plastic bag!" she added, pointing at a small bag next to her bed, she didn't have a lot of toys that really belonged to her alone.

"Awesome. If you've also got your picture now, I think we're both ready." Charlie said with a smile. "Are you already excited?" She chuckled, putting a pair of Rosie's trousers into her suitcase.

"Oh! Right!" Rosie said and took the photo of her family out of her night stand drawer, Sherlock had just like he had promised put it into a frame with a bee on. "Where do I put it so it doesn't break on the way?" she asked, looking up at Charlie.

"Here, you could put it into that jumper there like a cushion and put that into your suitcase. I don t think it'll break there." Charlie suggested. "Mine are in a book but that should work too.

"Okay." Rosie said and put the photo into the suitcase, before she put the jumper on top of it. "Like that?" she asked, looking up at Charlie.

"Yeah, perfect." Charlie said with a smile and put Rosie's toiletries bag into her suitcase. "There we go. Now there's only your toys left and then we can put your bag next to mine.

"Here." Rosie said, taking the bag with her toys and holding it out to Charlie, "But we have to be careful, the bees I made with Sherlock are in there too, I don't want them to get hurt!" she said and smiled, "Do you think I can hang them up again at Sherlock's flat?"

"I'm absolutely sure you can." Charlie said with a chuckle and put the bag of toys carefully into a free corner of her bag and closed it. "You haven't seen our room there yet, have you? "

"No.." Rosie said and shook her head, "But I'm sure it's really pretty!" she said and tried to lift her suitcase, grimacing a little, it was a lot heavier than it looked.

"Here, let me take that." Charlie said, before lifting it off the ground. "Let's bring that to my room so we can say goodbye to some people. I mean, sell see them on Monday again, but it's still something. You should be seen the way my girlfriends began to squeal when I told them." She huffed a laugh and shook get head.

"I bet they're like super jealous, because we're going on an adventure and they aren't!" Rosie said, feeling a little gleeful about this, because people didn't let her play with them and now they weren't allowed to come on the adventure. That sounded fair to her.

"Yup, they really are, understandably so. Now it's only the two of us living in an actual home." Charlie said and began to go outside, waiting for Rosie by the door. "But I'll probably still invite my friends over every now and then. I'm sure they'd really like that"

"Hm.. I don't have friends to invite, except you, John and Sherlock, but I don't have to invite any of you over, because you'll be there anyway." Rosie said with a thoughtful frown, "But maybe I can invite Amy and Ally over! They're my friends too!"

"That'll love that, I'm sure." Charlie smiled. "And you've got five friends already, that's pretty awesome." She said as she arrived in front of her door. "Could you open that for me please?" My hands are kinda full."

"Okay." Rosie said, smiling at the fact that she had /five friends/! That seemed like a lot of friends. "Woah your room looks so big without your stuff in it!" she said as she opened the door for Charlie.

"Yeah, that's true. I still have to get used to it like that.. Or well, I guess I don't." Charlie chuckled and put Rosie's bag next to her own. "So... who do you want to say goodbye to? Maybe Mrs. Turner, Arthur, Greg, Rachel, or who were you thinking of?"

"Can we say goodbye to the bees?" Rosie asked and looked up at Charlie with a smile, "I mean the real bees, not the ones in my bag!" she chuckled.

“Sure, definitely. Let's say goodbye to them first." Charlie smiled and held her hand out for her to take it.

"Cool!" Rosie said and smiled, taking Charlie's hand and yawning a little, rubbing her eyes with her free hand, she had had trouble sleeping that night because she was so excited about today!

Charlie smiled a bit and began to walk with her downstairs and outside to the beehive. "I had a hard time falling asleep too tonight." She said with a chuckle.

"Oh me too!" Rosie said and smiled, she hadn't wanted to admit it at first, but since Charlie had trouble falling asleep too, then it probably wasn't so bad. "I'm a little tired.." she admitted, rubbing at her eyes again.

"I'm sure you'll get to sleep a bit on the way there." Charlie told her. "You might even get to try out your new bed." She said with a warm smile.

When Sherlock arrived at the orphanage, he was actually really nervous, they had everything in place at home, Charlie's room was cleared out and painted in an overnight job, for which the painters had charged a ridiculous amount of money - and he didn't consider something expensive very often - but they had been the only people agreeing to do it on short notice and overnight and well, it wasn't like he couldn't afford it. He had also rearranged Rosie's and the twins' room, having put bunk beds in for the twins, which according to his mother had them extremely excited when she told them about it, so there was now space for a third bed.

It took him a while to find the girls, having found both their rooms empty, but eventually he had spotted them outside. "Good morning, you're checking on the bees, I see?" he asked with a smile.

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, obviously we have to say goodbye to them now that we won't see them as often for a while." She said with a chuckle. "Are we leaving now?"

"We can't leave now!" Rosie interrupted, looking at Charlie, before looking at Sherlock, "Charlie has to say goodbye to her friends, it's really important! Because friends are important!" she informed him and Sherlock smiled, lifting the obviously tired girl up on his arm, "Oh, yes, that /is/ important." he said and looked at Charlie, "You want to go alone, or should we join you?"

"Nah, that's alright, it won't be too long. You've already seen the suitcases in my room, haven't you?" Charlie asked, figuring Sherlock had first checked their rooms before coming out here. "I'll meet you at the front door, okay?"

"Sure, I'll get your luggage then." Sherlock said and gave her a smile, before looking at Rosie, who head her head rested against his shoulder. "What about you then? You've got someone else to say goodbye to?" he asked and Rosie shook her head, "No." she said and shrugged a little, "All my friends will be around me when we're there."

"I'm already looking forward to that." Charlie told Rosie with a smile, before turning around to say goodbye to her friends. They were all presumably in Emilia's room, so that's where she was headed. Weird, the past week she hadn't really spent much time with them outside classes.

Walking with Rosie, who dozed a little on his shoulder, to Charlie's room, Sherlock picked up the girl's luggage, unfortunately having to set Rosie down again, so he could take both suitcases, which he really regretted, since she looked like she could use a nap. Walking with her towards the entrance, he walked to the car - which they had rented, they hadn't had time to buy one yet - to put Rosie into it already, so she could nap a little, figuring Charlie would see him from the front door, since he had parked close to the building.

Roughly ten minutes and a few hugs later, Charlie checked her empty room one last time again, before she walked out of the orphanage for good. Holding a self-made card in her hand, she spotted the car Sherlock and Rosie were sitting in. "Hey" She whispered (so Rosie wouldn't wake up) after getting into the back of the car. "Let's get cracking"

"You know," Sherlock said and chuckled quietly, "Let's get cracking is a rather appropriate reaction, given that there's a sleepover party waiting for you." he said with a grin, "Hope you like marshmallows. Okay.. don't forget the seatbelt." he said and waited for Charlie to buckle up.

"Awesome" Charlie smiled and buckled up, glancing over at Rosie next to her. "But I guess technically this already is a bit of a sleepover." She said with a chuckle.

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah, how is she that tired anyway?" he asked as he turned on the engine, "Any late night break ins last night?" he asked with a smirk.

"No, she said she was so excited for today she couldn't sleep." Charlie told him. "A bit counterproductive since she's now asleep for the actual arrival after staring at the ceiling for hours, but well"

"I see a hint of dark shadows under your eyes too." Sherlock said with a smirk, glancing at her in the rear-view mirror, "Is it by any chance possible that Rosie wasn't the only one that was nervous?"

"I might've been a little nervous and maybe didn't quite get my 5 and a half.." Charlie said, looking up. "But I'm not as tired as Rosie here."

"To be honest, I'm a little nervous too," Sherlock said with a small laugh, "So is John, so we're all in the same boat, I think. It's a new situation for all of us."

"I don't know if I'm supposed to feel better now." Charlie teased with a chuckle. "Seriously though, this can't be that big a deal. Rosie and I aren't all /that/ care-intensive and you and John seem responsible enough." She added with a smile.

"Responsible enough.. that sounds accurate." Sherlock said with a laugh, "No, but what I mean is, this is a big change for all of us. And you two are care-intensive, much more so than you've received at the orphanage. We're not just letting you two do your own thing at home. We might be a family temporary living together, but we /are/ a family as far as I'm concerned."

"I'm curious to find out what exactly that means then." Charlie replied truthfully and gazed out of the window. It wasn't like Molly, Rachel and Greg had been ignoring them, so well, she didn't really know what to expect.

"Well, it means having two people that are only there for you two instead of for you two and 60 other people." Sherlock said, looking back at the two girls as he stopped at a red light, "And.. well, I actually hope we can work out some semblance of a family life.."

"Yeah?" Charlie asked with a smile. "I mean you already told me you were gonna help me with school. By the way, Rachel sagte mein Deutsch sei besser geworden ist." Charlie added with a smile.

"Well, the 'ist' is too much. But otherwise, perfect." Sherlock said and smiled, before turning back to the street as the cars behind them began to honk, realising that the street light showed green and starting to drive again.

"Ah, okay." Charlie said, making sure to commit that to memory. "Where did you learn German by the way? Have you ever been there?"

"Well, I was there a few times during both world wars." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Didn't really take me long to pick up on it."

"Yeah?" Charlie asked curiously. "How long did it take you until were fluent?" She might be able to beat that, if she really tried.

"Not that long. German is quite similar to English, so it wasn't that hard." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Although, I'm saying that based on being around German speaking people for months." he said and smiled, "I can't really tell if it's any harder if you're just having lessons."

Charlie nodded quietly. "Why did you live among Germans during both World Wars in the first place?" She asked after a moment. History wasn't her strong suit, but she did know roughly who fought whom. And genuinely, she couldn't imagine that Sherlock had been in the middle of all that...

"Well.. I fought against them, so contact was hard to avoid and of course I ran into civilians all the time." Sherlock said and cleared his throat, not really wanting to go into detail on all of that. "Anyway.. keep practising and you'll be fluent in no time."

"Oh, okay." Since Sherlock clearly (and probably understandably) didn't want to elaborate, Charlie figured she best shift the subject to something he did like. "You know, I was thinking you should teach history, with you having seen almost everything happening here anyway, but you'd probably still have to study history for that. Anyway, that's why I was wondering which subjects you're going to teach."

"I was actually thinking about teaching history, but preferably in the higher grades, because then I could actually let them know I've lived through it, given that they'll know about tomato juice allergics and people that really like tomato juice." Sherlock said, just in case Rosie was picking up on some of their conversation. He did see the point of letting them have some sort of normal childhood before telling them about the whole vampire thing. "And well, I was also thinking I could teach maths, English, chemistry and physics, I mean.. it's all gonna be blow off classes for me, so I don't mind studying a few subjects more, really and the more subjects I can teach the better."

"That's really cool. I hope you're gonna be done with those before my A-levels." Charlie said with a smile. Sherlock would be an interesting teacher for sure; plus he was good at simplifying complex things as far as she could tell.

"You sure you want me as a teacher?" Sherlock asked with a laugh as he pulled up in front of Baker Street, "For all you know, I could be a terrible bore, or just terrible." he chuckled.

"You think I'd be moving in with a bore?" Charlie joked with a chuckle and unbuckled her seatbelt once the car came go a halt.

"Good point." Sherlock said and smiled as he got out of the car and moved to lift Rosie out of her seat, trying not to wake her as he moved to the side so Charlie climb out on the side walk side, rather than the street side.


	56. Home

After climbing out of the car on Rosie's side, Charlie went to the boot of the car and opened it to already get her suitcase out. "Is she still asleep?" She asked looking up at Sherlock.

"I'm not sleepin'.." Rosie slurred, with her eyes half opened, while her head was still resting against Sherlock's shoulder, "No. No, we know you're not." he said and chuckled softly, holding her with both arms so he'd have a firmer grip on her on the stairs, "Can you take Rosie's suitcase too? If not, I can get it once I've brought her upstairs." he said, looking at Charlie.

"Sure thing, I can do it." Charlie nodded and got Rosie's luggage out too, closing the boot again before taking them both of their bags into her hands. So that was it then. New home.

Sherlock smiled and unlocked the door for them, letting Charlie walk in first, "So I guess Rosie should take a little nap, before we head out shopping, any ideas what to do?" he asked as they arrived upstairs, "John is still at uni, so it's just us.."

Charlie set down their luggage with a small grunt once they were in the flat. "Mmh, well I spotted the music stand in front of your encyclopaedias. So you could tell me what instrument you play" She suggested, figuring that if it had been John's he'd have already told her about it since he said he didn't have many hobbies. Plus, he'd just moved in here, so if he'd stopped playing a while ago, it's unlikely he'd have put it up again.

"Oh, I play the violin." Sherlock said as he laid Rosie down on the sofa, putting a cushion under her head and covering her with a blanket, since she had dozed off again on the way up the stairs. "I could play a bit tonight if you like, probably not a good idea to do it now." he said quietly as he tucked the little blond into the blanket.

"Yeah, probably not." Charlie agreed and sat down on the armrest of the couch, looking down on Rosie. "I mean, I'll just start to read some of your books. Or what do you usually do around here?"

"Uhm.." Sherlock said and cleared his throat, figuring it wasn't a good idea to tell Charlie about what John and he did usually in their free time... "Well.. we could play a game.." he said and chuckled a little, "I've got pretty much every board game ever published, moved them all from the storage room to the basement. Oh, you haven't seen your room cleared out and painted, have you?" he asked.

"No, I haven't. Could you show me?" Charlie asked and got back to her feet. "And boardgames sound fun too. I don't really know that many though." She said quietly and chuckled. "Do I already have a bed?"

"Well.. no." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "Felt like a crucial piece of interior." he said and shrugged, "It just felt like it's something you should pick to feel truly at home." he said and smiled as he started to walk towards the stairs, figuring Charlie would follow. "As I said, you can completely furnish it yourself however you want it."

"Already looking forward to that then." Charlie smiled and followed Sherlock upstairs, wondering if he'd remembered her favourite colour. "Are we going to Ikea for that?" She asked, only having seen it from the outside.

"If you like." Sherlock said as they walked up the stairs, "We can also drop by some designer shops," he said as he opened the door of Charlie's room, pulling the key out of the lock as he did so, before turning to Charlie and handing it to her. "Okay so, you can lock the door, but not at night. But you can leave it locked when you're not here if you want to."

"Sounds fair, but why not at night?" Charlie asked, looking back up at Sherlock and sliding it into her back pocket; she might get some string to attach it to something so she wouldn't lose it.

"Mainly because of safety concerns, don't want you to have an additional barrier in the way in case of a fire or something." Sherlock said and smiled a little, "And well, hope you don't mind that too much, but your room is much closer to Rosie's so if she's scared at night, she should be able to come in and snuggle up to you? I mean.. we can tell her to come downstairs to us if you would mind that, of course."

"Oh, right. No, course I don't." Charlie said and shook her head. "Rosie can come in whenever she wants to." She said definitely. She wasn't really used to the idea of either of them going to Sherlock or John (or any adult really for that matter) at night on a regular basis anyway, so obviously that was her job. With that she peaked inside her room, smiling to find it was green. "Hey, you remembered."

"Course I did. I saved the page with the wallpaper you wanted and ordered it." Sherlock said and chuckled a little.

"Awesome, thank you." Charlie grinned and stepped inside, looking around the room. "I love it!"

"Oh if you already love it lets just leave it like that, saves us some money." Sherlock joked and chuckled a little, before remembering something, "Oh! Speaking of money," he said and walked to the window, taking the wallet that was lying on the sill, which had a punk-ish hello kitty on it and contained a 50 pound note, before he walked back over to Charlie and handed it to her, "Here you go, you've got to have something to keep your pocket money in." he said with a smile, open it.

Charlie smiled and opened the wallet, looking at him surprised. "That's more pocket money than I used to get. Is that gonna become a regular thing?"

"Yep. That's gonna stick even after you've moved back into the orphanage.. but maybe don't go bragging to your friends.. they're whether going to be jealous and start disliking you, or they'll start taking advantage of you and both wouldn't be too pleasant for you." Sherlock said and shrugged a little, "People generally don't like if someone has more money than them.."

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." Charlie said with a nod, though she really wasn't going to brag in front of her friends anyway; they already were jealous as it was now. "Shall we go back downstairs?"

"Sure, hang on, I'll just grab Rosie's wallet real quick and well, we could go on the attic, digging through the games?" Sherlock asked and chuckled, "We might be stuck here for an hour or two, depending on how long Rosie will be napping."

"That's all fine with me." Charlie said with a smile and walked out of her new room. "Do you happen to know 'operation'?"

Sherlock chuckled a little, "That one, I actually have downstairs in a cabinet." he said as he walked into Rosie's room, grabbing the wallet, which had a flowery pattern and a bee shaped clasp. "My brother and I used to play it every now and again." he said and held the wallet out to Charlie to look at, "You think Rosie will like it?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she'll love it. I mean she's all about bees after all." Charlie said with a chuckle. "You know what? We should get the bees you to made from her bag and hang them in her room or in the flat. I think she'd really like to have them up again." She suggested, remembering their earlier conversation.

"Oh sure, we can do that, on that note, though, do you actually like yours? I wasn't sure about what design to pick." Sherlock said and really shopping for 12 year old girls wasn't his strong suit.

"Yeah, it's cool. Not something I'd have picked, but I like it." Charlie said with a smile. "By the way, when's your birthday?" She asked after a moment.

"It's January 6th.. which reminds me that I don't know your birthday.. or Rosie's..." Sherlock mused and frowned, "Well that's embarrassing.."

"My birthday's July 27th and Rosie was born on the first of March." Charlie replied quickly. "See, now you do know. Hey, you've got the same birthday as Joan of Arc and isn't that Armed Forces Day in Iraq too?" She asked, remembering to have read something like that.

Sherlock smiled, "I believe so." he said as he started to walk again, making a mental note of their birthdays. "Do you get proper birthday parties at the orphanage?" he asked, though he doubted it, really.

"Well, we get a present, an extra helping of dessert, Mrs. Turner will give us a birthday muffin, and usually we get the boom box to celebrate with the rest of the year." Charlie listed as she went down the stairs. "I mean, obviously not like in the movies, but it's still pretty neat. Last year we managed to squeeze 14 people into Emilia's room. And that on a Tuesday night." She said, giggling as she remembered the way Molly had looked at them.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "Well.. that's probably something that should be expanded for all of you.. although with 70 people.. doesn't that mean approximately 3 or 4 parties a month?" he asked and sighed, "God, I really wish there was a way to take care of every kids specific needs over there. But it's really difficult to handle.. so many birthday parties.. I suppose it stops being special at some point."

"Nah, I mean, we don't really celebrate the really little ones' birthdays and we're not invited to everyone's party. I for example get to go on about one or two a month. Though, I think someone celebrates basically every other day in August and September." Charlie told him with a chuckle. "Those are fun. I mean, I'm not that much into parties themselves, but it's cool to part of the group. And I mean, that's what those are about, being a bit more special than the others for a day. It's why I don't see why the admin should meddle with birthdays, if they are about /us/ anyway." She shrugged. "The downside is that you need a community for a community thing; I don't think Rosie's ever really celebrated, except for the thing Janine does maybe."

"What thing is that?" Sherlock asked as they walked down the stairs, smiling as he saw that Rosie was still asleep.

"Well, she's looking after the small ones, so whenever one of them has their birthday they sing songs in the morning, every child is supposed to tell the birthday kid what they like about them, they get a paper crown.. things like that, you know?" Charlie explained; well at least things had been like that eight years ago.

Sherlock couldn't help but smile at that, "Well that's really nice." he said and frowned, "Does that mean that you wouldn't want a proper birthday party with cake and well.. space.." he began thinking of that story about squeezing a dozen kids into one room, "If you could have one?"

"Is that supposed to be a joke? Obviously I do." Charlie said with a chuckle. "My point was life at the orphanage isn't bleak, but that sure as- doesn't mean I'd say no to a whole birthday cake or decorations. I just mean, I have had proper birthday parties, but that doesn't mean they couldn't get better."

"Hm.. well, obviously I can't be sure, but there is a very good chance that John and I won't need the flat on the next few July 27th's.. at least not in the evenings, since obviously you'd have to go through the usual afternoon with cake and family, but after those John and I definitely have a lot of 'getting out of the way since we're just boring adults' to do with Mrs Hudson." he chuckled.

That made Charlie laugh. "Wow, smooth. But really though, you'll let me celebrate my birthday here?" She asked, unsure if Sherlock was actually serious.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "Well if you like, I mean, I was also serious about the cake and tea with family routine, you have to go through before the party with friends, but in general, yeah, you could do that. Obviously, John and I will be close by but out of sight, like perhaps spending the evening with Mrs Hudson, but I'm definitely serious about it." he said with a smile.

"Thank you.. I'll definitely take you up on that." Charlie said with a smile on her face, before asking. "You know, this does sound a lot like adoption, just quicker. I mean, you've promised to keep giving me pocket money, letting me celebrate my birthdays here, stay part of your family, pay my student loans,... I don't really get it."

"Well.." Sherlock said with a frown, "I mean, John and I definitely want to keep you in our lives, both of you, we're just not feeling ready to be actual parents, you know. But that doesn't mean we're not going to support you and be there for you." he said and realised himself how weird that sounded, but it was all he could offer at that point.

But you only met me less than a week ago. I mean, you're not, you  can't be really committed yet.. You could just take us in for a few months and then let us back to the orphanage no strings attached. I wouldn't blame you. Rosie might, but she's four." Charlie said after a moment, careful not to wake Rosie up. "I mean, I just don't get this. There are loads of other kids in a much worse position than me that'd like to have all of that. Why not them?"

"I think it really is because I get the positions you're in.. I mean, I was never in an orphanage mind you, but well, after all, I was a gay man.. or, well, boy, really, growing up in a time where everything that really mattered wasn't who you were, it was what other people thought of you, your reputation, so as I said, I was gay and didn't even have the motivation to pretend to be interested in the opposite sex or balls and was more into science and experimenting.. plus the fact that I was smarter than most other people." Sherlock said and sighed, "I had Jane, yes, but I never got along with my brother, it took a long time until I confided in anyone.. and that still had the feeling of being weird to it. I get what it's like to be different in a confined space you can't really escape." he went on and sighed, "I just really feel connected to you two. It's probably really strange to you.."

"Yeah, it sorta is, but I think I get what you're saying." Charlie said after thinking about that for a moment. "I mean, the three of us are strange anyway, so there's really no harm in that. Plus there's still John to balance our weirdness out." She joked after a moment.

Sherlock smiled a little at that, "Maybe it's just because it would have been nice to have someone who actually gets me and who I could talk to without being judged in any way, so I guess that's what I want to be for you two." he said and hummed a small laugh, "The awful thing was that it took me so long to realise there were such people in my life. Jane found out I'm interested in men on her own at some point, but I never dared to just go up to someone no matter how close I was to them and just be who I actually was, well that was until I met Victor, my first boyfriend, who insisted on going to my father and asking him for permission to run off with me.. and well we were going to run off anyway, so it didn't really matter, what really stunned me back then was that my father told him and later me, that he and my mother were completely alright with whatever would make me happy." he said with a smile, "I'm not sure if you can imagine how rare people like my parents were back then, I mean it was still all in secret and neither of them would have wanted for it to become public knowledge, but they did let me go off with him. I.. erm.. I didn't see them very often after that, I think they visited me thrice, before they died. Well, before my father died, my mother obviously didn't die, but she faked it, not knowing I was a vampire as well.. It's so ridiculous that we never found out she was still alive until a month ago."

"Mmh, that must've been hard growing up." Charlie nodded after listening to the first chapter of Sherlock's memoirs. "Do you think you blame anyone for that?" She asked, sitting down on a chair, figuring they were talking about Sherlock's feelings now. "Which would be completely understandable by the way."

"Well.. no." Sherlock said and frowned, sitting down in John's armchair across from Charlie, "I don't know, it's not like it was their fault, I just didn't have the guts to go to people and show them what I'm really like. Which was made especially difficult since being homosexual was an actual crime, people went to prison for that. So of course there was that, holding me back, not just social pressure."

"Well, going by your logic society makes laws. Hence you wouldn't be wrong to blame it for your former situation, correct?" Charlie said quietly after a moment, steepling her fingers under her chin. "May I ask what you think about society as a whole?"

"Well.. it has got it's ups and downs.. certainly a whole lot of downs." Sherlock said and sighed, "I think it's really difficult to make up your mind about the society you live in, it's got way too many variations and layers to even fully know it. You can't say it's entirely good or entirely awful. But I think it's.. slow. In any sense of the word, it changes too slowly, it reacts too slowly and it realises dangers too slowly, even if the single individuals see a danger it takes ages until something happens, most of the time nothing happens until some major tragedy happens, even though the danger was well known. Take for instance the global warming, we knew the problem way before the weather started to noticeably change, before the ice at the poles started to noticeably disappear, but did we in turn noticeably change our behaviour? No. We only started making plans that drag out over decades when we were actually affected by it."

"So, if I get that right you, as a very sharp person, are frustrated in our slow society." Charlie summarised. "How are you coping with that? I mean, are you trying to change it, ignore it, shout at it, live with it... I could think of many methods to apply here." She said, her voice free from judgement.

Sherlock frowned again, unintentionally mirroring Charlie's position, "Well, there is hardly any other way than living with it, it's frustrating, yes, especially given that I know I'll have to live with the incompetence of others when they're long dead, but really what can you do? Even when you have masses of the public behind you, there are still masses that are against you. That's what I mean by variations and layers. I really think the main issue is that there is no chance that everyone on the planet will ever agree on something. Anything."

"Hm..., you know, while I have to agree with-" Charlie began, before being cut off by John chuckling at the other end of the room, who had apparently arrived by now as well. John was standing near the doorway, his phone in his right hand. He didn't even feel sorry, because the the way they were looking at each other was just priceless. "Best screens aver ever. If I didn't know better I'd say someone's cloned you."

Sherlock chuckled a little, realising that they were sitting the same way - and probably even had the same expression on their faces - before he remembered Rosie napping on the sofa, "Shh.." he said, pointing at Rosie, "We had to take an unexpected break." he said, standing up to walk over to John to greet him, pecking his lips, "Apparently Rosie was too excited to sleep last night." he chuckled, "You decided to spend your lunch break at home?" he asked with a smile.

"Course. I have to greet the girls, don't I? And you two have been pondering the universe, yeah?" John joked with a smile, before glancing over to the couch where Rosie was lying; what a sweetheart. "And hey Charlie. Welcome home. Everything alright?" John asked and walked over to Charlie, who in turn jumped to her feet. "Sure. Just pondering the universe, you know." She replied purposely nonchalantly to hide how nervous she was in actuality. Though, she did lean happily into the warm hug he was offering and closed her eyes for a moment. Well, she already knew she liked that part about him. John chuckled at that and drew back after a few seconds. "Good, I'm glad you're not bored here. Has Sherlock already offered you something to eat or drink?" He asked and set down his bag, figuring that if the two had been too excited to sleep they probably hadn't had breakfast of their own accord either. (Just like Sherlock.)

"Well uhm, I was about to.." Sherlock said and blushed a little, he had completely forgotten about that when they had started their discussion.

"Oh, I didn't even think of that." Charlie said with a chuckle, only now noticing she was in fact quite thirsty. "You two were probably so immersed in your conversation you could've gone on until supper." John said with a smile, though not without giving Sherlock a bit of a look, and went into the kitchen to get something to drink. "Could I maybe have some tomato juice?" She asked, since Rosie was still in the room.

"I suppose that's what he was going to get you." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "He got surprisingly quickly used to the idea of me drinking.. /tomato juice/." he said with a smile as he walked over to Rosie, crouching down to her and shaking her gently, "Hey, little bee, are you hungry?" he asked and smiled as Rosie cracked one eye open, looking at him and then at her surroundings before sitting up straight, "We're there!" she said, instantly excited, her eyes going wide, which made Sherlock laugh, "Yeah, we are." he said with a smile, "You fell asleep for a while, but don't worry, you didn't miss anything exciting, it was quite boring without you, wasn't it, Charlie?" he asked with a smirk, turning to look at the older girl.

"Yeah, we were just sitting here. Didn't do anything exciting at all without you." Charlie said, shaking head and holding back a chuckle, before giving her a quick update. "John's arrived a moment ago though. He's in the kitchen right now to get some juice."

"I need to say hi!" Rosie said and untangled herself from her blanket, before sliding off the sofa and dashing into the kitchen with a bright smile, "Hi John!" she chirped and hopped excitedly, no trace of tiredness on her face anymore - she was way to happy to be here.

"Hi sleeping beauty. I'm so happy to see you. Are you alright?" John smiled and set the blood bag back on the worktop, before crouching down to be able to hug her. He was really glad, she was happy to be here even if it wasn't permanently.

"Yeah! I was a little tired before, but I'm not anymore!" Rosie said, hugging John tightly - as much as she could anyway. "Are you making tomato juice? Can I have some too?" she asked happily.

"Of course you can." John said, reaching for a plastic cup, before filling it half with blood. "And there you go." He smiled as she handed her the cup. "you lead the way back into the living room." He told her, taking the remaining three glasses (two 'tomato' and one orange juice) into his hands.

"Okay!" Rosie said after taking a small sip of blood, licking her lips, before she turned and walked back into the living room, making sure not to spill anything, "John's made juice for all of us!" she said as they entered the living room and Sherlock smiled at her, "Now that's very nice of him." he said and smiled at John, moving over to steal himself another small kiss, before he took his glass from him, that had just become a habit since he couldn't kiss him directly after drinking blood..

John gave him a smile, before handing Charlie her own glass and settling his free arm around Sherlock's waist. "Here, there you go." He said, before drinking some orange juice himself. "Thanks John." She smiled and sipped some, sitting back down.

Sherlock smiled, resting his free hand on top of John's on his side, "Should I make you something more.. solid for lunch?" he asked with a smile, figuring a solely solid meal wasn't enough for John to get through the day.

"Thank you, that'd be great actually." John smiled, having already kind of hoped Sherlock might offer to fix something to eat. "You're good at cooking?" Charlie tuned in after moment, wondering who did which chores around the flat. Going by their last conversation John probably did the cleaning.

"Well, not terribly good, but also not terribly bad so that's something." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "And I've got to make sure he doesn't live on boxed noodles." he said, pecking John's cheek, before he moved into the kitchen, grabbing a few things from the fridge to make a chicken sandwich for John .

"Is that true?" Charlie asked with a chuckle which made John scratch the back of his neck. "Well.. let's say cooking and I don't have the best track record. After moving out I didn't really know how to cook nor did I really learn it." He said, before winking at Charlie and adding loud enough for Sherlock to hear. "Which is why it's great I've got such an amazing boyfriend."

Sherlock couldn't help but laugh a little at that, "Smooth." he called back, though well, yeah, he did like to hear John say things like that. "Same, though." he added as he started to spread mayonnaise on a slice of toast.

John grinned at that which made Charlie chuckle again; she couldn't really imagine the two ever arguing, though she knew that that probably couldn't be the case. "So you're on your lunch break right now?" She asked. "Yeah, I've gotta head back to uni in twenty something minutes, I'm afraid."

"On the bright side, we have a doctor at hand whenever we need first aid." Sherlock said as he reappeared in the living room, holding a plate with a the sandwich out for John to take it, while Rosie stood on tiptoes to look at the sandwich, spotting a tomato slice, "Why does tomato juice doesn't taste like tomatoes at all?" she asked no one in particular with a frown, she's never thought about it that way.

"Oh, that's simple. You know, if you just squeeze out a tomato, it looks more like water and tastes bland. But if you cook it, the tomato juice becomes much darker and thicker because the tasteless water evaporates. It's like with ketchup, that doesn't taste like tomatoes either. If we cooked it further, we'd get tomato paste." Charlie told Rosie, inwardly rolling her eyes because she'd heard and believed that same lie until she'd been like nine.

"Exactly and also tomato juice and ketchup both have some salt in it too, to give it more flavour." Sherlock said and smiled at Charlie, she really did a good job with Rosie. "Oh, that makes sense!" Rosie said, satisfied with that answer as she nipped at her tomato juice again.

Charlie smiled back and downed the rest of her blood. John took the sandwich from Sherlock and ate some of it hungrily. "Yeah, and that's why it's so nutritious too." Charlie added, figuring that'd answer Rosie's question on tomato juice for the next couple of months. (Or well, until she realised what her own blood tasted like)

"So honeybee, are you already excited about picking out your new bed?" Sherlock asked and smiled as Rosie nodded eagerly, "Yeah, I want one with a roof!" she said and chuckled, "Like a princess." she added and Sherlock frowned, "With a roof?" he asked and then with a bit of delay it clicked, "Oh, you mean a canopy bed." he said and chuckled, "Well, I think that's doable." he said with a smile.

"Could I have one with a some empty drawers underneath?" Charlie asked after a moment. "Then I'd be able to keep my books right next to my bed." Plus, she'd already have a hiding spot behind those drawers, should she ever need one. "I'm sure you'll be able to find one like that." John said after half his sandwich was gone. "Did you already have a time at which you wanted to leave?"

"Well, we were just waiting for sleeping beauty to wake up, actually." Sherlock said and smiled at Rosie, before looking back to John, "We could leave with you and drop you off at uni." he suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I'll probably be back again around seven pm." John said, figuring it'd probably be be easiest to study at the library rather than get everyone jn the flat to be quiet.

"Right, well that gives us some more time to shop, I guess. Perhaps we might even get to drop by at Currys to get you a proper phone already." Sherlock said, looking at Charlie, "It's about time too." he said with a smile.

Charlie grinned at that. "Awesome, thank you!" She said happily, thinking of her old nokia phone.

"Can I have a phone?" Rosie asked and Sherlock was just about to open his mouth to say that she was too young, but, well after all it would be good if she had some way to contact them in case something happened, or someone would break in and took Charlie, or even just for the GPS signal it'd send if she was taken, since no one really assumes a 4 year old has a phone and there were phones for kids which you could set up with call and App download limitations. "Actually, yes, you can." he said with a nod, giving John a look that told him he'd explain it later.

John almost opened his mouth to protest, but trusted Sherlock he had a good reason to buy Rosie a smartphone. Charlie gave Rosie a smile. "You're really lucky. I got my first phone for my tenth birthday."

Rosie chuckled at that, visibly happy, "Cool! Can I have games on it? Because I know you can play games on phones, can I have learning games? Like for reading? I know there are some for computers, because Greg said that was what his class was doing when I asked why they were using computers when it wasn't computing class." she babbled on and Sherlock chuckled, "We'll see about the games, but I'm sure we can install a few learning games on my laptop and we can all play together." he said with a smile, rather having control over when she was playing what game. "Actually, Charlie, why don't you go upstairs to show Rosie your rooms?" he asked, so he'd have a moment alone with John.

"Yeah, sure." Charlie nodded and sat her glass down on the table, before holding her hand out to Rosie. "Come on then, I'm sure you'll like the colour of it." She chuckled, waiting for Rosie to follow along.

"Okay." Rosie said, setting her cup down next to Charlie's, before taking her hand and following her up the stairs, while Sherlock turned around to John, "Don't start. I know she's too young for a phone." he began, figuring John would want to talk about that. "The thing is, if someone breaks in when we're out and gets past Mrs Hudson, which is doubtful, but not impossible, and they take Charlie, Rosie should have a way to call us without leaving her potential hiding place, plus, if she was taken, the GPS signal would help us out a great deal given that it would take a while until someone would get the idea to search a four year old for a phone." he finished, walking over to John and wrapping his arms around his middle.

John leaned into Sherlock and kissed his temple. "Okay, that sounds much more sensible now and I agree. Nevertheless we still have to restrict her internet access and which Apps she uses when." He said. "If they weren't in danger, I wouldn't agree. But then again, in that case I wouldn't have a say at all in that matter." He said and huffed a laugh.

"Well if it makes you feel better, if they weren't in danger, I wouldn't have agreed either." Sherlock said with a smile, "Look at us, we already sound like parents, talking about what they can and can't have." he chuckled.

"Yeah, it's almost comical." John chuckled and shook his head. "By the way, before I forget it. It might be a good idea to play hide and seek with them. So in case they have to actually hide they'll at least know which hidden corners here exist and which are safe."

"Oh.. that's good thinking." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "While we're at it, with that free space behind the walls.. it shouldn't be too hard to put in some sort of secret room in either of their rooms, maybe Narnia style, making the back of their wardrobes shiftable so that they open into a secret room they can hide in, the way their rooms are placed, maybe they could even lead in the same room, like a panic room of sorts, just for the worst case. I doubt it'd really stop someone from taking them, but it sure would make it harder to find them, which gives them more time to call someone."

"Love, I know they are in danger and I genuinely appreciate your good will, but I don't think that going overboard with this is going to be very helpful. Like you've said, if someone was determined enough, they could still find out about a hidden room. And at least Rosie would probably be scared by the idea they need a panic room." John said. "Does that make sense to you?"

"Well, yes, but it would be useful.. those guys kill people to get their way, I hardly doubt they'd draw the line at entering and abduction." Sherlock said and sighed, "I'm just so worried about them." he added quietly.

John began to brush his thumb over Sherlock's back a bit. "I know, love and so am I. That's why we've taken them in in under a week, work on catching this network that's threatening them, won't leave them alone at any time, get them phones with GPS, ... see where I'm going here? We have to draw the line somewhere and we are already doing a lot about their safety. I also haven't forgotten about your brother and what he might do behind the scenes, mind you." John said and sighed. "The only actual thing left is keeping from them how worried we are about them and not having them feel like they're hiding. Agreed?"

Sherlock sighed, but nodded, "Agreed. /But/ I'm still set on the hidden room thing, we can make a sort of play room out of it, like a little cave just for them, while it's actually a panic room." he said.

John shrugged at that. "Okay, I mean, I can't see the harm in that." He said and drew back to look at Sherlock. "But that's it with drastic security measures for now, okay?"

"Alright." Sherlock said and chuckled lightly, "I think there barely is anymore we can do, since actual witness protection would probably be a step to far.." he said and sighed, "It really drives me up the wall that we can't even say, okay, we'll train them in self defence or something, since the people they need protection from are very likely immortal."

"I think self defence classes would still be good idea though." John said with a frown. "I mean, the goal of that isn't exactly to learn how to kill an attacker in mortal combat. You know, knowing how to hit and kick without hurting yourself or how to escape someone right is still going to be very useful for them. And even if they were mortal.. I'm pretty sure the girls wouldn't stand much of a chance against me either, so that wouldn't really make a difference anyway."

"The catch there being, that a vampiric attacker could be stabbed and still keep walking because it's starting to heal right away and thinking about the fact that even in accidents, we have to ignore the pain and walk off before someone can take us to a hospital, it's even worse, because that gives you a very high pain tolerance." he said and sighed, "But yeah, I mean.. these days, self defence classes for girls in particular can't start soon enough."

"Yeah, I think that we can agree on." John said, doubting that either of them would actually stab or fatally wound an attacker; immortal or not. "Didn't you use to do boxing anyway?"

"More judo than boxing, but the points the same. I could probably teach them, that black belt's got to be good for something." Sherlock said and chuckled a little.

"And I'm sure, they'll think it's a fun new hobby." John said with a smile. "Good. I'm glad we've settled that."

"Yeah.. is that how real parents feel all the time?" Sherlock asked with a chuckle and rested his forehead against John's. "Does all that worrying ever go away again?"

John chuckled. "Well, since you and the girls are immortal I guess it will literally never really go away again. But then again, there are a few more experienced dads out there that might disagree."

Sherlock sighed, "We need to leave in a couple of minutes if you want to be back at uni in time." he said and reached for John's glass of orange juice, taking a sip and rinsed his mouth a little with it, before swallowing it to get rid of most left overs of blood, before setting the glass down again and smiling at John, "You think that was good enough to get me a proper kiss while we have the chance?"

John chuckled and brought a hand up to Sherlock cheek. "Yeah, I think that's good enough." He smiled, before leaning in to pull Sherlock into a kiss. He was already a bit wistful about not being able to snog Sherlock in the flat whenever he wanted.

Sherlock melted into the kiss, humming fondly as it ended, "Yeah, I really needed that." he said with a smile, pecking John's lips again.

"So did I. If only my lunch break was a bit longer." John said with a chuckle, before adding. "I love you."

"That would be no use, since I've got shopping duties." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "I'll try to get a phone for Rosie, that's especially for kids, they should come with call and internet limit functions by default, and even if not, they should be enough Apps for that."

"Good, you take care of that, alright?" John asked, since he wasn't exactly up to date with those kinds of apps. After glancing at his watch, he let go of Sherlock, a bit surprised by how late it had got. "I'd better just go upstairs and get them."

"We are so going on that alone time holiday when all of this is over." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, bringing John's hand up to his mouth to kiss it, before letting go of him entirely so he could get the girls, starting to collect their dishes.

Going upstairs, John stopped in front of the twins' Rosie's new room and knocked on the door. "Girls? We're leaving now. Can you come downstairs now?" He said, before the door was already being opened and Charlie was looking back at him. "We'll be downstairs in a minute."

Sherlock had quickly rinsed their dishes, before grabbing all their coats and walking to the stairs to wait for them to come downstairs.


	57. The Runway Show

Two minutes later the girls were back in their coats and shoes and they were all walking downstairs to the car to drop John off at uni first and then go get furniture.

"Hey, Charlie, do you have a handbag?" Sherlock asked and frowned, "I mean if you move around a lot between the orphanage and our flat, it'd probably come in handy to carry the basics around with you." he said as he opened the back seat door, holding it open for Charlie to get in.

"Oh, no I don't. I don't even really have a school bag." Charlie said and got into the car. "You think we could get one for me?" She asked.

"Sure, you'll both need a school bag too at least for the time being." Sherlock said with a smile, "I want a handbag too!" Rosie said, looking at Charlie before looking at Sherlock, who got the impression that what she really wanted was to be like Charlie, she was really starting to become a role model for her.

"You could get a bag matching your bee pencil case." Charlie suggested with a smile. "If you want to I'll help you pick a nice one." She offered, enjoying being looked up to a bit.

"That would be really cool!" Rosie chirped as Sherlock put her into her car seat, fixing her belts, "Well, if Charlie helps you pick one, you can be sure it's going to be really pretty." he said with a smile.

Charlie smiled at that and buckled her seatbelt while John got inside as well. "Thanks." After driving John to university, they all first went to the local Ikea and picked out different beds, bedsheets, wardrobes etc, before continuing in another store to shop for clothes and bags. While they spend a few hours there, the guys working at Ikea had time to pack everything up and move it to the flat. So when Sherlock and the girls arrived at around half past six back at home they still had about half an hour until the time the delivery guys wanted to show up. "Sherlock, where can we put our stuff by the way until the furniture arrives? Wouldn't that take away space in our rooms?" Charlie asked as she got out of the car. "I mean, the boot is stuffed."

"Er.. true." Sherlock said with a chuckle, looking at the additional bags on the passenger seat, between Charlie and Rosie and down at their feet on the back seat. "How about we drop it all off in the living room and start to sort it all a little? We could put it all into moving boxes after sorting and label them, that'll make it easier." he said and Rosie chuckled, "Can we make a runway show first? We haven't tried everything on in the shop!" she said, before putting her lollypop back into her mouth.

"Yeah, I second that!" Charlie said with a chuckle and got two of the bags she could carry. "We'll probably be sleeping in Amy and Ally's beds tonight though." She said, remembering they also had to put the beds and wardrobes together first; well, mostly Sherlock and John had to do that.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "So what would be my job in the runway show?" he asked and raised a brow, "You've got to be the audience!" Rosie suggested with a chuckle, holding one of the smaller bags as Sherlock helped her out of the car. "Well, as long as I don't have to wear any dresses, I'm on board. But first, I think we have to move all that stuff upstairs first."

"Yeah, let's go." Charlie agreed, walking towards the door. "By the way, do you have a suit?" She asked with a smirk; obviously he must've had one, but she was really wondering what he looked like in formal clothes. "I mean, if you're already saying no to dresses.." She teased him with a chuckle , waiting at the door for him.

"Actually, I have already worn a dress recently.. not a fan." Sherlock said with a chuckle, remembering their evening with Clara and Harry. "But yes, I do own several suits.." he said and chuckled again, "From various time periods, so I guess that'd justify a bit of a runway show."

Charlie chuckled at that. "Perfect. I'm already looking forward to that. Do you think John would want to join us when he's back?"

"I doubt it." Sherlock said with a laugh, "He'll probably think he's moved in with a bunch of nutters when he comes home and sees us trying on various outfit..!

"You know, I think it might be a bit unfair to compare you two next to each other. I mean everyone's probably kinda boring in comparison to you." Charlie chuckled, figuring that must've been a compliment for Sherlock the way she knew him. "By the, can you open the door? My arms are getting heavy."

"Well.. I wouldn't say he's boring.. John's really.. /really/ not boring.." Sherlock said and smiled almost dreamily without noticing it. "You look like Ariel(le?) the little mermaid when she looks at Eric the prince when you talk about John!" Rosie chirped and snickered, which made Sherlock roll his eyes as he opened the door for them, though he chuckled a little, "Yeah.. I've heard something along those lines before..." he said, waiting for the girls to go in first.

Charlie went inside and waited on the stairs for both of them. "Do you already know when he'll be back?" She asked curiously, wondering if they'd get to put their beds together in the meantime.

"He should be back in about an hour, why?" Sherlock asked as Rosie walked inside, before walking in himself and locking the door - he was trying to make a habit of that, always locking the door after going inside, even if they'd have to go out again in a minute to get the other bags. Better safe than sorry.

"I was just thinking about whether he was going to help us out the beds together." Charlie said, walking upstairs. "How long does putting beds together take anyway? Half an hour each?"

"Well.. I suppose that depends entirely on skill." Sherlock said with a chuckle as he set the bags down in the living room. "But I suppose for a hundred pounds more each, the people from Ikea would like to help out. They should be about to get off of work after delivering the furniture anyway, given by how late it is.."

"Oh, can't we try to do it together?" Charlie asked with a frown, figuring it could be fun to do it all together; plus, she didn't want strangers to stay in the flat much longer than necessary. "I've never put a bed together before." She added, suddenly wondering if he didn't want to do that, because it was dangerous with Rosie around.

"Oh.. well, obviously we can do it ourselves, if you like." Sherlock said and and chuckled a little, "I was just thinking it might save us some time and actually, well, we're not in a rush, we can make a big sleepover party out of the welcome party, you know, building a pillow fort and everyone camping in the living room and watching films until we all pass out from exhaustion."

"Yeah, that sounds great." Charlie smiled, before looking over at Rosie. "What do you think? Ready for your first big sleepover party?"

"Yeah!" Rosie chirped, looking around for a bin for the stick of her lollypop, before spotting one in the kitchen and heading for it, "Can we have a lot of sweets?" she asked with a smile, "Because on parties people on TV always have a lot of sweets." she said and Sherlock chuckled, "Well, we'll see what John has to say about that. But we will have pizza."

"Yeah, I love pizza!" Charlie grinned, going back to the door to wait there for the other two. Quickly she made a mental note to ask where exactly Mrs. Turner lived around here; she made great pizza, she recalled. "Are we ordering in too?"

"We can, or I could shoot John a text to drop by a shop and get us some stuff so we can make it ourselves." Sherlock said and smiled as Rosie hopped excitedly, "Yes! I never made pizza myself!"

"Have you thrown a lot of children's parties in your time?" She asked with a chuckle, though she couldnt help feeling quite excited either; this sounded almost better than her last birthday!

"Not really.. or at least.. not that kind of casual party." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Really, when I was a child, nothing was ever actually casual.. always an image to keep and all of that."

"Hm, the more I learn about the past the more I appreciate the here and now." Charlie commented, with a frown. "Though, it must've been cool as well to be able to dress up more often, I guess."

"The difference being that we think is dressed up today, was the equivalent of jeans and T-Shirt back then." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "There are always things you can't appreciate until they change."

"Yeah, the early 2000s must've an interesting time to grow up in." Charlie said with a wink, remembering Rosie was in the room.

"Oh.. right.. yes. Yes they certainly were." Sherlock said, getting the hint, "So, Rosie, how about you go and unpack a book and practice reading a bit while Charlie and I get the rest of the bags?" he asked, not wanting to have her out in the dark while Charlie and him were otherwise occupied and couldn't properly watch her. "Okay.. but are you sure you don't need any help?" Rosie asked and looked back and forth between Charlie and him, "Well, I think Charlie and I can manage." he said with a smile.

"Yeah, but thanks a lot." Charlie told her with a smile, before going to the stairs. "Do you think John will be surprised when he sees the ton of stuff we got?" She asked Sherlock with a chuckle once he was coming along.

"I can't decide between, 'Sherlock, how much money did you actually spend today?' and 'Oh, I would have expect you to go even more overboard, actually' as far as his reaction goes." Sherlock said with a chuckle.

Charlie laughed a little. "It's weird, he does seem much older than he looks. Are you sure someone didn't share his blood with him a ten+ years ago?" She joked, waiting in front of the locked front door.

"100 percent sure, the way he reacted when I told him about all of this, there's no way he knew any of this." Sherlock said with a laugh, "But yeah, he does seem older than he is.." he said and chuckled again, "Actually most of the time I actually do feel like I'm the younger one in this relationship."

"Strange how that works." Charlie shrugged. "And did he really react that badly? I meam, it's a shock for us too, but you know."

"Well.. they do prepare you, though. And you don't have the whole scary story, loads of books and films background other people have, from what I've gathered, they avoid to give you access to vampire themed media before you know the truth.. which makes sense, I think. At least that way, they don't have to give you myth or mistake lessons.. and obviously, you don't get the idea that it's evil and unnatural so much as people from.. outside do." he said and shrugged, "I think that makes a huge difference."

"Hm, yeah probably. I I think that it's really messed up by the way. I looked up a few of those films and stories on the Internet after finding out and I still can't believe that that's how people view us. I mean there's a whole horror genre just about us." Charlie said with a sigh. "We can't even come clean with the government or we'll end up like Alf or something."

"Well, I don't think we'd be treated like aliens.. I actually don't even know if they'd take us seriously after the wave of teenage/vampire romance novels that washed over the world." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "Everyone who claims to be a vampire would probably be just locked away somewhere."

"But it's pretty easy to proof though. If we wanted to, I mean. Like, the spit thing, the better stamina, the drinking blood etc." Charlie said after some thought. "Do you think there are actually people like us locked away? Like, if they had no immortal friends and told someone." She said, the thought making her a bit uneasy.

"I actually know there are people like us locked away.. I was in that situation myself, not that I walked around telling people I'm a vampire, but well, I was locked away in a psychic clinic for being gay. Eventually another patient, his name was James, he.. well, he somehow figured out what I am, I have no idea how, but he wanted me to turn him desperately, he let me feed of him as much as was safe for him, never got to do it, though, I didn't know how at that point. Anyway, there were a few other patients, some of them claiming to be vampires.. they weren't in a very good state."

"Oh." Charlie swallowed, mildly horrified by that story... She'd almost forgot about the blood. Another reason she planned to be careful the next time she decided to mess with the police. There were a ton of things she wanted to ask him now. "What eventually happens if we don't get blood in a long time?" She eventually asked. "We die, don't we?"

"No, we don't.. we get.. hungry. Very hungry. Not horror film, blood rush hungry or anything like that, but we go.. insane, basically." Sherlock said and felt like it wouldn't be right to sugarcoat this. She had to know about that and also, he assumed, if she would sugarcoat it, she would notice and feel like he was treating her like a little kid. "That's why it's so difficult for people that get locked away, they actually do go insane after a while, which doesn't make it easier to convince people you are not insane."

"So a life sentence to solitary confinement is worse than death, hm? Wouldn't it be noticeable though? If someone just won't die nor age?" Charlie asked after a moment. The thought of something like that happening to people was horrific, but she was glad someone actual told her about all of this for once.

"I don't really think people erm.. well as I said, they go insane and some of them find ways to kill themselves, or perhaps just become violent and fight their way out." Sherlock said and sighed.

"Right." Charlie nodded quietly. She'd never gone more than a few hours without blood, so she had bo idea how strong this urge could get. "I didn't know being gay used to be considered a mental illness."

"Well.. that was actually an upgrade, in earlier times, it was considered a crime." Sherlock said as he grabbed some of the other bags from the back seat, before unlocking the boot.

"Shit..." Charlie said as she opened the boot to get out a few bags. It took her a few seconds before realising she'd cursed. "Oh, sorry."

"Relax," Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I'm the fun parent, remember, I'm not encouraging you to curse, but I'm also not freaking out over it." he said and smiled a little. "Just... don't make a habit out of it."

"Duly noted." Charlie said with a bit of a smile, taking as many bags as she could carry. "I think I'll ask you a lot of question in the future. Especially when Rosie's not in earshot. That's alright with you, yeah?"

"Of course it is." Sherlock said and frowned, "Although... if you want a erm.. birds and bees talk.. maybe give me a warning beforehand so... basically so I can get drunk and prepare data so I don't tell you drunk nonsense." he said, only half joking, though he probably wouldn't actually get drunk, but a warning would actually be nice. "But.. despite how uncomfortable the question, you can ask anything about any subject," he said and chuckled, "I mean.. it's probably good for you to know that it'd be awkward for me as well, it's always better to be awkward together than just being awkward."

Charlie chuckled at that. "Yeah, I'll hang on to that. It's pretty hard to tell you're doing this for the first time by the way." She teased him, before sobering. "Seriously though, what is the 'birds and bees talk'?" She asked and closed the boot, looking up at him with a mixture of innocence and curiosity.

"Oh shut it, I'm just trying to do a good job.." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes, but he couldn't help but laugh, "And you do know what it is. You just want to make me uncomfortable by the idea of having to explain it to you, which is working, should we get some tea upstairs?" he asked with a chuckle.

Charlie chuckled cheekily and nodded. "Yeah alright, tea sounds good."

Sherlock chuckled a bit, closing the booth and locking it, before they walked back into the house and up the stairs, where they had tea and started their runway show while the delivery people moved their new bought furniture upstairs. "Did you notice that Rosie bought a lot of clothes that are rather similar to the ones you picked?" he asked Charlie quietly while Rosie was busy picking a new outfit from her bags, careful not to step or sit on any of the new clothes that were scattered around the living room.

"Yeah, I did. And I think it's quite an honour." Charlie said with a smile. She really didn't mind Rosie looking up to; she'd gladly be that big sister for her. "I'm sure she'll find her own style in due time though if you're worried or anything."

"No, I wasn't worried, really. I actually think that's good. I mean.. before she was completely without a role model, no one to pick things up from, which is what kids need, isn't it?" Sherlock asked and chuckled a little, "Although that's not entirely true, even before she actually had the courage to talk to you, she had picked up a few things from you, one of those things being that people who don't like same sex relationships are called homophobes, which lead to a moment I unfortunately missed where she called Sally one." he chuckled.

"Really? Rosie is brilliant. And I thought she was just rude in general." Charlie shook her head and huffed a laugh. "I'm more than flattered she chose me." She smiled, genuinely more than happy about all this. "Though I do wonder what other conversations she's been listening in on. She's a legit spy, I'm telling you."

"Oh, yeah, that she is." Sherlock chuckled, turning to look at Rosie when she called, "Look!" and strolled around the living room in a yellow summer dress with a bee print, "I think I like that dress best!" she chirped as she walked up and down the room in front of the fireplace, which was their makeshift runway.

"And here we see... Rosie, making her way down the red-ish carpet." Charlie began her immitation of what she thought a runway commentator sounded like to get the others to laugh "She is wearing the latest fashion for kids and a dress that could dispel the darkest thunderclouds. Her bold new look is setting a new trend for 2018: Bees are definitely the new chic next summer. You know It's true haute couture when it doesn't even need shoes. And... please give it up for Rosie, everyone!"

Sherlock chuckled, giving a small round of applause for the little girl who looked really happy about the attention she got - which she was probably starved off, really. "It's really pretty, isn't it?" she asked with a chuckle, turning around a few times to make her skirt go woosh.

"Yeah, it's really, really pretty." Charlie chuckled and gave Rosie a smile. "I wouldn't be surprised if some bees actually mistook you for a yellow flower when you're wearing it." She told her, being cut off by the sound of the door opening. "Hello everyone." John said and stepped inside shrugging his throat off. "Hey, that's a nice dress you've got there, Rosie." He smiled and walked into the living room, slowly taking in the sheer amount of things Sherlock had apparently just got for the girls. "Hey, love." He said and kissed Sherlock's cheek.

Sherlock smiled, looking up at John, "Hey." he said, looking for a moment longer at John, before looking back at Rosie as she greeted John, still waving her skirt around, "Hi John!" she chirped and looked back at Charlie, "But the bees would think that flower is occupied because of the bees printed on it!" Rosie said with a chuckle, turning around again and laughing happily.

"You're right, my logic was flawed there." Charlie chuckled, before greeting John too. "Hey John" She smiled, before looking back to Rosie. “Normally I'd ask if you got everything, but by the looks of it asking if the shops have got anything left would be more appropriate." He murmured into Sherlock's ear as he sat down next to him.

Sherlock chuckled at that, using the closeness for a peck on John's lips, moving his arm around his waist, "Well.. they didn't really have many clothes to start with and I think they're reusing clothes, especially for the little ones, which is resourceful, no doubt, but I thought they should have.. more." he replied and chuckled a little, "I admit that I might have gone overboard, but on the other hand, when they've grown out of the clothes, they can give them to the orphanage. And I totally did not think of that argument on the drive home already because I anticipated you'd think it's too much." he said with a smirk.

"I Don't even really know what to say, Mr." John said, shaking his head and leaning into Sherlock. He wasn't actually mad at him, but he did think that this couldn't become the norm for future shopping trips. And John had a feeling Sherlock was definitely going to absolutely spoil the girls if he didn't say something. "But at least all the things you got are very pretty from all I can tell." John said, which made Charlie chirp. "You know, we were actually doing a runway show. Sherlock's the moderator and you could be the cheering audience." Charlie chuckled and gave Rosie a look.

"Hm.. I've got a better, but not necessarily more fun idea." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "How about you start to put all your clothes in boxes, while John and I set everything up so we can start making pizza in a moment."

"Fine, that sounds acceptable too." Charlie said with a chuckle. "What kind are we making anyway?" She asked and John opened the shopping bag. "Well, as far as toppings go I got a few different kinds of vegetables, mushrooms, canned pineapples and some salami, so it's really up to you what you want on your piece."

"Can we make all toppings on one piece?!" Rosie asked in astonishment and chuckled, "Because I always wondered what that would taste like!" she chirped, which made Sherlock laugh, "Hm.. I'd say we can try that on a small corner of the pizza, so it doesn't mess up your dinner if it doesn't taste good."

"Yeah, I have to agree with Sherlock there. But you can tell us all how it ends up tasting, alright?" John asked her with a chuckle, slowly getting up again to prepare the dough.

Rosie nodded happily and chuckled, "Charlie, can you help me write my name on the boxes? But I want bees as I dots!" she chuckled and Sherlock smiled at the two of them as he stood up as well..

"Yeah, sure. Wait, my pencil case is in my suitcase over there.." Charlie began and got up. "So how have the last few hours been?" John asked once they were in the kitchen, getting out an oven tray.

"Busy." Sherlock said with a smile, "I think we've been to every clothes shop in London." he said with a sigh, "At least it feels like it, but it was worth it. Have you seen how happy those two are? I mean, I know it's probably really a bit much, but they deserved one big shopping trip after .. well never having gotten to pick new clothes, like actual new ones."

"Mmh, yeah, I'm definitely glad they got to do that with you. Nevertheless, they shouldn't expect the next shopping trips to look like that." John said. "I think we can definitely spoil them a bit, well more than a bit, but at the end of the day spoiling them rotten isn't going to help them; especially not Rosie." John said and looked over to the girls. "But I think we're on the same page here anyway. I just wanted to have said it." He said and kissed Sherlock's cheek.

"Yeah, I get it. And I definitely agree that spoiling them is okay, but only to a point before it starts to become character damaging." Sherlock said and pulled John into his arms for a moment, resting his forehead against John's. "But I don't think it is so far."

"No, I don't think so either. And don't worry, I'll tell you when I do think it is." John murmured, before kissing Sherlock's lips once more, though still still not too deeply since the girls were around.

"Good, because on my own, I'd probably spoil them rotten." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I mean literally, I don't think I've said 'no' the whole time we were out. Well except when Rosie asked if we can get a unicorn, but that doesn't really count." he said with a chuckle.

"You're impossible." John huffed a laugh, still staying close to him. "I'm almost glad there's not a rhinoceros hiding in the cupboard then."

"You're only saying that because you haven't seen the pony in the basement, yet." Sherlock said, trying to keep a straight face and making John actually believe there was one in the basement, which sounded absurd, but he wouldn't even put it past himself to keep a pony in the basement if needs must, so John would probably not rule that out either.

John eyes widened a little, genuinely not putting that past Sherlock. "But- you- how did you even- !" He began, before seeing through the lie. "Funny, if you'd actually done that the girls wouldn't be in the living room. You're a prick, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know." Sherlock chuckled, pecking John's cheek, "Can we have a pony?!" Rosie suddenly asked, appearing in the kitchen to look at the pizza dough, because she hadn't seen pizza dough before, only cookie dough when Janine had baked cookies with them for Christmas.

That had been inevitable, hadn't it? "You know, Rosie, ponies need loads of space and fields or else they'd get sad." John explained to her, before Sherlock could take her pony-shopping for his cottage or something. "So keeping one here in our flat in the middle of a big city would be very difficult. And the pony would probably get lonely. But if you want to we could look at the ponies in Regent's park and maybe pet them. How does that sound?"

"Can I ride them?" Rosie asked and turned to look at the living room, "Charlie! John and Sherlock are going to take us to look at ponies /AND/ pet them!" she chirped, her eyes big. "Maybe they even have unicorns!" she added and Sherlock wasn't quite sure how she had gotten that idea, but well, maybe he could bribe one of the people there to bind a horn to a white pony for her.

"Cool! I'm looking forward to that!." Charlie called from the living room. "Perfect, then we'll do that this weekend. But for now, how about you help me roll out the dough, hm? You probably haven't done that before, have you?" He asked her with a smile, kinda glad Sherlock hadn't gone on talking about unicorns.

Shaking her head, Rosie walked closer to John, "Is the dough in that roll?" she asked, pointing at the can-looking thingie. "Don't you have to mix flour and water? Janine did that when we made cookies."

"It's already pre-made." John explained. "We could have made the dough ourselves, but I thought it'd be quicker tonight this way. Normally, you'd have to let the dough rest for an hour, before you could even use it."

"But who made it?" Rosie asked curiously, looking closer at the can thingie with the dough while Sherlock unpacked the toppings, really not wanting Charlie and Rosie to fiddle around with the sharp edges of cans, even though their wounds would heal quickly if they cut themselves, it'd still hurt.

"It's most likely been made by big machines in a factory. That way the people owning the factory can sell more, because machines are quicker than us." John told Rosie and put the dough on the worktop for a moment to wash his hands. "I know, it must be very weird to imagine, hm?"

"A bit.. but machines can do a whole lot of things." Rosie said, picking the dough can up and inspecting it, tugging at a loose piece of paper and starting to pull it off, letting out a small shriek when the can suddenly burst and putting it back onto the counter. "I think I broke it.." she said with a frown, looking at the burst can. "Oh bee, you haven't, look." Sherlock said and picked up the dough, "You just opened it, that's supposed to happen when you pull at the paper, then you can just twist it open and get the dough out." he explained with a smile. "Yeah, well done. If you want to, you could roll it out too now that you've opened it." John suggested, drying his hands with a kitchen towel. "After washing your hands, I mean." He added with smile.

"Okay!" Rosie chirped and held her arms up for John to lift her so she could reach the sink. "What's your favourite pizza, John?" she asked curiously.

"Mmh, I really like pizza with mushrooms and bell peppers. I don't know if there's an actual name for that though." John chuckled and lifted her up. "What about you?"

"Hm.. I like pineapple and boiled ham! It's called Hawaii! Did you know that it's also an island?" Rosie chirped as she started to wash her hands, while Sherlock cleared away the empty cans.

"Yeah, I've heard of that before." John chuckled. "You know, my sister always used to ask for pizza with pasta on it." He remembered. Meanwhile Charlie came quietly into the kitchen after it didn't look like Rosie was going to return any time soon. "Can I help out too?" She asked after a moment.

"Oh, sure. How about I teach you a special tomato sauce recipe, while we're at it." Sherlock said and frowned, "Uhm, John, can you cut the dough and separate your piece? I was going to mix... erm.. tomato juice into the sauce and since you're allergic it would probably be better if none of it runs on your piece."

"Right, sure." John nodded and set Rosie down once she'd washed her hands, taking a baking tray and the dough over to a table so Rosie could reach it. "Okay Rosie, let's roll out the dough, yeah?" Meanwhile Charlie nodded and stepped next to Sherlock. "Okay, I yearn to learn." She said with a smirk and looked up to Sherlock.

While Sherlock explained to Charlie how to "spice up" the tomato sauce, Rosie chuckled, "It looks like a very wide dough snail!" she chuckled as he had a bit rolled out, with the rest still rolled up. "It just needs eyes!" she giggled, continuing to roll it out.


	58. Old Friends And A Crush

After eating pizza together, they eventually ended up in front of the fireplace again, while the cold wind was blowing outside. Snuggled up in a kind of blanket fort in between three chairs they were roasting marshmallows Sherlock had texted John to buy and drinking hot chocolate. "Rosie, be careful, I think yours is falling off your stick." Charlie said after swallowing a mouthful of hot chocolate.

"Hang on, let me just.." Sherlock began taking Rosie's stick and carefully pushing her marshmallow further on, before she'd try and burn her fingers, "There you go, now you can go on." he said, handing her stick back to her, before moving his arm back around John's waist.

Just before Charlie could add something, the doorbell rang, making Charlie jump a little. "Are you expecting anyone?" She asked, trying to come up with a list of people that'd show up here today at this time...

"I don't actually..." Sherlock said with a frown, looking at his watch, "I'll go check." he said, standing up, "Don't worry, though, it could just be my mother in need of an emergency babysitter." he said with a chuckle.

"Okay" She nodded and and some of her marshmallow. "Sherlock's right, you know. We do get some regular visitors every now and then." John said with a smile, though he did wonder too who that could be.

Walking downstairs, Sherlock quickly made his way over to the door, making a mental note to put a peephole into the door, so they could check who was standing behind it, before opening it. Unlocking it, he chuckled a little, "Oh.. hi Lowell." he said, quite relieved that it wasn't a murderer and/or kidnapper. "What are you doing here?" he asked, stepping aside to let his.. sort of brother in law in, "Well, I was just wondering if I could borrow a couple of blood bags from you? Just to tide me over a bit of a shortage? I mean you did offer so.." Lowell said with his trademark smirk as he walked into the house. "No, sure that's fine, although I should probably stock up my supplies in future." he said with a laugh, "My consumption has risen a little." he said as they walked up the stairs together.

John kept watching the door until he finally recognised the voice and relaxed. Not his favourite visitor, but much better than the alternative. "Hold on, this is a friend of Sherlock's. I'll just say hi, but you two can stay here if you don't want to." John said and got to his feet, Charlie following suit. "Nah, I'll come along." "Hello Lowell. Nice to see you again. How's everything?"

"Oh, hi John," Lowell said as they arrived upstairs, "Yeah, everything's good, just wanted to borrow a bit of .. erm. tomato juice from Sherlock." he said as he spotted the little girl, figuring she wasn't in on the whole vampire thing. "Hi there." he said, looking at her and giving her a smile. "Oh right, Lowell, this is our new foster daughter Charlie, one of them, actually. Charlie, this is Lowell, he's Victor's brother, I told you about him, remember?" Sherlock said, he did want to discuss with John if they could trust Lowell with the whole story first, before he'd tell him about it. The more people that thought this was a legit adoption plan, the better.

"Yeah, course I do. Pleased to meet you, Lowell." Charlie said and held a hand out, giving him a polite smile, while her heart skipped a beat. ('Well behaved young lady' had basically become her default mode over time, since it had proven to work best around adults.) Jesus, that bloke was hotter than Lucas even... Without her permission, her mind began to fantasise about him taking her out on a picnic to the white horses in the park... Damn, was she drooling? Good, he hadn't shaken her hand yet, so not that much time could've possibly passed. Oh. He was going to shake her hand. She didn't really feel prepared for that. 'Oh my god...'

"Pleasure to meet you too, Charlie." Lowell said and shook her hand, she really was adorable. "By the way, Lowell, Charlie is a big fan of tomato juice as well, as is Rosie, our other foster daughter, but she doesn't know yet why exactly tomato juice is so important for us.. she's four." he said and Lowell looked about as appalled by the fact that there were child vampires as they had been when they found out about this. "It's a really long story, there's a whole orphanage full of kids that erm.. like tomato juice." he explained, knowing that Rosie could probably overhear their conversations. Meanwhile, Lowell was so surprised by those news that he was still holding Charlie's hand without noticing it.

Meanwhile Charlie was thanking the entire universe that no one knew that her heart had been swapped with that of a hummingbird in mid-flight... God, he was so gorgeous and had such a strong grip and he was pleased to meet her too on top of that... After a few seconds of him still shaking her hand, she wasn't entirely sure about the drooling anymore. Oh, he liked shaking her hand too... With all that going on inside her brain, she flat-out ignored the voice telling her how silly this really was. "And I know what you're probably thinking right now, but it's not as bad." John said for the moment, figuring that was vague enough for Rosie.

"Right so that's a thing then?" Lowell asked with a frown, "Child vam..vegetarians?" he asked, looking back down at Charlie, "Oh, sorry, love." he said, dropping her hand as he noticed he was still holding it.

If Charlie had been physically able to speak, she'd have told him it wasn't a problem..., love he'd called her love!! She was so never going to wash that hand again... God, he was perfect... and he was even going to stay like that. Oh my god... Once she was a bit older this could work. Even he had to know that... "Yeah, but it doesn't affect their growth during childhood or their teenage years." John explained, figuring that's what Lowell was mainly shocked about.

"Why are you all out here?" Rosie asked as she walked over to the group, holding up her marshmallow on the stick, "John, is it cold enough for me to eat now?" she asked, before spotting the stranger and smiling at him, "Hi!" she chirped, before looking back at her marshmallow.

"Oh, there you are. You did a very good job waiting for it to cool." John said, cursing himself for letting a four-year old unattended in front of an open fire with marshmallows... After feeling her marshmallow for her, he said. "Yeah, you can eat it now. And that's Sherlock's friend I was talking about, we're saying hi to him right now. Rosie, this is Lowell. Lowell, this is our younger foster daughter Rosie."

"Oh, hi Rosie," Lowell said and gave her a smile, holding his hand out to shake her hand as well, "Hi Lowell. Do you want to roast marshmallows with us?" she asked, already munching on hers. "They're really tasty! You can sit next to Charlie, but not on the left, because I'm sitting on the left, right next to John!" she chirped happily.

"Yeah, we really wouldn't mind." Charlie got herself to say, wondering if Rosie and John were in on this, because they were doing Charlie an enormous favour right now. Lowell would sit right next to her, so maybe she'd be able to touch his arm, or leg, or act as if she was falling asleep on his shoulder... Maybe, if a blizard would start right now, he'd be trapped with them, right here, in the living room, she thought, wondering if she'd be able to sleep right next to him... "No, we wouldn't, but we also don't want to keep you here if you have somewhere else to be." Shut up, John!!!

"Actually, I gotta dash in a few minutes, but I would really like to find out more about the whole orphanage thing." Lowell said and chuckled a little, "If they could organise a more steady .. tomato juice supply for me, I could teach music to the kids, I'm not bad with a guitar and pretty decent with the piano too." he said and Sherlock chuckled, "Actually, they're always looking for more staff. So I'll put in a good word for you." he added.

"I like music too. I play the violin, you know." She blurted out (well, by her current standards) in a panicked attempt to impress him, even though it was a flat-out lie. In that moment she'd have basically said anything to get him to like her and/or stay a bit longer.

Sherlock frowned for a splitsecond at that before getting it, "You do? That's great. Maybe we can play together some time. You're playing too, don't you?" Lowell asked, turning to Sherlock who nodded, "Yeah, I'm teaching Charlie, actually, she's only just began to learn," he said as a little airbag for her lie, "But she's a quick learner." he said with a smirk, giving John a look that asked him to play along, just in case he hadn't already noticed what was going on.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sherlock!! Charlie cheered in her head, only now slowly beginning to realise what her lie actually meant. "Yeah, I have to admit that I wasn't too keen on violin lessons in the house, but she's actually very good." John said with a smile, the first part not really being a lie. So Charlie wanted to impress Lowell, hm?

Lowell smiled again, "I'm sure she is." he said and looked at his watch, "So erm, I don't want to rush you or anything, Sher, but can I get that tomato juice now, I've actually got a gig tonight, I'm playing some of my songs in a bar." he said and Sherlock chuckled a little, "Sure, and.. let us know when you're playing somewhere underaged people are allowed in? I'm sure the girls would like to go out a little and boast about knowing the guy on stage." he said, giving Charlie a wink as he turned to get the blood bags from the fridge. "Sure thing, I can always use some people in the audience that start cheering so the others applaud too, normally I pay some people for that before the show." Lowell joked.

Charlie began to giggle at that, because Lowell was just so funny. (God, she did sound terribly silly..) John chuckle too (mostly out of courtesy), before saying. "Well, we'll be happy to save you some money. It was good to see you again."

"You too." Lowell said genuinely as he stuffed the blood bags into his bag after Sherlock handed them to him, "So, you should come around for dinner some time." Sherlock said and smirked again. "Sure thing, I do want to know more about that orphanage anyway." Lowell said and smiled again, "Anyway, I'll be off, it was very nice to meet you, Charlie, and you too, little one." he said and gave the two girls another of his dazzling smiles, before turning to leave.

"Bye" Charlie breathed as Lowell left, doing her very best to contain herself. He'd come round for dinner... She thought dreamily, before clearing her throat when she noticed her mind was coming up with dream scenarios again. John regarded Charlie with a bit of a smile, before closing the door behind Lowell once he was down the stairs.

"So, you little violin prodigy," Sherlock said quietly, so only she could hear, "How about we're starting up those violin lessons tomorrow?" he asked with a small chuckle.

Charlie blushed crimson and nodded. "Mmh, thanks." She replied quietly, avoiding to look at him. He already knew something was up, didn't he?

"Oh, don't look so mortified." Sherlock said with a smile, ruffling her hair a little, "He is quite cute." he said and chuckled a little, "But don't tell John, I said that, he's already jealous enough."

"Yeah, I'll hang on to that." Charlie nodded and gave him a smile. "Thanks for covering for me. I owe you." She said, glad John and Rosie were already back to roasting marshmallows again.

"Don't worry about it." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "We've all been there, Ms Marple," he said with a smile, "But, you know, I think you're impressive enough when you're being yourself."

"Yeah, well, thanks t-paps." Charlie said and nudged him. It was nice to know Sherlock had her back, even though she wasn't interested in him. (Thank god she wasn't, he was her foster father after all!)

Sherlock chuckled a bit at his new nickname, "Anyway, you go back to John and Rosie, I'll just quickly go and lock the door downstairs." he said, holding the keys up.

"Yeah, see you." Charlie nodded and went back to the other two, sitting down next to Rosie and taking up another marshmallow.


	59. Big Ben

"Would you hurry?" Sherlock asked, as he dashed down the stairs, it didn't make so much sense for them to have to rush to a supermarket, which is what he had told John they were doing, but he did have to make use of the gap between two guard shifts to get into the place Sherlock had set up that morning for the surprise he was planning for John, but if they didn't make it there between 7:50 and 8 pm, that homeless boy he had bribed to cause a distraction would have dashed off and there wouldn't be any other way to get in, those guards were a bit of a pest sometimes when he wanted to get into .. certain places.

"Jesus, Sherlock, the milk won't turn on our way there." John huffed as he got into his jacket and followed Sherlock down the stairs. "Okay, okay I'm there. I just had to fetch my wallet. I assume we're running to Tesco's tonight?' He asked, holding a shopping bag in one hand and taking Sherlock's with his free one.

"Uh, no, we're taking the car," Sherlock said with no further explanation, getting the keys out of his pocket and unlocking the car, before glancing at his watch. They could still make it, if they were quick now.

"Are you sure everything is alright?" John asked as after getting inside the car. Sherlock seemed oddly hurried. "You know I'm pretty sure the girls will be fine staying with Mrs. Hudson."

"Perfectly fine, I know." Sherlock said and smiled a little as he buckled his seatbelt, "I just want to be back quickly." he said, which was a bit of a white lie, given that they wouldn't be back until the next morning, which was all settled with Mrs Hudson and his mother who would arrive later that evening and take care of the girls at night.

"Erm alright. Well, it's still nice to go out together, even if it's just for twenty minutes or so." John commented, buckling up as well. If he was being honest, he had missed some alone time with Sherlock, outside the bedroom obviously.

"Well, lets make the most of those twenty minutes then." Sherlock said with a chuckle as he started the engine and drove off towards the city centre, "You know, we should probably try to fit time in for a proper date."

"Yeah, didn't we already say we need a date night?" John remembered. "We really should agree on a day." John commented, figuring that with the girls around he couldn't just spontaneously take Sherlock out on a date like that. "How are the violin lessons going? I'm very grateful you are practicing while I'm out by the way."

"Well.. yeah, she's not that good.. she just doesn't really get the hang of it, maybe I could ask Lowell if he could give her some guitar lessons, she would probably really like that." Sherlock said with a chuckle, smiling when the big ben came into view, they could just about make it.

"Yeah, probably. But if she enjoys the violin, maybe she just needs some time. I mean, it's been less than a week after all." John commented. "Are you sure you know where you're going? You just missed a turn over there."

"Trust me, she's going to like the guitar lessons better." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Oh and, yes, of course I'm sure where I'm going, I've got every street in this town memorised." he said with a smirk, as he parked a bit away from the Big Ben, "Come on, we don't have time for sightseeing." he said with a laugh as he got out of the car and grabbed a picnick basket from the boot, which Mrs Hudson had packed for him and hidden in the car.

"You've brought a basket?" John asked and left his bag in the car, before frowning a little, slowly realising they weren't acrually grocery shopping. "Okay, where exactly are you taking me tonight?'

"I'm sorry, love, but that question is entirely against the spirit of a surprise." Sherlock said with a laugh, taking John's hand after locking the car and pulling him along, so they had to run after all, "Come on, we've only got about five minutes left." he said with and chuckled again as they made their way to the side gate around the Big Ben.

"Five minutes until what?" John couldn't help asking as he ran along. "You're not planning to climb onto the clockhands of Big Ben, are you?" John asked, as it became clear that that's where Sherlock was pulling him to.

Sherlock only chuckled at that, "Just wait and see." he said and smiled as they reached the gate, pulling a set of various keys out of his pocket, containing keys he'd probably be arrested for possessing without permission for.

"Shouldn't this place be guarded or something?" John asked, looking over his shoulder, before spotting Sherlock's keys. "Are you insane, Sher?"

"Yep, but you knew that before." Sherlock said and looked at his what, "Oh and yes, it is guarded." he said with a laugh as he walked through the gate, pulling John along, before locking it again and tugging him towards the tower.

"What the hell are we doing here?!" John hissed, looking back ocer his shoulder, slowly coming to realise what exactly Sherlock had been waiting for. "Are we going inside Big Ben right now?" He asked, still not quite believing Sherlock had taken him out on a break-in.

"You make it sound like a bad thing." Sherlock said unlocking the heavy door and pulling it open, shoving John in first, before he slipped in himself, closing it quickly, but quietly, before locking it again. "Hope you're up for some stair walking, 334 steps, actually, but I promise you, it's worth it." he said with a smile, relaxing a little now that they were safe inside the building, the walls were too thick for any guard hearing them through the door.

John looked at him for a moment, before chuckling and looking up the stairs. "I love you." He told Sherlock with a grin, before pulling him into a deep kiss.

Sherlock melted into the kiss, before breaking it reluctantly, "Come on, let's go up." he said with a chuckle, "Sorry about the stairs by the way, I'd have had an elevator put it, but I didn't have time." he said with a chuckle.

"Now I'm disappointed." He chuckled. "By the way, how much time do we have until the next guard change?" John asked him with a smile, taking his hand again, before going up the stairs.

"Oh we have the whole night, actually, I've got something set up to get us out unnoticed around 9o'clock." Sherlock said with a smile, "And don't worry, Mrs Hudson's in on it and so is my mum, who's going to look after the girls tonight." he said as they walked up the stairs.

"You've completely worked this out, haven't you?" John chuckled, though he felt a small peng of guilt at not having thought of the girls there. Though, he didn't allow it to last long, now on their date. "This is perfect, Sher." He chuckled.

Sherlock smiled, "Well.. I mean even if we're parents now, we're still a couple." he said as they finally arrived upstairs, unlocking the door to the clockroom, he walked in and smiled, finding everything as he had left it, a large air mattress, a dozen of blankets on the mattress, about a dozen of (unlit) candles set up around a large, thick fur blanket on the floor right in front of one of the clock faces with an electrical heater next to it, which was really very needed up here at night in winter. "I guess it would have been more impressive if I'd have had time to light up the candles before taking you up here.." he mumbled, not quite happy he hadn't managed that.

John was a little speechless when he saw that Sherlock had already been up here to set all of this up. He must've snuck in here at least twice and wait for the next guard change. And he'd thought he was the romantic. Bloody hell... Yeah, he'd have to think of something better than Reagent's park for his proposal. "Yeah and there are no rose petals either" John said dryly, thinking that Sherlock must've been joking, before looking at him. "Are you actually serious right now, love? This is incredible. In fact it's almost incredible enough to make me feel bad, you know that, you brilliant idiot? God, I love you."

Sherlock couldn't help but smile at that, "I love you too." he said and bit his lip, feeling really quite good that his surprise had worked out, despite the unlit candles, which still bugged him a little, so he pulled out a lighter and quickly changed that, "Oh and don't worry, no one's gonna spot the light inside here with the lit clock faces, with the lights pointed at the outside, it's actually going to be a little dim up here."

"You've really thought of everything." John said with a chuckle, still amazed Sherlock had done all this for him. "I didn't know you were that big a romantic, love." John said, wrapping his arms loosely around Sherlock's middle.

"Well.. guess you're bringing out the best in me." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, leaning back into John's arms, "And I may or may not have asked my mum for ideas.. she didn't suggest this particular venue, but the idea to take you somewhere special and have a little picnic was from her." he admitted.

"You know most people would've picked a glade or something for that." John chuckled. "No, but Sherlock Holmes decided to have a candle-lit picnic behind the face of Big Ben and carried a heater up here. You don't seem to realise how sweet and romantic this is."

"Well to be fair, I did have the heater stashed up here anyway." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I used to come here sometimes, I told you about that, remember? Shortly after we met? You laughed and brushed it off as a joke at the time."

"Right, I remember.. How was I supposed to know you were actually breaking into here on a regular basis?" John asked with a chuckle and pecked Sherlock's lips. "This is so much better than a 20 minute drive to Tesco's."

"It really is." Sherlock chuckled, before untangling himself from John to pick up the basket and walking over to the fur blanket, starting to set everything up, but leaving his blood bags in the basket, just so he wouldn't ruin the romantic atmosphere.

John crouched down next to Sherlock to help him get the stuff out. "So how long exactly have you been planning this?" He asked after a moment.

"Since Wednesday." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "Took me a while to find enough homeless people that were trustworthy and would agree to help me distract the guards so we can get in and out." he said with a chuckle.

"Kinda sounds like those shouldn't be able to go together. Trustworthy and helping someone with a break-in." John pointed out with a warm chuckle.

"Don't be unfair, there are some people that are loyal and think of rules more like.. loose guidelines.." Sherlock said with a laugh.

"Right, I apologise I almost forgot about my family there." John said with chuckle. "I'm already wondering how those girls are going to turn out."

"Oh, I can answer that one," Sherlock said as he sat down on the blanket, after taking his coat off, "They'll turn out wonderfully. I'm pretty sure about that." he said, turning the heater on.

"You're right, they're awesome." John said with a smile and sat down next to Sherlock, wrapping an arm around his waist. "The food looks great."

"Thank Mrs Hudson and Charlie for that, they prepared it for us." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Mrs Hudson didn't actually need help with some housecleaning." he said with a chuckle.

"Oh, so that's what that was about." John said with a laugh. "In hindsight it should've seemed a bit fishy, I suppose." He said and reached for a sandwich. "By the way, I just want to be sure, is any of the food spiked with blood?"

"No, it's just regular food, I'm set up with blood bags and mouthwash." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "Even the wine is pure today." he said as he pulled a bottle of red wine out of the basket, along with the two glasses, "Didn't want you to have to watch out not to pick up the wrong glass or take the wrong slice of pizza for once." he said with a smile. "Plus, I've had an early quick liquid dinner at home, so as for blood, I should be fine for a while."

"That's very considerate of you, Sher, thanks." John said with a smile and pecked Sherlock's cheek. "And I almost thought I was the romantic." He chuckled.

"You are." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I need days of planning and ask for advice for something you'd set up in an hour." he said with a chuckle.

"I don't think I'd have been able to set this here up at all though." John said with a smile. "Anyway, I think there are still a few things I could do left that'd surprise even you with." He added with a smirk.

"Well, probably not in the Big Ben, but the rest is not that special." Sherlock said leaning a little against John, "You know, I love those girls, I really do, but this is amazing. Just the two of us.. The quietness.." he said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, they do make us appreciate alone-time more, don't they" John chuckled and pulled Sherlock a bit closer. "I can't tell you how glad I am that we've got the whole night up here together."

"Well, I did appreciate alone time with you a great deal before, already. I didn't need anyone to remind me of the value of that." Sherlock said, sitting a bit up again to pour them both a glass of wine.

"Oh no, neither did I." John said; why couldn't he just get this right tonight? "I didn't mean for it to come out like that I've just missed this a bit, just us. I haven't had to wait for a night with you that long yet."

"I know what you mean, I was just trying to be somewhat charming." Sherlock said and chuckled a little as he handed John a glass, "Hell look at us, we live together, we're going to get married, we took two kids in and .. we're technically on our second date right now." he said with a smirk, "We should check if we've broken some record."

"We must've" John chuckled and shook his head a little. "Though there's no one in the world I'd rather like to break that record with. To us." He smiled and raised his glass.

"To us." Sherlock said with a smile, before nipping at his wine, "Hm.." he hummed and chuckled a little, "I almost forgot how pure wine tastes.." he said with a frown, holding his glass up to look at the red liquid inside.

That made John chuckle. "Right, you usually have most of these with blood. Well, enjoy" he said, drinking a few sips of his own wine.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "You know, I could get you easily drunk right now, while I stay sober even if we'd empty a few bottles." he said with a smirk, "Without the blood, the alcohol barely has any effect on me."

"Well, I don't think I'm that easy to bear when I'm drunk, especially not when you're sober, so suit yourself." John said with a chuckle. "How much wine did you bring anyway?" He asked, looking into the basket.

"Just a bottle, I've got water and coke too." Sherlock said and smirked, reaching for his coat and pulling a little bottle out of one of the pockets, "And I brought this too." he said, handing John the small lube bottle, "You know how embarrassing it is when your mother and your basically like a mother landlady both remind you not to forget the lube..." he said with a roll of his eyes, "I'm really grateful to have a progressive and insightful family, but.. ugh.." he said and shuddered playfully.

John laughed out loud and covered his eyes with one hand. "Smashing. It's almost surprising your mum hasn't seen us in bed yet." He commented, though it was quite a strange thing to say, considering they were living in their own flat.

"I know." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "On the other hand, though.. it would have been terribly annoying if I had in fact forgotten the lube.." he laughed, and grinned cheekily at John. "Oh and yes, I do fully intend to get into your pants tonight." he said with a chuckle.

"I do hope so." John said with a chuckle. "Beats the mile high club in my opinion." He commented and pecked Sherlock's lips.

"Well technically it'd be the 0,0596 miles high club." Sherlock said and shuffled closer up to John, before placing himself between his boyfriend's legs and leaning back against his chest, "Now that's much more comfortable." he murmured, as he turned his head to look up at John.

"True that." John said with a smile and wrapped his arms around Sherlock's middle, before leaning down to kiss him a bit longer.

Sherlock smiled against John's lips, before letting himself get lost in it, it was just so incredibly relaxing not to have to worry for once - although he did still worry a little, it just felt strange not to have the girls around, but that was probably only because it was the first time since they took them in that they weren't with them, not sleeping upstairs, or downstairs with Mrs Hudson. But despite that it felt glorious to have John all to himself for a whole night.

John kissed him back and savoured every moment of it. He'd decided only to think about Sherlock tonight, so he could be there for the girls properly tomorrow when he was physically with them; and though that was a bit harder than he'd thought, Sherlock was doing a brilliant job to keep his attention on him. "Sher, I want to try something new tonight." He said after, breaking their kiss.

Sherlock smirked a little at that, "If you're thinking about something kinky that requires supplies, that might have to wait until another time, given that we can't really go and get supplies.." he said and chuckled, "Unless you're about to admit that you're really into .. clocks.." he joked, "There's a lot of that stuff here."

John huffed a bit of a laugh and shook his head. "I want you to bite me tonight. Couldn't think of a better place and I have to admit that I've become curious at this point. What do you say?"

Sherlock sat a bit back at that, to look properly at John, "Wait, what?" he asked and cleared his throat a little, because that thought was quite tempting at least when it was about doing it in bed, he still didn't intend to use John as an actual food source. "I mean.. barely a month ago, you told me you'd smack me if I'd come close to your arteries." he said with a smirk, though he did remember that John was quite against that idea.

"Give a man time to think." John said. "A month ago I was quite overcome by all of your revelations and I said that the actual night you told me. I still refuse to say that that was an exaggerated reaction. Was that really our last date though?" John asked with a frown; it seemed like much more time had passed. "Anyway, I've had a bit of time to get used to this, us, our sex life, so I'm ready for something new. And besides, you've been drooling a little since I've brought it up, so it's definitely something you'd like." He added with a bit of a smirk.

"I'm /not/ drooling." Sherlock said, only blushing a little bit, "I just.. think it's an.. interesting idea.." he said and chuckled a little, before getting serious again, "But.. are you sure about that? I mean.. I don't know, it feels like a bit of a big deal, that's all."

"Yeah, I know, it feels the same to me, but I'm sure about it." John said with a nod. "And I trust you, so you may feel special now, because I'll still smack anyone else who comes too close to my arteries." He added jokingly.

"I do hope you'll smack anyone else coming close to other parts of your body as well.." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "So.. just to be clear on that, what do you mean when you say you want me to bite you, just once to try how it feels, or later... when I'm acting more.. instinctively?" he asked with a chuckle.

"I meant the latter, love." John smirked. "And I think you know you don't have to worry about me not telling you if I'm not into it." John said with a chuckle.

"Right, so how am I the one that's more nervous about this exactly?" Sherlock asked and laughed again, "I mean.. I do know what it feels like, I've done it before and after all, I will be the one that bites, not the one that's being bitten, but you do seem awfully relaxed about it."

"Maybe because I've had some time to think about it this time. Or well, I'm trying not to think too much about it to be more precise." John said with a chuckle, because really, the thought still was unnerving, but that didn't mean he didn't want this.

"Right.. Okay." Sherlock said and chewed on his lips, before realising he was doing it and taking a sip of wine. Really, it was ridiculous how excited he was about this.

John chuckled softly seeing the way Sherlock was looking and pulled him into another kiss. "I like the fact you taste like wine and not that mouth wash for once." He commented with a chuckle.

"Yeah.. that's another thing.." Sherlock said, having not really thought about that yet, with Victor he hadn't had to think about that, since he hadn't been weirded out by the occasional irony tasting kiss, but John was. "You do realise I can't really go and rinse my mouth in that situation.."

"Right, I mean, it's not like I've never tasted blood before, but I'm not sure I'll be fine with kisses like that." John said; at least this wouldn't be some stranger's blood, though the thought wasn't really thrilling.

"Hm.. well, I could try to drink some wine in between although that really doesn't sound too romantic.." Sherlock said and chuckled a little.

"We'll just try and see and figure something out for the next time. Kissing you is never bad and I'm up for experiments tonight anyway." John said with a smile, figuring he'd just suck on Sherlock's neck mostly, if the blood was too big a turn-off.

"Right.." Sherlock said, moving closer again to settle back against John's chest, "Well on the plus side, you'll be a little dazed for a while, in a pleasant way, though, so maybe you can just drink something before it wears off completely."

"Oh, that's good. I'm just not awfully fond of the taste, that's all." John said and rested his chin on Sherlock's shoulder.

"Yeah, I get that, back when I was human I'd probably have had doubts about tasting blood myself," Sherlock said and closed his eyes for a moment, just letting himself relax a little. "I sometimes forget what it was like... being just a normal human being.. kind of sad that Charlie, Amy and Rosie won't get to know that.. I mean, I'm glad Amy was saved, so in her case, I think it's justified, but all those kids that have been turned for what reason ever.. it still doesn't feel right."

"No, it doesn't." John agreed with a sigh. "It could be worse for them, but there's still no way to whitewash it." He said. "But at least we're on our way to find out who did that to the girls back at home."

"We're talking about the kids again." Sherlock said with a chuckle, realising that a lot of their alone time of tonight was actually spent worrying about the kids, talking about the kids, generally thinking about the kids, was that how real parents felt all the time?

"Oh, you're right." John chuckled and rested his forehead on Sherlock's shoulder. "Okay, come on, let's have a bite, I feel like we'd be disrespecting Mrs. H. if we didn't."

"You know what's awful?" Sherlock asked, sitting up a bit to reach for some grapes, "Without talking about the kids, I don't really know what to talk about." he chuckled.

"I mean, we did have things to talk about two weeks ago. Not that I can remember them, but we did." John joked and took a sandwich. "I was gonna ask about your work but that's the same thing. Mmh, I've got something though. Guess which of the blokes at the station is dating now."

"Oh, how semi interesting..." Sherlock said with a huffed laugh, "I don't know. Which of them is dating and.. /who/.." he said with a frown, figuring that one of John's colleagues was dating someone they knew, otherwise, given that he didn't really know any of his colleagues that well, he didn't see why John would talk about it.

"You know how I said Jim's a bit of a loner? Well, I felt a bit bad for this Dennis you flirted with and gave Jim his number. Wouldn't have thought he'd actually do it, but here they are, dating. Jim came up to me the other day and told me about it."

"Wait, what?" Sherlock asked and chuckled a little, he just couldn't help it. Although he didn't like that so much. "You do realise that I didn't give him my real name intentionally? Like.. I didn't want him to have any connection to me, do you realise how awkward it'd be if I'd pick you up from work and Dennis has the same idea and I run into him?" he asked with another chuckle.

"Then that'll remind you of why flirting with other people is generally a bad idea." John said with admittedly a bit of satisfaction; he only knew that fellah through two other people so John himself couldn't care less about what Dennis thought of either of them. "You're not into the idea of a couples' night, I take it?"

"Oh shut up." Sherlock said and chuckled as he fed John a grape, mainly to make him shut up about it. "But I'm definitely into the couple night thing, as long as we invite Harry and Clara and not Dennis and Jim.." he said with a roll of his eyes.

"I'm fine with that." John laughed after swallowing the grape, before remembering that he wasn't really all that keen on a night with his boyfriend, his older sister and her wife. "Let's plan that another time though."

"Mhm.." Sherlock hummed, settling back against John again, before frowning a little and moving to turn around, before he sat down in the same spot again, just this time with his legs on either side of John, "There, better. If we'd have kept sitting like that, I'd have gotten a stiff neck by the end of the night." he said with a chuckle.

"Didn't plan to keep you in that position for too long anyway." John chuckled and pulled Sherlock into a kiss, leaning in a bit closer. "Speaking of stiff muscles..." He murmured with a smirk and ran one hand up Sherlock's leg.

Sherlock smirked at that, moving to stand up, while trying not to break the kiss as he did so, while also pulling John up along with him.

Still lying on top of Sherlock, John was breathing heavily, slowly coming back to his senses as the effects of the saliva began to wear off. "That was incredible." He murmured against Sherlock's hot skin.

"Understatement.." Sherlock breathed, feeling a little dizzy himself as he tried to catch his breath. Good god, he did remember this to feel good, very good, actually, but this has been something else entirely. Remembering part of their conversation from before, Sherlock grabbed the bottle of coke he had grabbed on their way to the mattress, from next to it, holding it out to John with a weak arm. "Drink.." he murmured, still a little breathless, "For the taste.." he added, letting his head drop back down onto the pillow.

Jonn accepted the bottle and lifted his head slowly to take a few sips of coke. This had been so much better than what he had expected. After putting the bottle back down, he rested his head back on Sherlock's chest and closed his eyes. "You've so ruined normal sex for me." He murmured with a chuckle and looked up to him.

"All just strategy to keep you around." Sherlock said and chuckled lightly, brushing a few sticky strands of hair out of his face, "Seriously though, I hadn't remembered it to be this .. mind-blowing.." he said and took the bottle from John to take a sip, rinsing his mouth a little with it, before swallowing it to be kiss ready. "I actually don't think it's ever been like this before.." he murmured as he leant down to put the bottle back down.

"Strategy hm? I bet that's what you tell them all up here." John teased him with a bit of a smirk and pulled the rest of the blankets over them both to keep warm. After shuffling a bit up, he pressed a soft kiss onto Sherlock's lips, still too dazed to do much more.

"Obviously. And the thin air all the way up here helps too." Sherlock said with a laugh, rolling them over onto their sides, "You should clean up before we leave in the morning though, you've got a few blood smudges all over you," he said and frowned a little, "Actually, that'd be useful to make studies on my prefered areas when kissing you." he said and chuckled again.

"Come on, I don't want to think about science right now." John chuckled, before reaching out and running his fingers a little clumsily through Sherlock's curls. "Seriously though, I'm glad the bite marks heal that quickly." He commented, not sure how he'd otherwise explain those to people.

"I wouldn't have done if it'd leave wounds, John." Sherlock said and leant in to peck John's neck, "You do have a lot of love bites though.." he said and chuckled, looking at all the faint bruises on John's chest and neck and .. in lower areas." he said with a laugh.

"You too though, even if they're fading already." John said and chuckled a little, not even looking down at himself, since he already knew he was covered in love bites. " Seriously Sher, that was brilliant." He said and rested his head back on the pillow, leaving his arm on Sherlock's side.

"So I take it you're into it?" Sherlock asked with a smirk, resting his head on John's chest and closing his eyes for a moment, "We should probably set an alarm clock on our phones.. We only have a narrow window in the morning to get out."

"Mmh, good idea." John agreed. "Could you do that though? I don't know where my phone is right now." John said and traced his fingertips gently over Sherlock's back.

"Don't know where mine is either." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, leaning over John to look through the pile of shed clothes on the floor.

John chuckled and turned his head, using his free hand to fish through their clothes, before finding one. "Here, I think I got mine." He said and pressed its home button, scrunching his eyes when the light was too bright. "So when exactly should we leave?"

"Set it for 7am. That way we still have time to wake up, snuggle and get dressed." Sherlock chuckled, trailing a line of kisses over John's stomach as he moved back, before he laid down again.

"Sounds good." John chuckled and wrapped his arms around Sherlock after setting his phone aside again. "I love you." He said after a while.

Sherlock smiled at that, "I love you too.." he said and snuggled closer up to John, closing his eyes again, "And by the way.." he said with tired chuckle, "You do taste terribly good.."

"Good, because I do hope we'll do this again sometime." John said with a smile, before closing his eyes too. So much better than Tesco's...


	60. Surprise Visit

Charlie tried to imitate the way Sherlock was holding himself as best she could. She'd had no idea posture could be that hard; and this was only warm-up! Carefully she went into another plie, watching with a smile the way Rosie mimicked Sherlock. This was their third ballet lesson now and she was still as excited as she'd been the first! John was studying in the kitchen so they'd pushed the desk and couch to the sides so they had some more space. Suddenly, she heard the doorbell and stopped half-way through, still wary of anyone wanting to enter their flat. "You expecting anyone?"

"No.." Sherlock said with a frown, before giving a small smirk, "Maybe it's Lowell.." he said, partly to tease her a little, but also to distract her as he turned off the music, "John, did you invite someone over?" he called from the kitchen as he adjusted Rosie's position a little, who was still practising the move from before.

"No, I didn't. Is someone at the door?" John called back, leaning over the table to look at Sherlock. Charlie meanwhile chewed her bottom lip and glanced up at Sherlock, before turning to Rosie. "Let's see if John can teach us something while Sherlock is at the door." She told her and took her hand to get her subtly out of the living room.

Rosie willingly followed Charlie, smoothing her brand-new tutu with her free hand, she loved that thing, it had taken Sherlock ages to get her to put on her pyjamas after their first ballet lesson, because she didn't want to take it off and she was very cautious about not getting it dirty. "Yeah, I'll go and check," he said and quickly grabbed a hoodie from the laundry basket next to the sofa, they hadn't gotten to fold and put the laundry away yet. Pulling the hoodie over his white T-Shirt, he really wasn't too eager to stand in the cold from outside in just T-Shirt and sweatpants. Walking down the stairs, he opened the door and blinked stupidly at their visitors for a moment, "Erm.. Hi.." he said with a frown, he really hadn't expected that, "Where are they?" Emma asked, her arms crossed as she stared daggers at Sherlock. "I'm sorry?" he asked, having absolutely no idea what was going on.

"The girls. How long exactly did you plan to hide our granddaughters from us?" David asked, wearing a similar expression on his face. He hadn't expected them to take in children that early (and that was a whole thing to discuss on its own) but the fact they had to learn about them through Vanessa wasn't funny. They were their granddaughters for Christ's sake, who else if not them should be entitled to know of them?

"Oh." Sherlock said and blinked at them again, before gathering himself together, "We weren't planning to hide them from you at all.." he said and could have slapped himself, really they should have probably let John's parents know about this. "We just had a few rather stressful days.." he said, knowing it was a lame excuse, but he really needed John as backup here to come up with something more elaborate. "They're upstairs, come in." he said, stepping aside to let John's parents in.

David gave his wife a look and went inside. "Too stressful to send a text?" He asked dryly as he went up the stairs with Emma. This was the first time he got to see the flat John was now living in and he was already surprised by the interior of the hallway; well, at least they weren't raising children in a loft or some skyscraper. Meanwhile Charlie noticed a bit disappointedly that there were two heavy (well, in comparison with Lowell) people coming upstairs. "It's two people." She told Rosie and went curiously towards the living room to watch who might enter.

"That's no excuse and you know it." Emma added to Richard's statement and Sherlock didn't really have anything to say, because, he did know it. "Erm, John, your parents are here." he called as they were nearly up the stairs, "The living room is a bit chaotic, I'm giving the girls ballet lessons and yeah, we had to push some stuff to the side." he said, not wanting them to think it was always like that.

"My pa- oh damn.." John murmured under his breath and got to his feet to greet his parents. This wasn't really the best way fir them to find out about the girls. "You've got parents?" Charlie asked him curiously over her shoulder without thinking too much about it. They seemed... nice. Well at least from her corner, that was. "Ballet, you say?" David asked as he stepped inside, taking in the frank mess of a living room. "Erm, hello mum, hello dad. I didn't expect you to drop by today." He hazarded and swallowed.

"Ballet, yeah... I've tried out a few things in my time.." Sherlock said, realising, he probably shouldn't have told David about the ballet thing, but it was too late now. "Hello son." Emma said with a frown, looking around, "Now, where are the- Oh dear, hello there.." she said, instantly melting as Rosie walked sheepishly out of the kitchen in her little tutu, it just really was impossible not to melt at that sight. Hiding a little behind Sherlock's leg, Rosie smiled at them, "Hi! I'm Rosie!" she said and looked up at Sherlock taking his hand, "Lock, is John in trouble now?" she asked innocently, figuring since they were John's parents, he would be in trouble when they were mad at him.

"No, he'll just have to give us an explanation." David told her kindly, finding that little girl just adorable; she looked a bit like Harry. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Watson, I'm Charlie." She introduced herself politely and held an arm out to Mrs. Watson, after walking eventually into the living room too.

"Oh you can call us Emma and David," Emma said, not bothering to ask her husband about this. She was already completely won over by those girls and not even mad anymore, "You both can." she added with a smile, crouching down to Rosie, "Isn't that a pretty tutu you're wearing, you have to show us how well you can dance sometime." she said with a smile and Rosie grinned, "It is really pretty, Sherlock gave it to me for our lessons!" she chirped and Sherlock chuckled a little at that.

"It's really very pretty." David said with a chuckle, having almost forgotten about being mad at his son and Sherlock. "And it's very nice to meet such a lovely young lady, Charlie." David said with a smile, shaking the hand she was holding out, which made Charlie chuckle. "It's nice to meet you too." She said and glanced up at Sherlock, wondering if she was making a good impression, before turning back to John's parents. "You don't come here very often, do you?"

"No, we don't unfortunately.." Emma said with a glance at her husband, before standing up again, to look at Charlie, "It's actually the first time we're here." she said and gave David another, 'it's your fault' look.

"Really? Why did you come today then?" Charlie asked, not quite understanding why David avoided Emma's look and why they hadn't visited John and Sherlock yet; they'd been here for about two months now after all.

"Well, you see David and I wanted to meet you girls." Emma said with a smile and looked up at Sherlock for a moment, before glancing at her son, they seemed to really care about those girls, she thought, she didn't want to make those kids think they weren't important enough to tell anyone about, "We heard about you from Amy and Ally who picked up on it from their mummy, I guess Sherlock and John were so excited about the two of you being here, that they just forgot to tell us."

Charlie glanced up at Sherlock and John with a small smile, before John said. "Yes, that's exactly it, even though we still should've thought of it either way. I'm glad you've still found out." He said, not really knowing what else to say, though Charlie quickly took over for him, quite excited they had people over just because of Rosie and herself. (Already having known Violet anyway, she hadn't really thought much about the fact John and Sherlock had families.) "Yeah, so am I. Do you live in London too?"

"Yeah, we do, actually." Emma said with a smile and chuckled a little, "Oh and don't worry, you don't have to call me granny or anything, I feel too young for that anyway." she said and laughed again, "Have you met John's sister and her wife already?" she asked curiously while Sherlock still felt a little uncomfortable about David being here, he did like him, but the last time they had seen each other had been when he had told him about Richard, which hadn't gone so well.

"No, we haven't yet, but knowing John I'm sure they're be great." She said and gave John a smirk. "To be honest, I thought it'd just the four of us and Mrs. Hudson around here." She said with a smile, though that had obviously mainly been because this was only temporary anyway; living friends, as Sherlock has put ut. Meanwhile David was very glad to meet the girls (despite of the state of this flat). "Is that so?" He asked Charlie and gave John a pointed look. "Well, there's a whole bunch of us that'd all be happy to meet you in time."

"Looock," Rosie began and tugged at Sherlock's hand, "Can you help me change into normal clothes before dinner, I don't want to get tomato juice on my tutu," she said and Sherlock nodded, "Sure, bumblebee," he said and Rosie chuckled a little, "Can we I fly up the stairs again? Like a bee!" she asked and Sherlock laughed, "Sure, come here.." he said, crouching down to pick the little one up, before standing again and holding her up, while she spread her arms, wiggling her feet, "Come on, let's go!" she chirped and Sherlock looked at David, "Actually, David, I've got a bee-shaped ceiling lamp for Rosie, but it keeps flickering, could come upstairs with us and take a look at it?" he asked while Rosie starting to make buzzing noises.

David couldn't help chuckling the way Rosie looked, before nodding. "Yes, of course, I'll check if you have a ladder upstairs."

"I have, actually," Sherlock said and walked up the stairs, "We only just finished their rooms completely," he said and smiled as Rosie turned to look at David, "They're so pretty! Charlie's room is green! And mine is pink and I have a bed that looks like it's made of pencils!" she said.

"It's you have a room you like. Did you get to pick that bed yourself?" David asked her with a smile aa he entered the room and had to stop in his tracks to look at the interior; Sherlock was definitely well off, that much was clear. He couldn't help feeling relieved to know the girls wouldn't miss out on anything because of money issues.

"Yeah, when we moved in Sherlock took us on a shopping tour and we bought a whole lot of things." Rosie chirped as Sherlock set her down, before she ran over to the wardrobe, opening it, "Look, I never had so many clothes before, and almost never new ones!" she said, while actually, that wardrobe actually only contained the average amount of clothes any child should own, "In the orphanage we only ever got clothes from older kids." she said, before she started to pick a new outfit.

"Oh, well that really is a shame." David said; even if she was from an orphanage that just wasn't right. "I'm glad you've got some new clothes now." He said and looked at the wardrobe before saying. "Now how about you get redressed and I have a look at your bee?"

Rosie smiled at him and nodded, "Okay!" she said and picked out a pair of jeans with hearts on and a yellow jumper with a bee, before she walked back over to Sherlock, "Uh, the ladder is over there in the corner." he said and pointed at it, before starting to help Rosie get the tutu off.

David turned off the light and went over to put the ladder under the lamp and climbed up, before beginning to loosen the screws on it to get the plastic casing off with the pocket screwdriver in his jacket (that actually came in handy more often than one might think). After taking it off, he tightened the light bulb a little. "Do you have problems with your freezer or other electric devices?" He asked.

"Not really," Sherlock said, carefully putting Rosie's dearly loved tutu onto a clothes hanger, before hanging it up on the wardrobe's door, "Maybe I did something wrong when I installed it, I really don't know." he said, helping Rosie with the fly as the buttonhole on that particular pair of jeans was rather tight and she'd had trouble with it before.

"Hm, it might be a loose contact." David said and checked the wires, before finding what was wrong with it. "You're lucky, I can just fix it..." He said, quickly working on it; it was only a minor thing anyway. "So, there we go. Rosie, could you turn on the light for me, please?" When they'd been little, Harry and John had always been very keen to press buttons on lifts or turn on light switches.

"Yeah!" Sherlock had someone come especially to make a light switch for me at the wall, so I can reach it!" Rosie chirped and walked over to the normal light switch, where much lower sat another one on the perfect height for Rosie, "Look!" she said and switched the light on, grinning proudly.

"That's brilliant." David chuckled and was pleased the light wasn't flickering anymore, before beginning to put the bee case back on. "And you've changed into a very pretty outfit, young lady." He said with a smile.

Charlie chuckled at that, "It's my favourite jumper!" she said and pointed at the funny bee on it, "I really like bees, you know!" she chirped and Sherlock chuckled, "But even bees need warm feet, come here." he said with a smile, holding up her plushy bee slippers, "David, did you know that bees, cuddle in winter to keep each other warm? They look like a big ball made of bees in their hives then." she said as she walked over to Sherlock and sat down on her bed, starting to put her slippers on.

"Really?" He asked with a chuckle, tightening the last few screws. That little girl was just heart-warming, really. "I didn't know that, but you sound like you've already seen it. Could that be?"

"Uh huh!" Rosie said and nodded, "We have a beehive at the orphanage and they are all in there, cuddled up!" she said with a smile, "Lock showed me, I didn't even know that before he told me!" she said and grinned happily at Sherlock, almost beaming at him, "He's so smart!" she said and stood up once she had her slippers on, "Like really really smart, like Charlie and me, Sherlock said one day, she and I will someday be smarter than him even!"

"He did?" David asked, before climbing down the ladder now that the lamp was working properly. "From all I can tell I have no doubt that you will, Rosie." He said with a smile; and it was true, she was unusually talkative for her age. So both of the girls they'd taken in were that smart?

Rosie grinned at that, climbing onto her bed to reach her kinder egg bees, pulling one off, before she got off her bed again and walking over to David, "Here, for you!" she said with a smile, "Sherlock, John and I made it together."

David crouched down next to her and took the little egg-bee. "Thank you very much." He said and gave her a smile, putting it into his breast pocket. "I'll make sure to find a nice spot for it back at our home."

Rosie smiled happily, glad that David liked the bee, "Can we have dinner now? I'm so hungry!" she said and Sherlock smiled, "Of course, bee, David you want to eat with us?" he asked and wondered if he should find a way to let him know discreetly that Rosie and Charlie were vampires too. Probably that'd be better. "Rosie, how about you go downstairs already? I'll just help David putting the ladder away."

David frowned slightly, wondering why Sherlock was looking for an excuse to talk to him in private. Though there probably were a few things... his father, the children, or was this about that proposal thing? They hadn't already got married yet, had they? ... "Yes, Rosie, we'll come down in a minute." He told her.

Sherlock smiled after Rosie as she made her way downstairs, before he looked at David, waiting until he couldn't hear steps on the stairs anymore, before he started to speak, "Right, erm.. I just wanted tell you about something, it's about the girls, they're like Amy. Actually nearly all the kids in that orphanage are, I just wanted to let you know about it instead of just confronting you with them merrily drinking blood from colourful cups." he said and cleared his throat, "Also.. just like Amy, Rosie doesn't know, for her it's tomato juice, but Charlie knows, they have an actual class about it when they're her age." he said, wondering how David would take it. It probably couldn't be a too big shock, given they knew about Amy, but even he still struggled with the idea of child vampires, so someone who hasn't dealt with this thing for as long as he himself had would probably find it even weirder.

David looked at Sherlock a few seconds, before clearing his throat. "Right." Obviously there was a vampire orphanage. Sure, why not? Jesus, up until two years ago his life had been normal and now half his family consisted of vampires. "Okay. I'm not even going to ask too many questions." He said and rubbed his eyes. "We'll have to be careful Ally isn't going to end up drinking blood now with all the other children in the family." He said eventually.

Sherlock chuckled a little at that, "Yeah that could be a problem, thankfully she'd probably just spit it out, because it'd taste awful, but still not the preferred scenario, yeah." he said and tilted his head a little, looking at his to-be father in law, "And actually, no, you can ask questions, I mean, why wouldn't you, knowing about things make them less scary and mysterious." he said and frowned, "But I suppose there is a time and place for that, preferably not when a little girl that doesn't know about any of this could burst in any second. Can you take Emma aside for a second and let her know? Maybe John and Charlie already told her, but better make sure. Rosie already feels different because of her intellectual skills, she doesn't need another reason just yet."

"Yes, naturally I'll tell her." David nodded and sighed. "This is something I need to discuss with my son as well, but you made that decision together. You've been together for a month, now you have children, I'm surprised you aren't already.. engaged." David said and gave him a look. "John doesn't even have a proper job training, why in the world would you decide that now is the right time to adopt not one but two small girls?" He didn't even doubt that they were committed, but this was just.., Christ he didn't even know what this was, really. He had children himself and having them was a bigger responsibility than they apparently thought it was.

"Right, that.." Sherlock said and wondered if he could tell David, but suddenly realised, that if anybody, he was the person to tell, after all he had a very strong family sense and honour was very important to him as well, "Look, I can't go into the details about it just now, but.. we're not actually adopting them." he said and wasn't sure how he could explain that in short, "There is someone... a sort of network, really, who's been killing off people with highly gifted kids kill the parents, turning the kid and somehow making sure it's being sent into one of those orphanages, we assume their routine is that whenever an adopted child turns 18, they're being assigned a family to assault and a child to adopt and it very much looks like Rosie or Charlie could be the next kid to be adopted by that network, that's why John and I took them in, it's temporary, while we're figuring out why all of this happens and who's behind it, I am not letting either of them fall into the hands of organised murderers. So except a small circle of trustworthy people, it has to look to everyone like we're seriously intending to adopt them. I've explained this to the girls, although obviously, we didn't give Rosie the full story. And if you're as big on honour as you claim to be, you will keep this to yourself, or at the very least between Emma and you." he said, finishing his speech.

David listened quietly to what Sherlock was saying and didn't quite know what to say for a moment. "I like this answer much better than you two going off adopting children just like that." He said with a huff. "That being said, of course I'll keep it to myself. If something didn't tell me you're not making this all up, I'd have left this room a while ago." But Christ, Sherlock surely kept John busy; but John was no one for boredom anyway so maybe that's what he liked about him. "Do you have any other surprises in stock? I don't want to dread the next time I'll see you."

"No, we're not engaged yet and we'll tell you when we are, also we'll surely tell you if we get married before it happens, oh and I'm still not a girl, not planning to become one either, sorry about that." Sherlock said with a small smirk.

"I only wanted a single daughter-in-law anyway, I suppose." David gave a bit of a chuckle and shook his head. "And I'd say you telling us about major events in your lives could be called progress."

"Hey, I just want to make it known, that I was the one who pushed John to put the cards on the table." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Admittedly we could have chosen a better moment.. one with less .. you know.. Beth around, but if I had let that opportunity pass you wouldn't even know yet."

"The only thing I've respected about you from the beginning is your honesty, so I'm glad you told us. In general, if people don't like the truth, then that's their own problem. That's the way I see this." David said with a shrug. "But still, Emma's birthday celebration are still a bit too rare for my taste. You could just give us a ring when you, say, adopt children without warning." He said on a more serious note, raising an eyebrow. Now that he knew the reasons he very well knew they could've called them.

"We just wanted to keep a low profile, actually.." Sherlock said and frowned a little, "But I take your point, from now on, I promise we'll tell you about major events, such as adopting children. I'm sorry we didn't." he said genuinely and gave another small chuckle, "Well, I suppose we should go downstairs now, before John has another panic attack about us being alone for too long again." he said, remembering the time when John did that on Emma's birthday.

"Yes, I suppose you're right." David said and went to the door, remembering when John had waited in front of their bedroom for them. "What had that been about anyway?" He asked Sherlock with a frown. 

Hey; u alr8 up there? JW

"Not entirely unexpected.." Sherlock said and held up his phone for David to see John's message. "He was worried you'd end up murdering me and probably knowing there was a gun in reach didn't help with that." he said with a laugh, "To be honest though when John told me you have a gun in that room, I was a tiny bit nervous myself."

David chuckled at that. "That answer I hadn't expected. He doesn't seriously think I'd do that though, does he?" He asked, opening the door.

"I doubt it, but he's still quite nervous we'd get in a fight or something." Sherlock said and chuckled a little as he followed David out the room and down the stairs, "I suppose starting a huge family feud isn't an optimal scenario either."

"No, it certainly isn't." David agreed and walked into the living room, noticing that his son actually looked over to them slightly relieved. "Emma dear, could I just talk to you outside a second?" He asked as he walked over to his wife.

Sherlock gave John a smile as he walked back over to him, hoping it wasn't a step too far for David (or that they'd be lucky enough for David to miss it) as he pressed a small kiss to John's lips, "Don't worry, I'm still alive." he said and chuckled a little.

"You got my text then?" John asked with a bit of a smile after glancing over to his father who thankfully had his back turned on them (he didn't need any fights it anything today).

"Believe it or not, we actually joked a bit upstairs." Sherlock said and smirked, "I think he's making progress.. I mean.. I joked about still not being a girl and not intending to be one and he told me he only wanted one daughter in law anyway." he said and grinned.

"Are you sure I don't need to get you to the next stroke unit, love?" John said half-jokingly and looked at him disbelievingly. This was his father they were talking about after all.

"Funny." Sherlock said with a laugh, "I actually just delayed him a little to let him know about Charlie and Rosie's diet." Sherlock said and smiled as Rosie asked, "What's a diet?"

"Erm, it's what you guys eat. You know, every child has different needs so it's good for my parents to know what you can and can't eat in case they spend an afternoon with you sometime." John explained, having almost forgotten she was practically omnipresent. And hey, he hadn't even lied or anything.

"Oh.." Rosie said and smiled, satisfied with that answer, before looking at Emma and frowning, "I'll get a bee for Emma too!" she chirped before she ran back towards the stairs, "Rosie!" Sherlock called after her, "Don't run on the stairs!" he added and smiled as she slowed down.

"You're a right dad, you know that?" John chuckled and gave Sherlock a smile. In moments like these it was hard to imagine the girls hadn't been living with them for years already. Meanwhile Charlie had got out her very own guitar (Thanks Sherlock!!) and was trying to play the tune Lowell had just taught her a few days ago; no offence, but this was way more fun than the violin. Now that there actually were new people around for once, she couldn't help showing off just a little bit.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "It's dangerous, okay?" he said in mock defence, somehow he didn't mind being called a dad, "I told David about the ... well about all of it, by the way." he said, "That's why I delayed him upstairs. I also told him about why we took the girls in." he said, while Emma walked over to Charlie, smiling at her, she had figured something like what David had just told her about the girls when Rosie had mentioned that she'd have tomato juice with her dinner, so it didn't come entirely unexpected, "You play the guitar?"

Charlie looked up at Emma and gave her a smile. "Yeah, I'm trying to. Sherlock's got a friend who's begun teaching me a week ago." She told her eagerly. "He's very talented and he said I could be a his long-term student." She said with a smile. John raised an eyebrow and glanced over at his father who was looking at the living room a bit more closely by the looks of it. "And he still made a joke? That's, well, unexpected. Though, I should probably still talk to him while he's here." John said.

"Sounds like a reasonable idea." Sherlock said with a smile and gave John a soft push towards his father, not bothering to be subtle about it, wouldn't hurt the Watson men to realise that they needed a push sometimes, all of them, really.

With that push John made a step towards his father to pull him aside. "Erm, Dad? Could we maybe talk a moment? It's nothing important, just, you know, wanted to catch up a little." He said with a bit of a shrug, because really, the last time he'd seen him hadn't ended too well. And they'd only had a single phone call in between. "Yes, let's do that. I'd like to hear how things are going right now." David said and walked with John into the kitchen.

Sherlock smiled a little when the two started talking, before he walked over to Emma and Charlie, "You're a little show off, you know that?" Sherlock asked with a chuckle, shaking his head a little, "But she is really good, I've tried the guitar once, but I couldn't make heads or tails of it." Emma chuckled.

Charlie couldn't really keep that big smile off her face. "Thanks." She told Emma, before telling Sherlock a bit cheekily. "And I'm learning from the master after all."

"The master, huh?" Sherlock asked with a smirk, "Ah.." Emma said with a little chuckle, "I think we both had the same reason to start guitar lessons.." she said and laughed again, "You know who taught me?" she said and smiled, "He's over there talking to our son." she said with a wink, which made Sherlock laugh again.

"David can play the guitar?" Charlie asked with a chuckle, before adding. "How did that happen then? Did you ask him out after listening to his music?" Though what she was actually thinking was probably closer to oh-my-god-this-could-actually-work-out-for-me??

"Well.. actually he tried to impress me with bragging about his guitar skills... so I wanted to impress him by being really interested into playing the guitar... I wasn't though." Emma chuckled and rolled her eyes about herself, "Anyway, I found out at some point that he couldn't actually play the guitar... he bought a guitar and spend hours on learning a few chords which he then taught me until he finally gathered the courage to ask me out.. the lessons just sort of stopped then and he told me a while after we were engaged that he couldn't actually play the guitar.. and I admitted that I never really cared about the guitar.." she said and laughed. "Wait, neither of you were interested and or could play the guitar?" Sherlock asked and Emma laughed, "Not one bit, no."

Charlie began to chuckle at the reveal of Emma's story. "Really? I wouldn't have thought he was a very romantic guy." She admitted with a smile after glancing over at him in the kitchen.

"Oh, he is." Emma said with a smile, "He wouldn't ever admit it, not even at gunpoint, but he is a big romantic sod." she chuckled and Sherlock raised a brow at that, finding it a bit hard to believe.

"You two seem like the perfect fit when you talk about him like that." Charlie said with a smile. Emma seemed genuinely nice (though then again, she'd brought up John, so what else had she been expecting?) And from all she could tell David must've been like her, if she liked him that much. It felt amazing to know they'd come here just to see her and Rosie ...- speaking of which, why wasn't she downstairs with them? "Rosie isn't lying around power-napping in some corner, is she?" She asked Sherlock suddenly, since he always knew where everyone else was. (Or was going to be in a few days time even, which was both very impressive and a bit intimating)

Sherlock's face grew serious in an instant as Charlie remarked that Rosie hadn't come back downstairs yet, "I.. she went upstairs..." he mumbled with a deep frown, before he rushed through the living room towards the stairs.


	61. As White As A Sheet

John frowned when he saw Sherlock run upstairs to the girls' rooms.. He wouldn't be rushing upstairs that fast, if it wasn't about the girls, he thought, not thinking twice about leaving his father in the kitchen to follow behind.

When Sherlock reached Rosie room, it was a wonder he didn't pull the door out of the frame a he opened it, nearly collapsing in relief as he spotted Rosie happily jumping on her bed. "Oh thank god.." he mumbled and took a deep breath to steady himself, "Honeybee, what.. what are you doing? Why didn't you come back downstairs?" he asked, trying to sound calm, "Well, I was trying to reach the bees because I wanted to give one to Emma as well and when I couldn't reach it I tried to jump to reach it and .. it was really fun!" she chuckled.

John came in a second later looked at the two in front of them. "What's going on, is everyone alright?" He asked, before looking at Sherlock, who was white as a sheet.

"Yeah, it's all good.. just Rosie just wanted to go and get a kinder egg bee from upstairs for your mother and when she didn't come back down I ... I was just wondering what she was doing." Sherlock said, which roughly translated to 'I was terrified I might have failed protecting her and she was already in the clutches of organised crime'. "But she was just.. jumping on the bed.." he said with a stress-chuckle.

"Oh- that's good." John gave Sherlock's hand a squeeze and let out a slow breath, understanding fully well Sherlock's subtext. "Here let's help you with that. My parents have come especially to see you, so we should make the most of their visit." He told her with a smile, trying to calm his pulse, before picking her up so she could reach her bees. "And... there she flies."

Sherlock chuckled again, once more as a stress relief, the worst part about this was that he hadn't noticed. He /hadn't noticed/ that Rosie hadn't come back downstairs, that part was hard to forgive himself for and silently vowed he'd never - /never/ - let anything distract him so much that he wouldn't make sure both girls are safe.

"And there we are." John said, as he set her down again. "How about you give your bee to my mum and Sherlock and I follow behind in a minute, hm? I bet she'll be chuffed." He suggested, since he needed to talk to Sherlock in private right now.

"Okay! Thank you!" Rosie chirped and ran over to the stairs, "No running." Sherlock automatically called after her, but not actually moving otherwise.

John sighed and closed the door once Rosie was downstairs, before going back to Sherlock and looking at him for a few seconds. He'd jumped up out almost out if nowhere downstairs, so he must've suddenly realised Rosie was still upstairs. Did he feel guilty? "Okay, what's going inside your head, Sher? I know you, but I'm not a mind reader." He said, coming to stand in front of his, by the looks of it paralysed, boyfriend.

"What's going on is that Charlie noticed Rosie wasn't around, not me." Sherlock said and frowned again, "I didn't notice. /Me/. " he said, starting to shake his head, "I can't let that happen again."

"Not being aware of where they are at all times; or at least more than six, you mean?" John asked him after a moment.

"At all times. Yes, that's what I mean and that's what it's ought to be like, otherwise, what use does all of this have anyway, if we don't have an eye on them every waking moment, preferably even when we're asleep is the point of all of this." Sherlock rambled.

"Okay, I want you to stop talking right now and take a deep breath with me." John said after a moment and laid his hand on Sherlock's shoulder. "That just then was legitimately scary and you have every right to feel panicked, yeah? Nothing has happened though and I want you to know that I'm not blaming you for anything, okay? We can't expect to be able to literally watch over them 24/7, because that's not how this works."

"Still I should have noticed.." Sherlock said with a sigh, resting his forehead against John's. "Especially with Rosie, Charlie can more or less help herself, most of the time anyway, but Rosie couldn't.."

"I know, but Charlie ended up noticing it after a handful of minutes and who says you wouldn't have a few minutes later?" John asked and ran his hand down Sherlock's arm. "Look, we don't see them for literal hours when we're asleep, but that doesn’t mean we can all start sleeping together in the living room from now on either."

"Actually that would be.." Sherlock began and noticed John's expression, "I mean.. obviously that would be a terrible, terrible idea." he said and chuckled a little, leaning over to peck his lips.

"You bet it would. I need some alone time with you.." John murmured and ran a hand through Sherlock's curls, before pulling him into a proper kiss now that it was finally just them in a room.

Sherlock chuckled a little against John's lips, moving his arms around his waist to pull him closer against himself, sighing into the kiss. This was actually helping a lot more than John's words to relax him.

John hummed a bit, glad to see Sherlock wasn't as tense anymore, which was why he didn't immediately pick up the fact that someone had just opened the door. David stood there (admittedly a bit shocked) for a second, before clearing his throat.

It took Sherlock a moment to register that sound, but when he did, he pulled back, looking at David, "Oh.. erm... I'm sor..." he began, cutting himself off, he didn't have to apologise, actually. This was his home and he'd been honest with David from the start, no need to change that now. "Actually, no, I'm not sorry." he said with a hesitant smile.

John spun around in an instant, before looking quite confused when his father shook his head slightly and said. "No, course not, that's your right, I suppose. I would've knocked, but the girls and I thought something was wrong with you two running upstairs like that."

"Er.. yeah, I was a little.. well truth is, I was panicking because Rosie hadn't come back downstairs and thought.. well I told you about the situation with them.. I just thought something was wrong, but she just got delayed jumping on the bed.." Sherlock said and frowned a little, "Can I ask you something?" he asked after a moment of thought, "Does that ever go away again? I mean.. all that worrying.. constantly.. is that.. normal?" he asked, David would know, wouldn't he? He was a father after all.

"Well, you're in a different situation than Emma and me, but yes, parents worry. More than you'd probably expect." David said with a sigh. "And it seems to get only worse with age. Consider yourself lucky you are not looking after teenagers who want to discover the London nightlife..." He teased John with a knowing look, which made him feel slightly awkward since he'd been a teenager literally a year ago. "But no, 28 years into fatherhood and that hasn't stopped. Unfortunately though, 'caring for them' isn't the same as 'taking care of them' unless you've got young children, but figuring that out is not an issue you'll have to deal with any time soon." David said and John listened quietly, not having heard one of those lectures in a while. "Anyway, I'm going downstairs."

"David.." Sherlock said and gave him a proper smile now, "Thank you.." he said and cleared his throat, "I guess we should be going back downstairs as well." he said, looking at John.

"Yeah, we're coming with you, Dad." John said after a moment before stepping towards the door and waiting for Sherlock; he didn't really know what the hell was going on with his father but he didn't dare to question it. Still in 'hiding-mode', however, he didn't even think of taking Sherlock's hand in that moment. "Good, because I think Charlie was a bit worried when you dashed off." He said, before turning to go down the stairs.

"Yeah, I should probably go and talk to her." Sherlock said, taking John's hand without even thinking about it. After what just happened, holding hands didn't seem like a big deal anymore.

Giving Sherlock's hand as always a short squeeze, John went downstairs and turned to Sherlock again. "By the way, what were you talking about with Charlie and mum? It sounded like we were missing out." he said with a chuckle,

"Oh, she was telling us the story about she and your dad got to know each other." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Faking guitar lessons and faking to be interested in guitar lessons." he said and smiled.

"Oh yeah, that's a great story." John chuckled as he went into the living room. "Speaking of which, is Charlie still playing the guitar?" He asked, before walking into the living room. And in fact she was still sitting there with the instrument on her lap; at least until she spotted them, at which point she put down the guitar to jump up. She was relieved when she saw they were all calm and relaxed; no danger then.

"Charlie, you want to help me making dinner?" Sherlock asked with a smile, really wanting to apologise to her, he hadn't wanted to worry her.

"Yeah, sure." She smiled and went over to him. She still wasn't sure if she found Sherlock's alertness rather reassuring or unsettling; though, those people were out there either way if she was reminded of them or not, so his ignoring them would only do harm. Looking at it like that, she decided she should go with the former. "What are we making? Sandwiches half-half?"

"I was actually thinking making some spaghetti and a quick sauce." Sherlock said with a smile, walking into the kitchen, figuring Charlie would follow. "Yay! I love spaghetti!" Rosie chirped from the living room, which made Sherlock chuckle a little.

"Yeah, sounds great." Charlie smiled and followed Sherlock into the kitchen. "Can we make a Basil pesto with juice on the side?" She asked him, since that was her favourite; especially now that she got to help out in the kitchen.

Sherlock smiled at her when they were both in the kitchen, "Yeah, sure we can." he said and cleared his throat, "Sorry about before, by the way, I didn't mean to worry you I was just.. panicking a little because Rosie was upstairs so long.. it scared me that I didn't notice she hadn't come back, you know." he said and gave a small shrug.

"It's okay, I figured something like that; you did look a bit surprised when I told you. I actually felt kinda bad that I didn't even even think of the possibility of something happening upstairs. I thought Rosie was just playing or eavesdropping." She admitted after a moment.

"You don't have to feel bad, it's not your job to look after Rosie.. at least not when John and I are around.." Sherlock said and nudged her shoulder with his own, "Interestingly, I've been told that I don't have to feel bad about it too.. doesn't make one feel much better, does it?"

"No, not really." Charlie agreed a sigh. "But it's a nice gesture, I guess. And still better than being told you should feel bad; at least a lot of the time." She said and gave him a bit of a smile; it was always nice to be able to talk to him.

"How about an agreement instead of soothing words though." Sherlock said as he got out everything they needed for the pesto, "We both stop beating ourselves up over it and use that energy to work on being a little more attentive? How does that sound?"

"Okay, agreed. I like that better." Charlie nodded, before climbing onto the worktop to get out the pasta from the top drawer. "How does John feel about all of this anyway?" She asked him agree a moment.

"Well.. he told me I can't hover over you two 24/7..." Sherlock said and frowned, "Which is true, I guess." he said with a frown, "It's just hard.. I mean.. I don't think I could bear it if something would happen to either of you.." he mumbled, "No matter if it's my fault or not.."

Charlie was quiet for a while, before eventually sitting down on the worktop. "I mean obviously I am very thankful to hear that you care about us that much. Just.. if something should happen, I don't know, life's just shit sometimes. I mean, do look for us, obviously. But if there really is nothing to be done about it.." She shrugged slightly. "Life would just go on either way, so of course you could get over it. You didn't have to take us in in the first place, so it wouldn't be fair if it upset you that much."

"Trust me, John and I wouldn't stop looking for you even if there was nothing to be done about it." Sherlock said sternly, "If there was nothing to be done about it, we would keep trying to find something to do about it. So .. if you should get taken away, despite all our precautions, don't you ever start believing we've stopped looking for you and moved on, no matter what anyone tells you, unless you know for a fact that everyone in this family is dead, there will be people looking for you."

Charlie looked down for a while and nodded quietly, before sliding off the worktop. After a moment, she went over to Sherlock a little hesitantly and swallowed thickly. "Is that really true?"

"Yes, even if most of them don't know you that well yet, they know you mean a lot to John and me and once they all get to know you, they will look for you, because you mean a lot to them as well, you two have completely won over John's parents already, just like Lowell, my mother.. and I'm sure John's sister and her wife, who happens to my cousin, long story, they will love you too." Sherlock said and gave her a sincere smile, "I know it's kind of difficult to get used to that idea, but you're not alone anymore.. you might not have a normal, or the perfect family, but it is a family.."

Charlie glanced over at the living room where the others were sitting, before burying her face in Sherlock's shirt so he wouldn't see her quavering lip. She couldn't remember ever feeling this at home or this loved anywhere else. "Thank you." She whispered into his chest and held tightly onto him.

Sherlock smiled softly, wrapping his arms around her and holding her for a while, "You're very welcome, Miss Marple." he said softly and gently rubbed her back.

Charlie smiled a bit into Sherlock's shirt and left a small wet spot on it. After a while, pulled back and let go of him to rub her eyes. "Okay, on to the pesto." She said and looked up to give him a smile.

"Alright." Sherlock said and looked at her, "You're the chef, I'm your minion, what do you want me to do?" he asked with a small chuckle.

David watched Rosie doing her ballet routine with a smile on his face. That little girl was just too sweet for words. "That looks brilliant. It's incredible how graceful you already are."

"Thanks!" Rosie chirped, finishing a move, "Now you David! I can show you how it works! It's not that hard!" she said and grinned at John's father.

John chuckled a bit and nodded, giving his mother an amused look. "Yeah, Dad. Come on. I've tried it as well." He said, though his father didn't look to eager.

"It's really easy! Look!" Rosie chirped and made a pirouette, holding her arms up above her head, "Come on, darling, you did for Harry, you can do it for Rosie too." Emma said and chuckled a little, giving her husband a light push forward.

David still didn't look over the moon, but stood up and walked over to Rosie. "There we go then." David said, before playing along and turning ungracefully on one foot. "How was that for a start?" He asked her, looking as if he wanted her advice.

Rosie shook her head, "No like this!" she said and lifted her arms up, waiting for David to do the same, while Emma snickered to herself, "It's called a pirouette, you know that?" she asked, giving David a big smile.

John gave his mum a cheeky grin, but had the tact not to take pictures with his mobile right away. Meanwhile, David mimicked her position and tried it again (because how could he refuse to?). "No, I had no idea. Am I doing it better now?"

"Yeah much better." Rosie chirped happily twirling around again, "Love don't look like that, we all know you're enjoying it." Emma chuckled, "He really does, you know." she said quietly, looking at John.

"Are you serious?" John asked her quietly, but couldn't help a chuckle, before sneaking his mobile out of his bag pocket. David rolled his eyes and continued to twirl next to Rosie now that he knew she was having fun; and so was he to be honest.

Emma snickered, "Maybe he doesn't like ballet too much, but he's having fun when he can make kids happy.." she said and looked back at her husband, "That's the man I fell in love with, you know.. not the grumpy stubborn git he turned into the last years after Harry came out.. I've actually had my doubts about our marriage lately, but since you're with Sherlock and especially since he's seen Richard again.. he's more relaxed and.. happier.. I really didn't think you being with a man would be what it takes but.." she chuckled, giving a small shrug.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have thought we'd have many family moments like this. Still can't believe how lucky I got with." He was in his and his almost-fiancé's flat, watching with his mum how his father danced with his foster daughter with no arguments inside. Without Sherlock he wouldn't have any of that. 

{Image attached} Live from our living room. JW

Sherlock chuckled as he looked at his phone after stirring the spaghetti, holding the phone out to Charlie, "I don't know about you, but I want to see that." he said and looked at the stove, the noodles would take a moment longer until they were ready and the pesto was almost finished too.

Charlie grinned when she saw the picture. "Me too." She chuckled and walked over to the living room, expecting Sherlock to follow. David really was pretty cool, she thought as she sat down next to John and leaned into his side.

Sherlock followed with a smile, sitting down between Emma and John, wrapping his arm around him, "How exactly did that happen?" he asked quietly and watched David and Rosie with a smile.

"A combination of Rosie's smile and peer pressure, I think." John leaned against Sherlock and pulled Charlie a bit closer to himself. Meanwhile, David stopped for a moment and tapped on Rosie's shoulder to get her attention. "I think our audience might be growing." He whispered with a chuckle, figuring she'd like everyone together in the living room to watch her.

"We need music!" Rosie chuckled and looked around, before spotting Sherlock's violin and walking over to hand it to Sherlock, "Can you play let it go again, Lock?" she asked and Sherlock smiled again, "Sure, little bee." he said and stood up so he wouldn't be hitting anyone with his arm or the bow, before he started to play.

John gave his mum a grin, before looking over to Charlie who was cuddled against his side David chuckled and continued to twirl around with Rosie, enjoying the quality time with her.

"Emma, John, Charlie, you have to dance too!" Rosie chirped and walked over to John, taking his hands and trying to tug him off the sofa.

John chuckled and let himself be pulled along by Rosie, before joining in. Charlie was obviously quick to follow too and took Emma's hand to get her to the middle of the room.

Emma laughed as Charlie pulled her along, dancing along with all of them until Sherlock let the song fade out, "Not that I want to ruin the mood, but I need to check on our dinner," he said as he put his violin aside. The spaghetti should be ready by now and as much as he had enjoyed this, he didn't want them to have to eat over cooked spaghetti.

Charlie took Rosie's hand and twirled her around one last time, before falling comedically on her bum and acted as if she was too exhausted to get up. John peeked into the kitchen. "It already smells good. What have you made?"

"Charlie made her favourite pesto, all the credit goes to her, I just helped." Sherlock said and smiled at Charlie, before walking into the kitchen to take care of the spaghetti.

"That smells delicious Charlie, very well done." David told her which made her grin. "Thanks David. I'll just help Sherlock get everything on the table." She said and followed him to quickly lay the table with him.

Sherlock smiled at her, "Thanks." he said, getting out plates, before he started to fill them. "Can you get cutlery and glasses?"

"Yeah, sure. We're six, aren't we?" Charlie double-checked as she began to get some spoons and forks for them all, while the others looked at the slightly too small kitchen table. "I think we're eating in the living room today." John said with a chuckle and turned to go back to the sofa.

"Yeah.. that sounds reasona.." Sherlock began was cut off by Rosie, pulling herself up at the counter so she could look at the filled plates, "Ewww... why have you put spinach on the spaghetti?" she asked, scrunching up her nose as she looked around for someone to explain this grotesque action (at least that was what it was to her, if her expression was anything to go by) to her.

Charlie came over to her and frowned as Rosie insulted her food, before chuckling when she got what was wrong. "Okay, first of all, what's wrong with spinach? And second of all, that's basil pesto. Here, if you smell your plate, you'll see it's very different." She explained and handed her carefully the smallest plate.

"It really doesn't taste like spinach?" Rosie asked and scrunched up her nose again, "Because spinach is icky!" she said and Sherlock chuckled, taking a table spoon and holding it out for her to taste the sauce after dipping it into the pesto, "Here, at least try it, if you really don't like it, you can have ketchup." he said and watched Rosie lick the pesto off the spoon. Rosie frowned, obviously concentrating hard on the taste, before smiling, "It's tasty!" she said eventually.

"Thanks, I'm glad you like it." Charlie smiled, before carrying the cutlery to the table in the living room.

Sherlock smiled as Rosie followed Charlie with her plate, carefully placing it on the table, while Sherlock finished the last plate, before he started to get out cups and filling the cups for the girls and his own glass first.

John got the three glasses for his parents and himself and carries them with a bottle of water to the table, while Charlie got the missing plates.

The dinner passed as peaceful as the entire afternoon had been, they kept chatting a while after dinner until Emma eventually looked at her watch, "Oh dear.." she said and chuckled a little, "It's eight already?" she asked no one in particular, "It is?" Sherlock asked, looking at his own watch, before glancing at Rosie, who seemed to struggle to keep her eyes open already, even though she probably wouldn't admit it, "I think certain people should go to bed.." he said and chuckled softy.

"I think that's our queue, dear." David said to his wife and gave Rosie a smile, before getting to his feet. He was no fan of unnecessarily dragged out goodbyes. "Thank you for a lovely afternoon. It has been very nice to meet you girls." He said and looked over to Sherlock and John. "It was good to catch up with you again."

Sherlock smiled at that, "Yeah, it really was. And.. my promise stands, we'll get in touch more often." he said as he lifted Rosie up from the sofa, settling her on the side of his hip, where she rested her head against his shoulder, "David, Emma? Can you come to my birthday?" she asked tiredly and Sherlock chuckled, "Your birthday is next year, bumble bee." he said and smiled, "Yeah, I know.. but I want them to come!" she said and smiled.

"Of course, we're coming. When exactly is your birthday then?" David asked though he looked at both the tired girl and her carrier, since she was just four.

"It's on march first!" Rosie said and smiled, "And I was born in 2013!" she added with a grin, "Well then mark that in your calendar, just like July 27th which is Charlie's birthday." Sherlock said with a smile.

Charlie smiled a bit at that and David got out his phone to write it down in his calendar App. "Okay, so march 1st and July 27th... now while I'm at it, when's yours?" He asked Sherlock and looked up.

"Uh.. January 6th.." Sherlock said and was a little surprised David actually cared about it, glancing at John with a little smile. It really seemed like his relationship with John's father was on a good way.

"Alright, that's noted then. Have a good night." David said and went on to give his new granddaughter, his son and his son's boyfriend a warm hug. "Goodbye everyone"

Sherlock was a little startled at the hug, but returned it automatically, "See you soon." Emma said and hugged them all as well.

After they were gone Rosie went to bed fairly quickly after that and Charlie too was in reading her room one or two hours later. Now that the flat was unusually quiet and they were all lying in their beds, John turned to look at Sherlock. "Now, today was unexpected, wasn't it?"

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah.." he said and rolled on his side to face John, shuffling closer and wrapping his arm around him, "Unexpectedly pleasant too, though.. David seemed.. much more at ease.." he said and chuckled, "Which was especially apparent when he walked in on us kissing.."

"To be fair, I don't think he's very much at ease when literally anyone is kissing." John chuckled and let out a sigh. "You've no idea how glad I am that he's.. I don't know, changing? Seems wrong, because he actually used to be this way when I was a child."

"Well, I sure like him better like that." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Although you seem to struggle getting used to it." he said and grinned at his boyfriend, "You looked positively terrified when he walked in on us."

"You know this whole Harry-Clara debacle happened during my teens, so you can imagine I thought I had a pretty good grasp of his view on being gay." John sighed. "Remember mum's birthday? I was very surprised how well that had gone, not how uptight dad had been... Mum actually talked about that to me while you were in the kitchen.”

"You mean while Rosie taught David some moves?" Sherlock asked with a chuckle, "I still find it hard to believe that happened." he said, wrapping his leg around John to suck up more of his warmth, it was a little cold in their bedroom.

"Yeah, same. I mean, he did do that with Harry, according to mum, but I can't remember much of that with her being 27." John said and ran his hand through Sherlock's hair. "But anyway, yeah then. Apparently mum was already considering a divorce because he'd become so... grumpy? I don't know." He said and looked from Sherlock's hair to his eyes.

"Oh..." Sherlock said and frowned a little, "But.. she doesn't anymore right? I mean.. anyone can see they're still head over heels for each other.. the way they look at each other sometimes.." Sherlock said and sighed, "It'd be sad if they'd break apart over something like that."

"You mean over my father's personality?" John asked and shook his head slightly with a huff. "Sorry, it's just strange. But no, she said she doesn't. After having to come to terms with us and Richard he's become nicer again, she says."

"I meant over the sexualities of their kids." Sherlock said and shrugged lightly, "I really do think that Rich had the bigger effect on him, though.. I mean, he is his father after all. It's got a completely different magnitude to hear from your father that it's no big deal, rather than your wife, or whoever."

"Yeah, probably. I can't believe that that's all because of you though." John commented. "You know, Richard is nothing like I thought he was. I mean, I thought I had a fairly good grasp on his personality after all the stories... It's strange that that really just was my Dad's idealised version of him from when he was eight."

Sherlock chuckled a little at that, "It's not just because of me, Richard would have found a way to get in touch with David somehow." he said and rested his head on John's chest, "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have stayed away forever."

"I'm still glad we don't have to find that out." John said and began to massage Sherlock's head a bit with his one hand, now that it was within reach like that.

Sherlock nearly purred, feeling John's fingers in his hair, "Me too." he murmured, tilting his head a little to look up at him, "I think we might after all get a big happy family." he said with a smile, "Certainly seemed like it today.. honestly, though, when your parents stood in front of the door, I thought it was a major catastrophe at first, with how the living room looked, the girls they didn't know about.."

"Yeah, I don't know which way to find out about them would've been worse." John said and shook his head. "But yeah, today was brilliant. I'd just like to forget sometimes that we're not keeping the girls here with us forever."

"Yeah, me too.." Sherlock said and sighed a little, "But they'll still be part of our lives, so we won't be losing them.." he said and leant up to peck John's lips.

"Yeah, I'm glad you're right with that." John said and kissed Sherlock back. "I'm also glad the people in our lives have got used to our kissing." He smiled a bit, figuring that was a nicer topic just before going to sleep.

"Oh yes, that's one thing I'm very grateful for too." Sherlock said and pecked John's lips again, "Although maybe we should keep avoiding snogging in front of your parents as much as we can." he said and chuckled.

"You think? Maybe exposure therapy is exactly what Dad needs." John joked with a chuckle.

"Possible, but I'd still rather keep those moments just for the two of us." Sherlock said and rolled on top of John, so he could reach his lips better.

"Convincing argument." John said and pulled him into another kiss, gripping his boyfriend's arse with his free hand. "I love you so much." He murmured.

"I love you too." Sherlock murmured against John's lips, "You know what other things I'd like to keep just for the two of us?" he asked, slipping a hand underneath John's pyjama top, just before the door opened and a sniffling Rosie stood walked into the room, "Lock.. John.. can I sleep in your bed tonight? I had a really bad dream, there were a lot of spiders and they all wanted to bite me.." she said, holding her large stuffed bee tightly in her arms. "Oh.." Sherlock said and gave her a smile, rolling off of John, "Of course you can, little bee," he said and patted the mattress between them, "Come here.." he said, watching her smile a little and walking over and climbing onto the bed.

"I'm sorry you've had a bad dream." John said, before pulling the blanket over them all. "Would you like some hot milk with honey to help you fall asleep?"

Nodding, Rosie slipped so far under the blanket that only her eyes and her bee's head peeked out, "Can I have cocoa though?" she asked and blinked up at John with tired eyes.

"Sure, one mug of warm cocoa coming right up." John told her with a warm smile, wondering if she'd already have fallen asleep by the time he came back. "Do you want anything too?" He asked Sherlock, as he slid out of bed.

Sherlock shook his head, "Hm.. yes," he said and grabbed the front of John's shirt to pull him down, stealing another small kiss, "That'd be all thank you." he said and chuckled, "Make quick work of that cocoa though."

"I'll try and make it in under three minutes." John said with a smile, before leaving the room and walking into the kitchen that was thankfully right there in front of the bedroom. With a sigh he gathered milk, cocoa powder and a mug... shame, he'd been quite horny. Though, probably better this way than her catching them in the act a few minutes later; okay, they seriously needed to teach her to knock first before entering their bedroom.

Sherlock smiled as Rosie cuddled up to him, "Loock, do you think there are that big spiders in real life, because they were really big, like dogs!" she asked while Sherlock wrapped his arm around her, "No, I don't think so, bee. Just try to forget about them, let's talk about bees instead, imagine how much fun it would be if there were huge bees you could ride on? You could fly with them." he said and Rosie chuckled a little, "That would be really fun! Can I imagine bumblebees instead? Because they're fluffier." she said and Sherlock smiled, "Sure you can."

Having kept an eye on the clock, John got the mug out of the microwave about two minutes later and returned quietly to their bedroom, in case Rosie had fallen asleep in the last three minutes.

"..and then we can all fly together on our bees!" Rosie finished and chuckled a little, looking up with a smile, "John, Lock and I just imagined we're all flying on our bumble bees! That would be better than cars, because huge bees wouldn't be as dirty as cars and they could make a lot more honey, but they would need hives as big as houses!" she snickered.

"Ah, sounds pretty nice actually." John chuckled and climbed back into bed, careful not to spill anything. "And there you go. Is the temperature alright?" He asked her as he handed her the mug, though he kept a hand on it until she took it with both hands.

Rosie nodded happily, grabbing the mug and nipping at it quietly for a while, before she looked at Sherlock, "Are you sure there aren't spiders that big?" Rosie asked and Sherlock nodded, "Absolutely." he said and smiled at her, "Okay.. then I think Bee and I can go back upstairs." she said, handing John the empty cup and starting to climb off the bed, "Are you sure, honeybee?" he asked and Rosie nodded, "Uh huh." she said with a nod and Sherlock frowned a little, "You know you can come back downstairs if you change your mind, yeah?" he asked and Rosie nodded, "But if they aren't real then I don't have to be afraid of them, right?" she asked and Sherlock nodded, "Right.." he said and watched her trod off.

"Erm and Rosie? Please knock on the door before you come in here, okay?" John told her before she could leave, though he'd probably have to tell her once she was actually awake. "You don't have to wait until we say something, in case we're fast asleep, just knock first and count to three before you come in, please."

"Okay!" Rosie said before she closed the door behind herself and made her way back upstairs, "What are the chances she'll come back downstairs in a moment?" Sherlock asked, turning to John.

"You make it sound like I'm a statistician with several children." John deadpanned, before adding. "More importantly though, do you think she'd remember to knock in that case?"

"I suppose..." Sherlock said and smirked at John, "Any specific reason, you're so eager for her to learn to knock?" he asked with a cheeky grin.

"Mmh, would you like me to show you?" John asked with a chuckle and rolled himself on top of Sherlock to smirk down at him.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "I think you have to because I really don't know what you mean.." he said innocently, resting his hands on John's hips.

"Oh, don't you?.." John asked him with a chuckle and ran a hand over the smooth skin under Sherlock's shirt, before leaning down to kiss him.

"I think I'm slowly getting the idea." Sherlock said with a smirk and looked up at him, "Serious question though, how do you want it, I mean.. should I bite you again, or not?"

"That really only depends on whether you can remember how loud I was when you did the last time." John chuckled, though he really wanted to avoid the girls hearing them at all cost. "I still can't believe there's a way to make having sex with you even more addictive." He murmured and sucked softly on Sherlock's neck.

"Hm.. perhaps no biting tonight then.." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Because you were.. rather loud." he said with a smirk.

John chuckled. "Bloody shame that. I think you've almost ruined me for regular sex. Consider yourself lucky you're so handsome." He said with a smirk and leaned down to kiss him once more.

"Oh if you're not interested in normal sex anymore, I suppose I'd just grab a book then and read for a while, good night.." Sherlock teased, pretending to reach for that book on his night stand.

"Oh, come on, don't be like that, I've said 'almost'." John complained, before adding. "You're bloody gorgeous and I'd give anything for uninterrupted sex with you right now."

Sherlock chuckled a little, "You really think I'd read while you're right in on top of me?" he asked and smirked at John, before moving his arms back around his neck.

"Not really, but I've no idea how long you were planning to tease me." He said and leaned in closer. "And right now I'm an impatient man."

"Yeah..." Sherlock said and chuckled, shuffling a little under John's body that pressed against him, "I can feel that." he smirked, moving to roll them over and rolling on top of John without warning, "Then I probably better not let you wait much longer..."


	62. A Little Pre-Christmas Snippet

"It tickles!" Rosie chirped as Charlie swiped the brush along her naked feet, lying on her back with her trouser legs hitched up and her feet up in the air and wiggling her toes, "Can I put my feet on the paper yet?" she asked excitedly, she had never made footprints of herself before!

"Almost, I just need to get some more paint onto those wriggly toes." She chuckled, putting the brush away after a moment. "Okay, there we go." She said and put the sheet of paper under Rosie's feet.

"Now?" Rosie asked happily, trying to peek around her own legs, "I can't see the paper!" she said and leant up a little more.

"Here, just slide slowly off the bed." Charlie said and guided her feet onto the paper; they obviously hadn't told Sherlock and John about Rosie's present and since green foot prints on the carpet were only going to make them ask questions, they were probably best avoided in the first place.

"Okay!" Rosie said and grinned when her feet met the paper, "How long to I have to keep them on the paper?" she asked and looked down at her feet now that she was mostly sitting she could finally see them.

"Just a few seconds, this is only finger paint after all." Charlie smiled, before nodding. "Okay, I think that's long enough, don't step on the ground." Charlie said and lifted her back on the bed. "Now we only have to get your feet clean again."

"Can I make footprints on the wall?" Rosie asked and grinned, "It would be really pretty!" she chirped.

"Erm... but that way John and Sherlock wouldn't be as surprised by your 'mistletoes' poster, don't you think?" Charlie asked, though it was really quite tempting to just let her do it.

"Oh.. that's right..." Rosie said and pursed her lips a little as she thought, "Okay.. lets wash the paint off.." she said, just a little disappointed about it, but her Christmas gift for Sherlock and John was much more important and she wanted it to be a surprise!

"Okay, erm... it's either a very careful piggy back ride downstairs into the bathroom or I just get a bucket with water up here and you stay put." Charlie said and looked down at the picture; with only two more days to go until Christmas Eve she should probably start working on her own presents... Oh well, she still had two whole nights and some ideas.

"Piggy back ride!" Rosie chirped and stood up on the bed like she usually did when Charlie gave her a piggy back, since it was easier to get onto her back like that, completely forgetting about the paint on her feet.

Charlie bit her lip when Rosie ruined her sheets, but figured she could surely get the stains out herself somehow. "Okay, be careful not to get your feet onto my clothes too, yeah?" She said, before standing next to the bed so Rosie could climb onto her back

"Oh okay.. Sorry." Rosie said and frowned, "Wait, I have an idea!" she said and reached for the stack of paper they had on her night stand in case the first try would have gone wrong, wrapping up each of her feet in a sheet of paper, before wrapping hair ties around her ankles to secure the paper. "I can't get your clothes dirty like that!"

"Perfect" Charlie smiled and waited for Rosie to climb onto her back; the paper was still too slippery to let her walk down the stairs like that anyway.

Rosie smiled, quite proud of her idea as she climbed onto Charlie's back, wrapping her arms around her neck and her legs around her waist, "Let's go!" she chuckled.

"Alrighty, buckle up!" Charlie chuckled before going carefully down the stairs and holding onto the handrail. "We'll have to try and get past our dads without them noticing." She whispered, figuring a quest would be more fun. "So we have to be very very quiet for this mission."

Alrighty, buckle up!" Charlie chuckled before going carefully down the stairs and holding onto the handrail. "We'll wash your feet first and then we'll sneak that bed sheet down to Mrs. Hudson while our Dads are out. Any questions?" She asked as if they were on a mission.

"No questions." Rosie said with a chuckle, tightening her grip on Charlie a little, because stairs could be dangerous, especially on piggy back rides.

A minute later Charlie had carried Rosie safely into the bathroom and sat her down on the closed toilet seat. "Okay, let's get your feet clean." She said with a chuckle and took Rosie's paper socks off.

"They look like troll feet!" Rosie chuckled, looking down at her feet, the green paint had spread over them a little in the paper socks, they looked so funny!

"Yeah, they kinda do, don't they?" Charlie chuckled, before picking her up once more so she could stand in the bathtub. "Let's get them nice and Rosie again." She joked, before turning on the water.

Rosie was a little stunned about the joke, she had never even thought about that her name was a kind of colour, but she giggled just a moment later. "Charlie..." she mumbled after another small moment, "I like that you're my sister now. You're the best sister in the whole world!" she said and smiled sheepishly at the other girl.

Charlie looked down for a moment before giving Rosie a big smile. "I can't be, cause you are." She said, before pulling her new sister into a warm hug and kissing her head; she was by far her favourite person.

"But you're the best /big/ sister in the world!" Rosie corrected after a moment, hugging her back. "Are we going to keep being sisters even when we have to go back to the orphanage?" she asked, pulling back a little to look at Charlie.

"Yeah, you bet we are!" Charlie said with a smile. "I don't know about the documents, but I'll keep being your big sister this way or another." She said, because now that she had a little sister to look after, she wasn't just going to let her go.. "I'll always be there for you from now on." Literally always, actually, but she'd learn that soon enough.

"Even when we're like really old? As old as Lock and John?" Rosie asked asked with a smile. "And even when you marry Lowell?" she asked innocently, knowing that Charlie liked Lowell.

Charlie almost snorted, wondering just how obvious her fancy was. "Er, yes." She said, blushing a little. "Even if I get married and we're both really old, I'll love you no matter what." She said with a smile, the last part being more serious again.

Rosie grinned at that, "I love you too!" she said and pursed her lips, thinking, "Should we go upstairs and get the sheet before Lock and John come home? We have to finish my mistletoe poster too."

"Yeah, you're right. If you're feet are already clean again, I'll get a towel." She said and checked, before helping Rosie dry her feet. "But I bet you can write 'mistletoes' by yourself if I tell you the spelling." She said with a chuckle.

"I can spell toe! It's T-O, right?" Rosie asked with a grin as she was lifted out of the tub, it sounded like it was right.

"You know, you're actually kind of right." Charlie said and set her down on the toilet seat to. "The word derives from the Middle English word 'to' that's spelled the way you said. But over time the words and spelling has changed." Thanks wiktionary; Charlie thought, glad she'd looked up that word before starting.

"And how do you spell it now?" Rosie asked curiously, thinking for a moment, "Oh! I remember, I've seen it on one of the flashcards with letters Sherlock gave me!" she said and grinned, "It's T-O-E!" she chirped with a chuckle.

"Yeah, brilliant!" Charlie smiled and put the towel away again. "And what's your guess for 'mistle'?" She asked and stood back up.

"Hm... I know it starts with M-I..." Rosie said and frowned deeply, trying to figure out the rest, "And then it sounds like an S... M-I-S-S-L?" she asked after a moment.

"Pretty good." Charlie chuckled. "It's M-I-S--T- - L- -E -" Charlie spelled. "I must say, I'm impressed."

"So.. M-I-S-T-L-E-T-O-E?" Rosie asked, putting the two words together already, "I think I can write that." she said with a smile.

"Awesome, that's it." Charlie said with a smile and opened the bathroom door. "Then let's go upstairs. I should still have a bow somewhere in my room."

"Cool." Rosie said as she started to walk back over to the stairs, "What are you giving Sherlock and John for Christmas?" she asked curiously.

"Erm.. it's gonna be a surprise." Charlie said and scratched the back of her head. "Which roughly translates to 'I don't know yet.' You know, I just don't want to give them something they won't like, so, I'm still brainstorming."

"You can make a mistletoe poster too! I can paint your feet then!" Rosie said, quite proud of her idea, "Then they have two!"

"That's really nice of you, but I don't wanna steal your cool idea. You should get all the credit for that." Charlie said with a smile. "But maybe I'll think of something tonight."

"Can't you ask Lowell to teach you a Christmas song on guitar and play it for them on Christmas?" Rosie asked and frowned, "Hm... maybe that takes too long, we only have to sleep a few times until it's Christmas."

"Yeah, it's only two more nights." Charlie said with a sigh. "I kinda wish I had an epiphany like you. I mean, I thought about making a photo album of the first two weeks, but I don't have a printer and I can't use Sherlock's or go to a print shop." She said. "Do you think they'd like a poem maybe?"

"Mrs Hudson has a printer!" Rosie said and smiled, "She can take a photo of both of us and I can help you make a frame!"

"Really? That'd be awesome!" Charlie smiled; she hadn't even thought if Mrs. Hudson. "Do you want to go downstairs after we're done with your poster?"

"We have to bring her the sheet anyway remember?" Rosie asked and chuckled, "Can we dress really pretty for the photo?" she asked, looking up at Charlie.

"Yeah, definitely." Charlie smiled. "I could French braid your hair if you want me to." She said.

"Yeah!" Rosie said and grinned, really happy that Charlie liked her idea. "Ooooh, can we use the rest of the paint and make fingerprints of us on the frame? That would be really cool because we're both detectives!"

Charlie grinned too at that. "You've got brilliant gift ideas, you know that?" She chuckled, because really she wasn't half as creative as Rosie. "Seriously, I'm pretty sure, they'll love it." She smiled; now she only had to find a good present for Rosie herself.


	63. Christmas Morning

The next two days passed quickly, with the next day being spent at the Watson's house together with the Berkeleys, Harry, Clara and even Richard (though, obviously the little ones didn't actually know who he was). Charlie especially fell in love with the twins; and their older sister Amber, who also played a musical instrument! Overall it really was a nice get-together until the twins and Rosie became too tired. However, this morning both Rosie and Charlie woke up much earlier than usual; having no patience left at this point, they rushed downstairs to get to their presents. "Come on, it's already half past seven." Charlie giggled.

"Are you sure we're allowed to open the presents if John and Lock are still asleep?" Rosie asked, following Charlie into the living room, "Maybe we should wake them." she said and looked over to where their bedroom was.

"Yeah, I thought they might be awake already, but we can't do that without them.. How about you find some biscuits in the kitchen and put them on nice plates and I brew some tea beforehand?" She suggested, figuring that was probably a nicer way to be woken up.

"Okay, I know where they hide the cookies!" Rosie giggled and walked over to the bookshelf next to the fireplace. "Should we let them know we're already awake and were just waiting for them, or should we grant them some fun with the not so secret cookie stash first?" Sherlock asked, chuckling quietly, looking up from where he was cuddled up against John.

"Let's wait for them, they do sound like there having fun." John said and leaned down to give him a soft kiss; plus a few more minutes together with Sherlock wouldn't be too bad either. "Though, are we letting Charlie handle boiling water alone with Rosie?" He asked after a moment.

Sherlock pondered this for a moment, "Yeah. I think we can trust her with that, she'll be careful and keep Rosie far enough away from it." he said and smiled, "She's almost as protective over Rosie as we are."

"Yes, you're right, she is." John agreed with a smile, before beginning to trace lines on Sherlock's back again while they were still alone. "You have to give it to them, I'm impressed they haven't checked the presents yet. Especially Rosie."

"They're actually very patient.." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Should we redeem them after all?" he asked and rolled on top of John, pecking the other man's lips, "When I was that age, every moment I had to wait to open my presents was torture." he said and crossed his arms on John's chest, resting his chin on them.

"Yeah, alright. They've been patient enough." John chuckled and ran hand through his curls, before giving a sigh. "As much as I hate to say it, love, you'll have to get off me first."

Sherlock sighed, "Unfortunately, yes." he said and leant down up again to steal himself a last proper kiss, before he moved to stand up.

John moved to get up behind him and stretched a bit, before following Sherlock out of their bedroom. Meanwhile Charlie was busying herself with making four hot cups of mint (it's Christmas!) tea, keeping an eye on her sister.

Sherlock smiled as he looked John over in his gingerbread men pyjama, "You look like a giant five year old, you know that?" he asked with a laugh.

"Says the one with little reindeers all over his body." John said with a chuckle. "We really need to take pictures later." He said.

"We look ridiculous." Sherlock stated and took John's hand, to lead him out of the bedroom, "I can't wait for Charlie to unwrap her new laptop, actually. She'll be thrilled, probably not so thrilled about the internet restrictions coming along with it, but maybe we can mention that a little later."

"That'd probably be best. And I think, Rosie will now own every available toy or item of clothing with bees on it." John chuckled and followed him outside. "I hope you haven't deduced my present for you yet. I've been looking forward to surprising you for once."

"No, actually.. to be honest, I have no idea what you're giving me.." Sherlock said with a frown, "Did mum help you?" he teased with a smirk.

"Nope" John said simply so as not to give anything away; he'd worked enough overtime for this that he really didn't want to spoil the surprise now. "But thanks a lot." He chuckled and gave Sherlock a look.

"You're getting better at keeping things from me, should I be worried?" Sherlock asked, opening the bedroom door quietly since he wanted to surprise the girls a little.

"Nah, just trust me on that one." He whispered now that the door was open and pecked his cheek, before beginning to walk with Sherlock out the door.

"I always trust you." Sherlock said, going through a list of things John could give him, but he honest to god had nothing to on. Admittedly he had had his hands full with the girls and the orphanage there had been no time to look out for clues on what John might give him.

"Good, and likewise. Now let's surprise the girls. I'm sure you three are dying to unwrap your presents." John chuckled and walked with Sherlock to the kitchen.

"Oi, I'm not a girl." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, "I've only ever worn one dress in my life." he said with a quiet chuckle, though that was enough to get Rosie's attention, "Charlie! They're up, look! We can open our presents!"

"What? Oh, hi!" Charlie grinned and looked up at them. "Merry Christmas!" She said and gestured to the mugs and biscuits. "We've made, erm, Christmas breakfast. Can we already open our presents?" She couldn't help asking.

Sherlock chuckled, "Hm.. what do you think, John.. should we have a long, dragged out breakfast, before opening the presents?" he asked, looking at his boyfriend with a smirk.

"Hm..." John said and acted as though he was thinking about it. "I think we'll have mercy on you early birds this morning." He said with a chuckle. "Just go ahead and open them."

"Yay!" Rosie chirped, she had already been on her way to the tree before John had finished speaking, "Come on, Charlie!" she called and Sherlock couldn't help but laugh at that.

Charlie didn't wait for her to repeat that and ran under the Christmas tree, causing John to laugh a bit as she was already unwrapping her own. "Come over and unwrap yours too." She called with a smile.

"Yeah, let's do that, I'm already quite excited what you'll say to your present." Sherlock said, giving John a smile, "Took me a while to pick the right thing."

John walked over to the Christmas tree and spotted the two presents the girls must've made because he knew which ones were from him and Sherlock. "Now I'm excited" He said and gave Sherlock the smaller one so they could see what the girls had given them. After unwrapping Charlie's poster, he couldn't help smiling and showed it Sherlock. "Thank you very much Rosie, that's brilliant. Did you come up with that yourself?"

Rosie nodded excitedly, "Charlie helped! And I accidentally made footprints on my sheet and we took it downstairs to Mrs Hudson, she washed and dried it before you were back home." she said and chuckled, "Well, it is great, we need to find a spot to hang it up." he said and started to unwrap the smaller package, smiling when he had removed the wrapping paper from the framed photo. "And that needs a special place too." he said and held it out to John so he could look at it.

"Wow, I love that. Thank you very much, Charlie. Did you make the frame yourself?" John asked with a smile and looked back to her. "Yeah, Rosie helped me with it. The fingerprints are on there, because we're detectives, you know?" She said, really happy they liked it, which made John chuckle. "Yeah, I see. That's awesome, really."

"So, Charlie.. obviously you can open the presents in your preferred order, but.. if I might suggest one to open next... Take the flat one. Santa gave me a hint it's something you've had in the top ten of your letter to him." Sherlock said with a smirk, "Careful, it's a large flat though."

Charlie went immediately over there and began to unwrap it, already having a hunch, though she didn't think she'd actually get "A laptop?!" She exclaimed and looked up to them with a grin. "Thank you!" She said and jumped to her feet to hug them both.

Sherlock chuckled a little at the hug, "Well, I'll give your thanks to Santa.." he said and subtly nodded with his head towards Rosie, since she did still believe some of the presents were from Santa.

"Right, thank you so much for giving him my letter!" Charlie remembered, changing her act a little, before going over to Rosie and look at her presents. "What did Santa bring you?"

"I've got a laptop too!" Rosie chirped and chuckled, "And it's got a bee on it, look!" she said and pointed at the small educational computer for kids.

"Awesome, let's try it out!" Charlie chuckled and sat down next to her. Meanwhile John picked up the small package with his own name on it. "I'll go first okay?" He said and opened the envelope to find out he'd been given a fishing trip. "Thank you, love. You're into fishing?" John asked with a smile, now that the girls were busy.

"Me, not so much, but I thought it was just manly enough for your dad to enjoy it.. and I know Richard will too, which is more important than my opinion on it, given that it's for the three of you. I thought you should have some time together, just.. you know.. the Watson men.." Sherlock said and smiled at his boyfriend, "It'll give you three an opportunity to talk and grow a little closer together again."

John looked at his present for a few seconds, before looking up. "You must've really thought about that. Thank you so much., I'm already looking forward to that." He smiled and leaned in to give Sherlock an innocent kiss. "I love you."

"You're welcome, I love you too." Sherlock said and cleared his throat, "So.. can I have my present now? Because I'm dying of curiosity at this point." he said with a chuckle.

"Yes, please. Go ahead." John said, trying to maintain his poker-face, while he watched Sherlock a bit nervously; he couldn't help tease Sherlock a little so he'd taken a shoe carton and put a slightly smaller empty package inside of that and so on. He'd done that six times and the only thing in there was a letter, which read "Merry Christmas. Look down." Hopefully Sherlock would be focused on all of the boxes and the letter and not pay much attention to what was going on around him.

Sherlock eventually reached the letter, feeling more than confused as he lifted the box and looked under it, but only found his empty lap, "I don't say this often, but... I don't get it." he said, looking back at the letter and turned it around, wondering if he had missed a clue.

John had meanwhile knelt down in front of Sherlock, who'd thankfully been distracted enough. With a smile, he looked up enamoured and cracked the small black box open, which revealed a bright gold band sitting in honey-yellow satin. The gold was embossed in a way that had reminded him of a honeycomb and the colour and glistening of the ring itself looked like a golden, little bee. Sherlock was always so happy when he talked about bees that when John had been at the jewellers he couldn't help see him in that ring... "William Sherlock Scott Holmes.." He began and swallowed, his heart now pounding like mad.

Sherlock looked up with a frown, wondering why John used his full name all of a sudden and froze, taking in the scene, "Oh.." he said and was suddenly feeling a wave of nervousness wash over him, his lips curling up into a smile as he waited for John to go on, even though he couldn't believe this was actually happening. Sure they had talked about it and joked about it, but now that it was actually happening (even though he would say yes, obviously) it still felt... big.

"I love you more than I can say. You are the cleverest and most affectionate person in my life and I'd like you to stay that. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and all of your quirks, so that'd really be the best thing you could give me." John said and licked his lips a bit nervously, before asking. "...Will you marry me?"

Sherlock couldn't help but grin stupidly at John for a moment, before recovering and nodding, "Yes. Yes of course I want to marry you." he said and bit his lip.

John grinned back at him, before sliding the ring onto Sherlock's finger and rising to his feet to pull him into a kiss. He almost couldn't believe this was real, even though Sherlock had already teased him about it. But having it spelled out like this was something completely different.

Sherlock smiled against John's lips, feeling his heart thump against his ribcage. He couldn't quite believe that he was truly engaged.. he had spent his life with someone before, but.. well, he hadn't been /engaged/. It felt.. strange. In a good way, but still strange.

"I love you." John murmured into Sherlock's ear, basically completely over the moon in really every regard. Of course, he'd known they were going to marry, but this felt so incredible regardless. It wasn't until a moment later that he remembered they had children sitting by, since he could her Charlie gasp behind them.

Sherlock chuckled a little as he heard Charlie, pulling back a little from John to look at the girls with a happy grin, "Did you just get married?" Rosie asked with big eyes. "In pyjamas?" she added, visibly confused.

"No, not yet, we got engaged." John told her with a grin, still a bit disbelieving. "But that means Sherlock has officially agreed to marry me in the future." Charlie smiled at that. "Wow, congrats!"

"But didn't you already know he wants to marry you?" Rosie asked as she walked up to Sherlock to look at the ring, chuckling a little, "Woah, it looks like honeycombs!" she said and chuckled again.

"I did, but I hadn't asked him properly, you know. Special people need special proposals." John said with a chuckle, before nodding. "Yeah, that was my first thought too and I had to think of Sherlock right away."

"It's really pretty!" Rosie said and smiled at her sister, "Look, it looks like tiny bees made it!" she said, gesturing Charlie to come over.

Charlie went over to them to look at the ring on Sherlock's hand. "You're right." Charlie smiled. It was really romantic that Sherlock and John were here together next to the Christmas tree... "Man, I hope I find a boyfriend who'll propose to me like that. Christmas Day seems like a date someone in a film would pick." She said and glanced up at them.

"I bet Lowell will propose to you in a really romantic way too." Rosie chirped and smiled at Charlie, "Well, I think it'll take a while until anyone will propose to Charlie.." Sherlock said and chuckled a little.

Charlie blushed again and glanced up. "Erm, could you maybe please not talk about marriage when he comes over the next time?" She asked her new sister, because even if she couldn't keep her fancy a secret from her family, she at least wanted to keep it in the family.

"Exactly Rosie, it'd be really rude to talk in front of Lowell about erm.. his and Charlie's wedding as long as he hasn't actually proposed.." Sherlock said and bit back a smile, because he actually doubted anything would come of Charlie's crush, not that he would tell the girls about that, as long as Charlie fancied Lowell who was a decent guy and would never take advantage of it, she wouldn't start to date guys who were all but decent and would take advantage of her feelings. "So let's not talk about their .. relationship in front of Lowell, pinky promise?" he asked and Rosie nodded, holding out her pinky so she could hook it around Sherlock's. "Okay, pinky promise!"

"Thanks." Charlie said, giving them a smile, before trying to steer the conversations away from that topic. "So, when are you getting married then?" She asked John, who bit back a chuckle. "I don't think we've got a date yet, or do we?"

"Hm.. how about February 21st." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Valentine's day would be too clichéd, I think and well.. at least the number will be a steady reminder of our first mutual home."

"That's a nice idea." John chuckled. "We'd both really appreciate it if you'd be flower girls that day." John said, remembering that promise. Charlie grinned at that, since that was news to her. "Yeah, we'd love to, don't we?" She asked Rosie with a smile.

Rosie grinned, "Yeah! Sherlock said I can wear a really pretty dress when they get married and whoa! We can wear the same dresses!" she chirped and Sherlock chuckled, "Hm.. actually, Charlie.. would you like to try design your dresses yourself? No pressure, we can still go out and buy dresses for you if you don't like what you come up with, I just thought you might like that."

"I've never done that before to be honest." Charlie said, though that was probably no surprise. "Is a sketch enough, or do you mean an actual sewing pattern?" She asked, already liking that idea a lot.

"A sketch will do, we're in London, it won't be hard to find a tailor that is able to make a sewing pattern from a sketch." Sherlock said and smiled at Charlie.

"Awesome" Charlie said with a smile, while John glanced at all of the unwrapped presents. "How about we have some breakfast now that we've checked the most important part of the day." He suggested with a chuckle.

"Well, actually.. we're not quite done with the presents yet.." Sherlock said and stood up, stepping onto the lowest board of his bookshelf, to reach the small box he had placed on top of the shelf and which was pushed back against the wall. "I obviously didn't expect to give it to you already, but since you made the start.." he said as he moved back over to John, holding the jewellery box behind his back as he sat back down. "I want to reply in kind." he said, handing John the box that contained a contained a golden ring, nearly the same shade as John's with a subtle braided texture and a few sapphires and diamonds worked into the pattern. "It's erm.. well, I gave my mother's engagement ring to the jeweller and told him to make a more.. manly ring out of it..." he said and remembered that there also was a necklace in it, "Oh.. that pendant.. it's for my mother, it's got scans of the paintings of my sister and my father inside.. I've realised she doesn't even have any pictures of them, except for the ones in her memory.. I've had the jeweller decorate it with the left over gems of her engagement ring."

John opened the box and looked at the ring and the pendant inside it.. Wow; he really hadn't expected his boyfriend to get one for him. And it even matched the one he'd got for Sherlock. "And I thought mine was special." He chuckled a bit and glanced up at Sherlock. "Thank you, love. I don't even know what to say, really."

"Well.. that ring has been passed down from my Grandmother to my father to give it to my mother and well I was supposed to give it to the woman I'd marry.. which effectively doomed that ring to 200 years of lying in her jewellery box in our cottage. But I thought since I'm going to get engaged after all.." he said, giving a small shrug, "200 years?" Rosie asked and frowned, "Isn't that like a lot of years?" she asked and Sherlock cleared his throat, having forgotten about the fact that Rosie wasn't in on all of their secrets. "Did I say 200?" he asked and chuckled a little, "I erm, I meant 20."

John chuckled a little at that remark and looked at the ring a bit more carefully, because it looked like it would've cost a fortune. "It's beautiful.. I genuinely didn't expect you to give me a ring." He said with a smile, but then again there weren't really rules for that for all he knew.

"Well.. going by the tradition neither of us is supposed to wear an engagement ring.." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "So I thought it'd be nice if we'd both wear one instead." he said and gave another shrug, "And I've been actually really annoyed back then I didn't get the opportunity to give that ring to someone.. you know... since the law didn't allow me to.." he said and Rosie frowned, scrunching up her nose and looking almost disgusted, "The law decides who can marry who? That's stupid. Was it made by hombophobs?" she asked, looking back and forth between her foster dads and her sister.

"Yes, you could really say that actually." John said with a nod.. "I mean, it's good that there are some regulations. Like that we're only allowed to marry other adults who really want to marry us too. But apart from that, a lot of laws have been designed to be mean to certain groups of people." He explained to her. "But thankfully they're slowly being changed."

“So they are.. and that almost everywhere." Sherlock said and smiled as he took the box from John again, taking the ring out and smiling at him, "May I?" he asked with a wide smile, quite eager to put that ring onto John's hand.

John smiled back at his brand-new fiancé. "Please, do." He said and gave Sherlock his hand, which felt a little strange if he was being honest. Definitely not in a bad way though.

Sherlock smiled, slipping the ring on John's finger, "Suits you." he said and chuckled, "Or maybe I just really really like seeing you visibly marked as 'property of Sherlock Holmes', I can't tell right now." he said teasingly, leaning over to peck John's lips.

"Yeah, I get the feeling." John said with a smirk. "As long as you've got one on too I'm not complaining." He said, because he actually was glad that future Dennises would be scared off now (plus, it'd look like they were married with them both being men).

Sherlock chuckled, "I love you." he murmured and chuckled as Rosie tried to hug them both, but not quite succeeding and only having each hand on one of their shoulders, "I love you both too!" she said with a big smile.

"And I love you three." Charlie smiled after a moment and joined them, quite pleased with her pun. John chuckled at that and lifted Rosie up so that they could all hug properly on the same level. "I love you three too."

Sherlock chuckled a little after spending a minute enjoying the group hug, "So... I don't know about you, but.. how about we have breakfast now and after that, we'll help you set up your computers?" he asked, figuring the girls were quite eager to turn them on.

"Yeah, sounds good." Charlie smiled at that and let go of them, before John set Rosie carefully down. "Alright, so who wants hot chocolate with tomato juice?"


	64. Three Empty Hearses

Sherlock yawned a little as he arrived at his mother's house, deciding that if they were going to make it a tradition to visit Eurus' and his father's grave with Mycroft - who they were going to pick up on the way there, because her majesty obviously couldn't move his fat bum and make the little detour to their mother's house before - they probably shouldn't do it the morning after new year's eve. Especially not when certain trainee parents allowed a certain teenager to have a little bit of wine with her blood and said teenager turned out to have a rather low alcohol tolerance and even worse be quite energetic when she was a slightly tipsy. Knocking at the door, he pulled the jewellery box out of his pocket which he had wrapped up last night, since it sort of was a late Christmas present.

Violet came to the door, a few of her own home-grown violets in her hand for the grave, and opened it. She was already wearing her coat and boots, so she could go outside immediately, since she'd already said goodbye to her youngests. "Hello, darling." She greeted him with a smile and kissed his cheek, already having spotted the small parcel in her son's hand.

"Morning.." Sherlock said and yawned again, "Anyway, merry belated Christmas. I didn't really want to give this to you with everyone around, especially Paul and Amber, it would have given the wrong impression." he said and held the small box out to her - intentionally doing it with his left hand, wondering if she'd spot the ring on it, they had decided to wait until after the holidays to tell the family, since they'd all be coming over for his birthday again anyway. But since he was here now, there was no reason not to tell her.

Wasn't Sherlock right-handed? Oh! Violet smirked when she received the package. "Christmas Day or New Years Eve?" She asked him with a chuckle, feeling quite excited she was going to get to see the marriage of at least one of her older children.

"Christmas day." Sherlock said with a wide smile, looking at the ring again, like he had done excessively over the past week, he really just couldn't stop looking at it, foolish as it was. "And.. well you better make sure you're free on February 21st next year." he said with a grin, before nodding towards the little package, "Now open it."

"Hm, I wonder what's in here" Violet said with a chuckle, guessing that it was probably something involving his sister now that they were going to her grave, though she didn't know what kind of wrong impression that would've made. After opening it, she frowned a little and took the pendant out, since the gem did look a bit familiar... She went on to open the pendant itself and found herself speechless. Oh, she hadn't seen those faces in centuries... Especially at the sight of her daughter her chest still ached a bit. "Thank you." She said quietly, smiling down on the little copies of the pictures she had probably painted herself.

"Well.. I erm.. had your engagement ring melted and shaped into a different form since it just wasn't John's style." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "But.. I told the jeweller to decorate that locket with the rest of the stones.. felt like.. you should have a picture of them." he said and chuckled a little, "That's why I gave it to you now, instead of Christmas, didn't feel right to give you a locket with an image of your first husband when your new husband sits right next to you.. especially coming from me, I didn't want him to feel like I dislike him, or hold a grudge.. and it was the same with Amber.. I just really didn't want to make them feel weird about it."

"I knew the sapphire looked familiar." She said with a bit of a chuckle. "That's so thoughtful of you, Sherlock, thank you." Violet told him with a smile, now looking up at him. She still had to get used to the different people her sons were now, though from all she could tell Sherlock had changed more than Mycroft.

Sherlock smiled, "Was that okay.. I mean.. with the ring.." he mumbled, suddenly feeling a little insecure about that, "You're not mad that I had it remodelled, are you?"

"It's been yours for centuries now and the way I remember it I can see how it probably wouldn't have suited John nowadays." She said with a smile; though, she did think it was a bit of a shame; however she hadn't thought she'd ever see that ring again, so there were worse things. "I'm glad you've been able to give it to someone after all."

"Me too." Sherlock said and blushed a little, "And.. well if you want to see it again, I do have a photo. Actually we have a large collection of photos of .. basically every item in the cottage, Mycroft had a photographer take shots of everything because of insurance matters and all." he said and rolled his eyes, "Do we have to pick him up? I mean.. I'm a little tired, it's rather cold.. do we really need to add to the list of annoying things?" he asked jokingly.

"William Sherlock, he's your brother." Violet chided him in good humour, before she could hear tiny little footsteps nearing. The day they had begun to walk had definitely made her more attentive. Quickly she spun around and caught Amy before she could run out into the cold. "LOOCK!" Amy squealed happily, wriggling in her mummy's arms.

Sherlock chuckled as Ally followed suit, lifting her up just like his mother had done with Ally, "Hey you little bouncing balls." he said and smiled at his little sisters, "Hi Looock!" Ally said and cuddled up to her older brother, grinning gleefully at her sister, since she was on Sherlock's arm.

Amy still tried to squirm out of mummy's hold and tried to reach Lock from where she was, incredibly jealous of her sister. "Loock..." She whined. "Shh, calm down, honey." Violet said softly. "You can hug your brother in a minute." "Where's John?" Amy demanded, ignoring her mummy and making grabby hands towards Sherlock.

Sherlock gave a little smile, walking a little closer to his mother, while he shifted Ally to sit on his side so he could lift Amy up too, carefully lifting her out of his mother's arms, still a little surprised how quickly one learnt to hold two toddlers at the same time. "John is at home, it's just mummy, me and Mycroft today, sweeties," Sherlock said and Ally looked at Amy, "See I told you John isn't coming!" she said and smiled, happy that she was right.

"We don't know yet if Mycroft is going to come home though, so you might not see him today either." Violet added, so the girls wouldn't get unnecessarily excited. "Oh shuddup!" Amy told her sister exhaustedly and clung to Sherlock once she was being handed over, mimicking the way Amber had sounded yesterday after arguing with her mobile. It was a really fun thing to say.

"Oi, Amy, that's not a nice thing to say to your sister." Sherlock said and Ally frowned, "But you called Mycroft fattie, that's not a nice thing to say to your brother!" Ally said and Sherlock cleared his throat, glancing at his mother, "No, no you're right, it wasn't a nice thing to say and I will apologise to him and you should apologise to your sister as well, because it's important to apologise when you've been rude to someone that's important to you." he said and frowned, being a trainee dad really had left a mark on his manners.

"Anyone" Violet corrected. "You should apologise to anyone you've been rude to." She said and gave the both of them a look; she'd never given up on correcting them. "Sorry, Ally. Didn't mean to be rude to you." Amy said reluctantly and looked at her sister from across Lock's belly.

"It's okay.. I didn't mean to be rude to you either.." Ally said and smiled brightly at her sister, reaching out to hold her hand. "Lock, when can we play with Rosie and Charlie again? Can you tell Charlie that she's really really super cool? She said she'll play a song on the guitar for us the next time we see her."

"Yes, please do that!" Amy cheered; it was great how many girl friends she had been making lately. "And can we have our cookie-sleepover all together with Rosie and Charlie" She added and peered up at Lock excitedly.

"Sure, I doubt there'd be a way to keep them from joining anyway." Sherlock said and looked at his mum with a smile, "Anyway, mummy and I have to go now, so you go inside and I come back to say bye before I go home, I promise." he said and crouched to set the girls down, but holding their hands so they wouldn't dash off because they've seen something interesting.

"Come on, honeys, it just so happens that it's nap time now anyway. We'll be back when you wake up." She thought she'd become quite good at scheduling life around their children's sleeping schedules. "Say goodbye to Sherlock." Violet said and took the girls from her son to usher them inside and get her husband to bring them into their cots. "Bye, Lock." Amy said and gave him a little wave.

"Bye bye, Lock!" Ally chirped and Sherlock smiled at them, "See you both later," he said and waved back at them.

Two minutes later Violet returned; she really needn't have bothered to put on her coat earlier on. "Am I driving or did you come here with your own?" She asked her son, before closing the door; she had her car keys in her bag either way.

"No, still not a car and we had to return the rental before new years, so I took a cab." Sherlock said and smiled, "Is it just me or did the girls seem a little moody?" he asked and chuckled, "Long night?" he asked.

"You could say that." Violet said and began to walk over to her car. "I wish, you could ground kids, when you know they're just about to do something stupid; I'm pretty sure Amber is hungover now. It's still frustrating to let these things just happen." She said with a sigh and opened the car door. "You haven't slept much either, have you?"

"Uh.. no. We allowed Charlie to have a bit of wine with blood and yeah.. her alcohol tolerance doesn't seem to be particularly high.." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes, "It's that or she's sneaked more wine than we allowed, but she was very cheery last night. Not so cheery when she woke up briefly this morning.." he said and chuckled a little, it felt a little weird though, that suddenly his mother and him had children - almost the same age too.

"Did you give her some Paracetamol with blood?" Violet inquired, since it must've been a good whisk of wine if she still had a headache. "It's strange to think you're marrying John who is just Amber's age. And that you've already got foster children." Violet said as she got into the car. "Then again, I suppose you're both my children." She said with a chuckle.

"What do you mean by already? I'm more than 240 years old.." Sherlock said with a laugh, getting into the car on the passenger side. "But yeah.. it doesn't really feel like I'm older than maybe 30.. I guess that's because that's the oldest I can reasonably pass for. Sometimes I think you and Mycroft have an easier time with that. At least people take you seriously."

"Yes, I suppose that's true. I mean it is already quite hard to convince my colleagues of my competence at twenty eight biological years. I'm glad that's still a bit more than Mycroft; that would have really been quite strange. Though, you know, nowadays the longer the number of people inquiring about my plastic surgeon is a good indicator for when to move again. I suppose people are getting more tolerant in that regard." Violet said with a chuckle. "At least for people my age."

"Try being 18 forever." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes with a laugh, fixing his seatbelt. "I mean.. chemistry prodigy worked well enough.. it's different in the orphanage, though.. I mean.. at least all the colleagues there do know that there's more beyond my young appearance.. it's strangely satisfying not to be treated like a child."

" I'm sorry, but after having this image of you in my head for all this time, it's even harder not to think of you as 18." She admitted and gave him an apologetic smile, before starting the engine. "But yeah, I enjoy working there too." She agreed. "It's incredible what some of the teachers have witnessed."

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah.. always thought a sort of clubhouse would be nice.. I suppose the orphanage is something like that. I just wish there was a way to make it better known.. Do you realise there hasn't been a single valid adoption over the years?" he asked and shook his head.. it's awful that they really don't have a chance to get a proper family..."

"Yes, you've told me about your theory." Violet said with a nod. "I still can't believe neither Dorothy nor I have looked into that more closely." She commented; she'd known those kids herself... "Have you found out anything new?"

"Not yet.. to be honest.. I haven't really looked.." Sherlock said, sounding almost embarrassed, "Getting used to parenting and that with Christmas coming up.. we kind of had our hands full, but I do hope it'll become a little less stressful soon, so we can actually focus on finding out more. Charlie is quite eager to help with that too.. has she talked to you about it? I told her to talk to you.. but she didn't seem to thrilled about the idea.."

"No, she hasn't. I mean, besides the standard evaluation we do with all of the kids who are going to get a new home." Violet said. "Why would she want to talk to me about it?" She asked, keeping the concern out of her voice.

"Well.. it's after all going to uncover somewhat gruesome details about the murders of other kids parents and while I'll be damned before I let her read about her own parents murder at the moment, she knows it's a pattern and that the cases resemble each other.. I just.. I told her I'm not going to sugarcoat things and treat her like a child, but I also told her that I want her to talk to you about these things and to stop if she thinks she can't handle it anymore.." Sherlock said and sighed, "I didn't make it a condition, though.. I doubt talking to a psychiatrist would help if it's just a chore she's forced to go through."

"Right, I can see what you mean." Violet nodded and sighed. "I don't know her too well though, I'm afraid." She said. "So I don't know if she's a child who would like to talk about her life of her own accord."

"Can't you.. take her somewhere? I mean.. as her kind of grandmother you do have a valid reason to be interested in getting to know her. Maybe you could take her to the cottage... I do know she's a fan of Jane, so she'd probably be thrilled to go through your old wardrobe. Maybe have a bit of a fashion show.. you don't even have to talk to her about the situation.. just.. see how she acts. If you start to think it affects her too much, I'll keep her completely out of the case." Sherlock said and shrugged, "I just don't want this to scar her too badly."

"I feel like I should say that you shouldn't have told a twelve year old girl she could work with you something like that in the first place." Violet pointed out. "But you're right. I'll take her out some time next week for some quality time." She said. "How are they dealing with the new situation anyway?"

"They're thrilled, actually, they've already decided they're sisters and that for real and I really do believe those two will stick together for.. well, forever, quite literally, actually." Sherlock said with a little chuckle, "They really enjoy being with us, which is.. nice, very nice. It's just.. sometimes I feel like I won't be able to let them go back to the orphanage when the time comes and all of this is worked out."

"Mmh," Violet hummed and glanced over to him. "Well, I'm very glad the girls didn't just act like that when everyone in our family was around." She said. "How do you think does John feel about everything going on at home?"

"He likes it too." Sherlock said with a smile, "He doesn't like the idea of them going back anymore than I do." Sherlock said and leant back into his seat, "Maybe that's why neither of us has been too eager to go on with the case.. because solving it would mean the girls will go back to the orphanage.”

"Do you think they're in more danger right now than their peers?" Violet asked him after a moment of thought, because she still knew her son quite well, she thought.

Sherlock nodded, "Yeah.. I've been looking through some of the files of the adopted kids.. they were all around their ages and all of them showed the same symptoms so to speak.. I mean the general behaviour you see when gifted kids aren't getting the needed support.." he said and ran a hand through his hair, it really stressed him that Rosie and Charlie were in danger, even more than it had when they had taken them in. "Is it normal that I'm getting worried more everyday?"

"It's both normal and understandable, but then again, my understanding of those terms has become very broad. And it doesn't matter either way if it is. The more important question is, how do you, the both of you, live with that fear?" She said. "Just one example: What kinds of things is Charlie not allowed to do, girls of her age group typically are? For whatever reason, really."

"Well.. we basically don't deny her anything other girls her age can do, except that we make sure there's always someone around, if she wants to go somewhere, even just down the street, one of us goes with her and we don't leave her home alone, at the very least Mrs Hudson is downstairs if we're out." Sherlock said and looked at his mother, waiting for approval, or critic.

"That sounds reasonable right now in my opinion." His mother nodded. "And what are you going to do once she is in her teens?" She asked, because she doubted that that would be too sustainable in the years to come. "And do you think those measures scare her? I don't think it would affect Rosie very much at her age."

"Well, I actually think it scares her less, because she knows why we're doing it and she knows that she can be sure that we're not just trying to soothe her when we say things are safe. She knows that what we tell her is the truth. And she knows that she has everyone in this family behind her. That neither of us would rest if something would happen to her or Rosie." Sherlock said and looked at his mother with a smile, "Even if it's just for John and me, but I know eventually when you all know them better it'll be just as much for them. Anyway, I've had a talk with her about that and it really did seem to take a weight of her shoulders when I told her that even if our family is a little weird, that we stick together when something happens."

"I'm glad that's true." Violet said with a smile. "It doesn't sound like you want them to go back to the orphanage." She commented, knowing that most foster parents didn tell their children things like that or make promises that big.

"I don't know.. no.. I guess I don't.." Sherlock said and sighed, "But really.. John and I haven't even dated that long yet, I mean, granted, we want to stay together, and I'm pretty sure we will.. we're getting married but.. god it sounds weird, but in a way, I think we're too young to have kids?" Sherlock said and chuckled, "I mean, I am more than 200 years old, but it doesn't feel that way and John.. he is actually that young.. it just seems like the wrong timing.."

"Mmh, I can see what you mean. And John's military service wouldn't help much either." She said and pulled up in front of Mycroft's flat. "He's wanted to do that for years." She explained. "He hasn't changed his mind, has he?"

"No.. no he hasn't.." Sherlock said, giving another sigh, that subject really wasn't improving his mood, "We use an old psychological method to deal with that subject, which is avoiding and denying it." Sherlock said and hummed a small laugh, "It's not going to happen for a while, I know I can't stop him.. and I wouldn't, really, I don't think he could forgive me if I'd keep him from living his dream.. I just really don't like to think about it. But he has promised that he will decide if he turns or not before he leaves and if he decides to turn, he promised it'll happen before he goes."

"Right. He has two or three more years left to decide then. We could talk about that subject again in private, if you want to." Violet offered since it sounded as if he needed to sort that out for himself instead of ignoring it.

"I don't know.. maybe later.." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes as he saw the door of Mycroft's house opening, "There he comes how delightful..." he said and let out a faked gagging sound.

"Sherlock, at least act nicely." Violet said and gave him a look. Looking back at the talk with the twins, his reaction was almost comical now, but at least this was a dynamic she knew. "Hello, darling." Violet greeted her oldest with a smile as he got inside the car. "Hello mother, Sherlock" He said, almost looking pained he had to sit there. As per usual he was wearing a suit and his trademark umbrella. "How is the family?" He inquired. "Oh, it's alright, thank you for asking. We didn t get as much sleep as we would've liked, but that's New Years Eve." She said lightly, starting the car again.

"Friendly reminder it's the 21st century." Sherlock said, rolling his eyes at the way Mycroft talked, "Stuck up prick.." he murmured under his breath.

"Sherlock, we're visiting your father's and sisters grave right now." She said and looked at him. "I want you to pull yourself together and be nice and stop insulting your brother for an hour." Violet said with a raised eyebrow. Mycroft huffed in the back. "At least no one's doubting he's 18."

"Oh shuddup.." Sherlock said, turning his head back to look at his brother before he sunk a little deeper into his seat, crossing his arms. No way was he going to promise not to insult Mycroft.

"Mycroft!" Violet said sharply. "William Sherlock Scott Holmes, you are 242 years old and should be greatful you still have a brother that loves you. I want you to apologise to Mycroft right now." She said and Mycroft rolled his eyes. "You are being ridiculous, you know that?" He said with a sigh, before being cut off by their mother. "Mycroft, be quiet."

Sherlock sulked for a moment more, before murmuring quietly - barely audible, "Sorry.", rolling his eyes.

"Thank you." Violet said and glanced into the rear view mirror. "So, how's your work?" She asked Mycroft, wanting to talk at least a bit with her sons. "Confidential, I'm afraid. But nothing has come up I couldn't handle." He supplied. "I'm glad to hear that, honey. I'm also glad, you got to meet our big family this year. The both of you, I mean. How did you like it?" She asked him. "It was, well, the circumstances did allow for worse." He said. "Though, I do wonder where the girls picked up those 'funny' nicknames for me." He said and looked out of the window.

Sherlock snorted at the last part, "It's a mystery.." he said with a cheeky grin.

Violet sighed inaudibly and glanced at Sherlock. "How about you tell your brother what you got for Christmas, hm?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the road. "Well, it certainly wasn't manners.." Mycroft mumbled.

"Pot, kettle." Sherlock said and pulled out his phone, "Oh and not that you care, but I suppose mum is referring to the fact that John asked me to marry him." he said, keeping his voice flat, even though he was again very excited to talk about it, not that he would let Mycroft know though, he'd only mock him about it.

Mycroft continued to look out of the window and didn't catch his mother's warning glare in the mirror. "Congratulations, Sherlock, though you know my opinion on those institutions." He said. "A bit macabre, we're visiting mother's first husband, isn't it?" Mycroft commented dryly; after all he'd seen Sherlock after his boyfriend's death. "Mycroft Holmes, this is your /father/ we're talking about. Show some respect." Violet said, not liking where this was going.

"You know my opinion on your opinions, don't you?" Sherlock asked in faked nice tone, "And why are you even coming along if it's just 'mother's first husband' to you?" he asked with a raised brow, "I mean, just say the word and I'll gladly push you out of the car... while it's still driving."

"Sherlock, watch it! No one's pushing anyone out of the car." She said. "Need I remind you which one of us is looking after their graves and making sure they haven't been moved once in two hundred years?" Mycroft said sharply. "Or the cottage and I've been handling your own insurance since those have been invented!"

"May I remind you which of us is actually visiting their graves? Or the cottage?" Sherlock said and sighed deeply, "Money isn't everything." he said and shook his head, "I still can't stand you, but I genuinely hope for you that you'll figure that out yourself at some point."

Mycroft scoffed. "Judging from that last credit card billing you're certainly living by that." Mycroft said coldly. "But I'm glad your temporary family can use it." He said took out his phone.

"Oh come on, we have enough money to single handedly save a third world country if it wouldn't attract too much attention." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes, "What I spent hardly made even the slightest dent on our accounts and anyway would you bloody stop checking my bills?"

"Our bills." Mycroft corrected him with a sigh. "Our money, our account, our bills." He said simply. "And would you kindly stop sulking like a teenage boy?" "Children, I've heard enough of this. I don't want to hear another word until we get out of this car." Violet stepped in and bit back a sigh.

Sherlock bit his lip to literally bite back a reply as he looked up a sex shop with online ordering on his phone, if Mycroft wanted to snoop through his bills he at least wanted to have his ears go red as he did so. 

 

Do we have space to store a lifetime supply of lube, because I'm about to order just that. Mycroft just told me he's keeping track of my bills... SH

I'm sorry. Is it that bad with him? JW

Apart from the fact that Mycroft keeps bickering and pointed out that it's macabre to visit and this is an exact quote, "Mother's first husband" and his general existence it's all sunshine and roses. SH

Ouch. Yeah, okay. About the lube: I think it'd traumatise the girls but Mrs. Hudson would have a laugh. JW

Fine... I won't order lube then.. SH

Not a lifetime supply anyway.. SH  


Good. I love you. JW

By the way, could you pick up some aspirin please? JW

I take it Charlie woke up? SH

Yep. She's still in bed though. And as sweet as it is to watch Rosie trying to comfort her, I feel quite bad for her. JW

I really do think she sneaked a little more wine when we weren't looking. SH

I think it might've been more than just a little. I've talked to her. JW

Oh for god's sake, how much? SH

Apparently a whole mug of blood-wine with more blood in it than wine according to her. JW

Sounds more like the other way around, to be honest. I'll bring something for nausea too. SH

Thank you. And I've already tried to lecture her, but I think she zoned out. JW

You know what, let's not lecture her. Just tell her that the way she's feeling now is her punishment. SH

You've got a point. Still get her that aspirin though, as much as she probably deserves it. JW

Obviously. Try massaging her temples that should help a little. SH 

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Sherlock sent and looked at his mother, "I wouldn't break the no talking rule if it wasn't important and I'd appreciate to talk about this without snarky comments Mycroft." he said, not looking at his brother as he addressed him, "Apparently Charlie has a full blown hangover, any tips?"

"She should drink a glass of half-water half blood and eat some pieces of fruit or cooked legumes. Anything with minerals, vitamins and protein, really. And don't give her coffee or anything like that." Violet said, speaking from experience, and thought of her own girl at home, probably going threw the same thing. "A quiet room or stroking her head would help too." She told her son.

"Already told John to try to massage her temples..." Sherlock said as he quickly typed out his mother's advices and sent them to John, before putting his phone into his pocket, "Can we drop by at a pharmacy on the way back?" he asked, while to be honest, he'd honestly rather catch a cab, drive to a pharmacy and back home right now and coddle his daughter.. foster daughter... temporary foster daughter...

"Yes, sure Sherlock." Violet said and glanced over to him. "How much wine exactly did she manage to drink?" She asked him after a moment, remembering how Sherlock had described her back at her home.

"According to what she told John, a whole mug, but she claims it was more blood in it than wine." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes once again, "But vampire or not, she's still 12... no wonder she feels like crap."

Mycroft coughed pointedly and rolled his eyes at Sherlock's parenting, but kept quiet. "No, that's true." Violet said and shook her head a bit, feeling bad for the poor thing. "Be honest, do you still want to come with us to visit your father's and sister's graves with us?" She asked him, though she personally didn't think it was a proper reason, since Charlie had the rest of her family next to her.

"Well.. I would actually rather go and go and make sure she feels better soon, but... I guess that'd be the wrong thing to do.. I guess she should feel that she made a mistake for a while.." Sherlock said reluctantly, "I'll come with you. Charlie's got John at home, it'll be fine." he said, still hating the mere idea of Charlie suffering at all, but it was true that she had to learn that lesson.

"Good, I think that's a very reasonable decision." Violet said. "And I'm glad we still get to do this together." She added and glanced into the mirror. "Yes, me too." Mycroft said at that.

"No one asked you," Sherlock said and shot his brother a look. "Although then again, the fact that he thinks it's a good idea makes it seem like a terrible idea."

Mycroft looked at his mother indignantly, who said "Sherlock, please. Mycroft was being nice, so say thank you and leave him be for the next hour." Violet told her younger son.

"Ugh, fine. Thank you. I should probably mark this day in my calendar, after all you just said something I'm doing is reasonable... that might be a first." Sherlock said and gave his brother a half smile, mostly for the sake of truce.

"Glad you're as excited as me." Mycroft said and bit back any other kinds of scathing remarks. "I probably will." Violet said with a pleased smile, before driving onto a parking spot a short walk away from the cemetery. "So, there we are."

"Been a while.." Sherlock said as he unbuckled his seatbelt, "Meaning this as an actual question rather than a side blow, when have you been here the last time?" he asked, looking at his brother.

"Two or three." Mycroft said, evidently looking uncomfortable because of that, before unbuckling his seatbelt. Violet didn't even inquire much more, not wanting another argument right at the graves.

"Actually.. it's been a while for me too.." Sherlock said and frowned a little, "About a year..." he said and felt a little ashamed about it as well. Taking a deep breath, he held his hand out to Mycroft, "Truce for today?" he asked, this time giving him an honest half smile, though he still couldn't bring himself to make it a full one, but even he didn't think it was right to childishly bicker with his brother here.

"Sounds appropriate." Mycroft agreed after a moment and shook Sherlock's hand and sighed. Meanwhile Violet got her flowers out of her car, glad they could visit the graves as a family; especially knowing that three of them were empty. Maybe this could become a family tradition, she thought to herself, before locking the car and waiting for her sons to follow her.


	65. Charlie's Loyal Watchdog

Sherlock smiled as he entered the flat with a little bag from the pharmacy and either of Ally's and Amy's favourite stuffed toys, a small plush tiger, which was obviously Amy's and a little blue dolphin which was Ally's favourite one and he had strict instructions - the girls had been very clear about that - that they wanted them back when Charlie was feeling better again, but that Charlie needed them more now if she was as sick as Amber and Amber already had their very favourite blanket. Not finding anyone in the living room, Sherlock walked up the stairs and into Charlie's room, "Hey there, how are you?" he asked quietly.

Charlie was lying on her bed when Sherlock opened the door, her face hid in the front of John's shirt so she didn't see much of the light. He'd sat down on her bed a while ago and she'd been lying half in his arms ever since, while he ran his fingertips over her head. Her sister had spent most of the day in here with her, thankfully in silence. When Charlie heard John talking, she just grunted a bit. "Hi love. Have you got the aspirin?" John mouthed, when he saw his fiancé (he still felt excited about that).

"I have, yeah." Sherlock said and spotted a half empty glass of blood on the night stand, that'd do nicely, he decided as he opened the bag and took out the pills, taking one and breaking it in half, before rubbing the parts against each other to pulverise them and mix them with the blood, "There you go, Ms Marple, try to drink it up in one go. " he said as he held out the glass to Charlie, "It should work quite fast." he said softly.

Charlie did as she was told without another word; she was absolutely through with breaking rules... "Thanks" She murmured and held the empty glass out to anyone who'd take it, before leaning back into John.

"I've got another thing that might help." Sherlock said and took the two stuffed toys from the foot of the bed, where he had placed them before, "This is from Amy and Ally.. with a hundred thousand get well wishes," he said with a quiet chuckle, holding the two plush toys out for her, "Oh and they want me to tell her that they do want them back when you're feeling better." he said and smiled a little.

Charlie took the two stuffed animals and smiled a few seconds later, remembering that those were the girls' favourite animals. "Thanks." She said and held them close, feeling miserable enough to have earned the right to cuddle with them. Meanwhile John continued to stroke her hair gently. "How was it?" John asked Sherlock after a moment in a hushed voice.

"A little awkward.." Sherlock said and shuffled a little closer to Charlie on the bed, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Are you feeling nauseous too?" he asked softly, finding Charlie a little more important than how his day went. "I've got something for that too, just say the word. I think you've suffered enough to understand that it was a very, very stupid idea to drink more wine than we told you was okay." he said, not sounding scolding, just.. calm.

"I'm sorry. I won't do that again." Charlie mumbled, feeling actually despite everything mostly relieved that Sherlock wasn't mad at her. She already felt like shit, but that would've been almost worse. "Yeah, I've been sick since this morning." She added after a moment.

Sherlock smiled a little, "You've had enough tomato juice with the ibu for this to help without adding something to it," Sherlock said, pulling a bottle out of the bag and filling the cap that was a little cup at the same time with the syrup the guy in the pharmacy had given him, telling him that it was especially for teenagers, before he handed the filled cap to Charlie. "The man in the pharmacy told me it should help in a couple of minutes, advantage of liquid medicine."

Charlie took the cap and downed it in one gulp, making a face at the taste. "Thanks, t-paps." Charlie mumbled once again afterwards. "Are you gonna call Mrs. Hope?" She asked after a moment; wondering if she'd punish her.

"Don't be silly, we're not gonna tell on you. And you've had the worst possible punishment already. Trust me, John and I both know how awful a hangover feels. That's enough punishment. What we'll do now is making sure you're feeling better again as soon as possible." Sherlock said and gently rubbed her back. "And that's that. Just really, don't do that again, don't play with alcohol or any drug, really. If you think this is bad, then don't even think about trying out drugs, because I can tell you from experience.. coming down from that is about how you feel now times twenty. And the worst thing is, you'll have to take something again to make that feeling go away, but it'll come back.. just don't okay?" he asked quietly, though he had a serious note in his voice.

"No, I won't." Charlie said, relaxing into his touch, and genuinely meant it. If the way she was feeling now was anything to go by, drugs sounded like an absolute nightmare and she trusted Sherlock wasn't lying to her. "I promise."

Sherlock smiled at that, "Good. Now, do you remember anything from last night?" he asked with a little smirk, "Because I do wonder how you managed to trick us and sneak that wine past our eyes." he asked, trying to distract her while they waited for the medicine to kick in.

"T'was easy. Just had to fill a blood bag with wine in the bathroom. The almost empty one so Rosie wouldn't drink it." Charlie said, and couldn't help smirking a little since her trick had worked out so nicely. "You were so focused on the wine not leaving the kitchen that you didn't pay enough attention to the rest. The bag's empty now anyway. It was right in front of your eyes." She explained and turned her head to look at him to hear what he had to say to that.

Sherlock smiled involuntarily, "I really don't approve of what you did, but.. I can't help being a little proud of you for how you did it." he said, continuing to rub her back. "That was.. genius. Even if the what you did was ridiculously stupid." he said and chuckled softly.

Charlie gave him a wry grin. "Thanks, means a lot coming from the master." She said; and really she would've told them anyway how she'd done it; after all, what was a good trick without an audience? "I'd almost say someone's beginning to feel better again." John said and brushed his thumb over her temple. "Mmh, yeah, it's slowly beginning." She said, though she could definitely tell a difference. Still, she quite enjoyed her dads' attention right now and didn't want it to end immediately (though not enough to drink that much wine ever again)

"I'm glad you're not feeling that awful anymore." Sherlock said and smiled a little, "You know, I was really worried, when John texted me to tell me how bad you feel, I nearly turned right around and came straight back home, grabbing medicine on the way, but.. well, you needed a bit of that to understand that it really isn't good for you, a sip on a special occasion isn't that big of a deal, but even if your mind is more advanced, you still have the body of a 12 year old and that's not equipped to handle alcohol like the body of an adult does, that's why you felt like that even if it wasn't much. When you've grown up, you can handle more, but even then you'll feel like that, if you overdo it."

Charlie listened quietly to him and nodded, the smile slipping off her face again. "I'm sorry you got worried because of me. I didn't even think of that.." Charlie said feeling bad about that part. "I'll listen to you from now on."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but don't blindly obey. Not even to us, okay? You've got a precious mind, use it. If you don't understand why we don't want you to do something, ask why and we'll tell you. If you had asked why we only allowed you a little sip of wine, we could have told you that it is because your body is not ready to handle the amounts of alcohol an adult body can and that you'll.. well.. feel like crap in the morning if you have more." Sherlock said and shook his head slightly, "Anyway, my point is, keep questioning things, but if there's a good reason not to do something, like for instance waking up like this, then I expect you to be smart enough not to do it."

Charlie watched Sherlock carefully, trying to follow what he was saying but lost him towards the end. "Sherlock, my head hurts even more now. Can you two lecture me another time, please?" She asked, looking up at him tiredly unsure what exactly he wanted her to say.

Sherlock chuckled softly, "Alright in short, think for yourself, but if we tell you something's dangerous or not good for you, then don't you bloody do it." he said and gave her a smile. "Look how about you try to sleep for a while? That'll give the medicine time to do what it's supposed to and you'll get some relief."

"Yeah, okay. Both, I mean." Charlie said and lay back again to find that John was already getting up and put her head gently onto her pillow. "We'll be downstairs if you need us and check on you every now and then." He told her, before tucking her in. "Okay" She mumbled and closed her eyes again.

"Hm.. I think we can let her loyal watchdog continue her nap here too, can't we?" he asked, pointing at Rosie who had curled up on the end of the bed and was sound asleep.

John chuckled softly. "Yeah, I think we can." He said and took Sherlock's hand. "She's spend the whole day up here if you can believe it." John said, though not that he was complaining; that way he hadn't had to run back and forth between them.

Sherlock smiled, leading John out of the room, "I'm glad they stick together like that." he said after closing the door behind them, "They make a really good team."

"Yes, they really do." John nodded and walked with Sherlock down the stairs. "I'm glad she's getting better. And it sounded like she's learned her lesson for now, don't you think?"

"Oh yes, a day of feeling miserable with only yourself to blame is worse than any grounding or whatever we'd have thought of could be." Sherlock said and sighed, "I just wish she wouldn't feel that miserable." he admitted with a chuckle, before smiling, thinking of a detail he hadn't picked up on before, "She's called me t-paps.." he said and couldn't exactly pinpoint why that made him smile like an idiot. "She hadn't yet, even though we had agreed on that..."

"Maybe she thought it was awkward until now." John suggested with a bit of a smile, because that seemed like quite the step in their relationship. "You might've felt more like a dad to her today."

Sherlock smiled even wider at that, "You realise that they will probably be already back at the orphanage when we're getting married? Or perhaps even with another family.." he said and frowned, especially despising the latter. Not that he didn't want them to have a family, but.. it kind of made him jealous to think about that.

"I thought we'd settled that there aren't any actual adoptions going on there? And if there actually should be a legit one, it'd be incredibly unlikely they'd pick our girls, okay?" John said and raised an eyebrow. "The only other possible couple I could think of are Harry. and Clara."

"I was already considering the possibility of all the vampires we've told about the orphanage telling the vampires they know about the orphanage and so on.." Sherlock said and smiled at his fiancé(!), "Which is good in a way.. it really raises the chances for the kids there to find families."

"Yes, that's true." John said and pecked Sherlock's lips before deciding to pull the oldest trick in the psychology book once more. "Let's think about the girls' home once they're actually safe again, okay? Right now they're upstairs, with us and safe."

"I think my mother wants to talk to me about the let's not think about it strategy, actually." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Oh, speaking of her, we're not the only ones dealing with a hungover teenager today." he said and chuckled again, "Amber's in about the same state."

"Really?" John asked. "Poor thing, though, that's better than Amy or Ally." He joked a bit. "The thing is, I can't take my mouth too full, because so was I last year." John said with a bit of a laugh.

Sherlock raised his brows at him, "And now you're lecturing your foster daughter about it, I call that character development." he said and chuckled a little. "Do you think she'll be able to stomach lunch when she wakes up, though?"

"I think that banana she started two hours ago might be her most realistic option in my opinion." John said and glanced at the piece of fruit in the kitchen. "Maybe some stale bread. I'm not very experienced with vampire hangovers though, so she might be a lot better when she wakes up."

"Probably, but from experience, I can say that it's good to go easy on your stomach after something like that, even as a vampire." Sherlock said and smiled, "Maybe I'll make her a light soup with some blood in it."

"I think she'd appreciate that." John said with a smile, before asking. "Now, how was your day, now that you know all about ours?" He asked, since Sherlock came right next on his priority list.

"Well.. I had a forced truce with my brother, but I think that was a fluke." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Oh and he did congratulate me on our engagement, but reminded me in the same sentence about what he thinks of 'that kind of those institutions'." he said and rolled his eyes, "Mum was happy about it, though." he said with a grin.

"Her opinion is more important, I'd say. And she was even fine with your melting her engagement ring for me?" John asked with a chuckle.

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah, she was okay with that." he said and pulled John into his arms, "I hope your dad doesn't mind that we didn't tell him right away... I mean.. letting two weeks pass after letting them know about major things in our life was not quite what I had agreed with him when they came over to meet the girls."

"Well, it's only going to be one week and five days, so I think we'll still be good." John said and wrapped his arms around Sherlock. "And I think you can imagine how much Dad loves nitpickery."

"You know.. I was thinking we could invite Beth and Gareth to my birthday, while we're at things David loves." Sherlock said and chuckled, "To be honest, mainly I want Rosie to go up to her and call her a (#)hombophob." he said with a laugh.

"Unless you'd like her to tell us in front of the girls and the rest of the family what she thinks of us two adopting, I think that's something we should spare ourselves." John said and shook his head a bit. He didn't even like this idea as a joke. "It's incredibly cute how she says that word though." He chuckled.

Sherlock chuckled along with John, "It is." he said and smiled, wondering how she'd have turned out if she'd have stayed in the orphanage all on her own. There was so much potential in her that would have been wasted if people had kept paying barely any attention to her.

"And speaking of cute words; she's making good progress with her reading isn't she? I can't put anything in front of her without her reading out what's written on the front:" John said with a chuckle; he already knew he was gonna miss those two upstairs a lot.

"Yeah she does." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "She'd be reading fluently by now if the people at the orphanage would pay a little more attention to the individual development of the kids."

"I mean we're one adult per child here at home and there they're ten each, aren't they?" John said. "It's a shame for all of them really, I suppose. Especially those who go adopted though, I suppose."

"Yeah... it is a shame.." Sherlock said, wondering what had become of those kids. "Anyway, how about I make Charlie's soup and you make lunch for Rosie?" he asked and took John's hand again.

"Sounds like a plan to me." John said and pecked his fiancé's (! yep, he was still excited about that one) cheek before turning to lead them into the kitchen. "You think Rosie would like French toast for lunch?" He asked with a chuckle, thinking about what exactly they had in their fridge. "I mean I've no idea if blood goes with sweet things."

"It does, actually.. sort of at least. You can imagine it like licorize in some combinations it goes with both, sweet and salty, not that it tastes like licorize." Sherlock said and chuckled a little.

"I mean, I've bitten my tongue before but that has never made me crave French toast before." John chuckled. "Anyway, French toast it is then." He said and went over to the fridge to get milk and eggs. "I'm still incredibly impressed that I haven't stumbled upon body parts by the way."

"Well, I don't want to scar the girls for life." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "And anyway, I didn't have time for that." he said as he started to collect everything he needed for the soup, "Though frankly, I didn't expect we'd have to deal with a first hangover situation."

"Yeah, she's got me beat with that one. I think I was... fourteen or fifteen at the time." John recalled, before looking over at Sherlock. "What about you though? You can't tell me you didn't drink when you were younger."

"Oh, I did." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I do remember that one time, shortly before Victor and I ran off... we were in a little shed behind the cottage with a bottle of wine I nicked from my parents and... well we got drunk, he let me drink from him too so I actually felt the effects of the alcohol and well you can imagine how that ended, we were just lucky no one walked in on us.. that would have caused serious trouble." he said and chuckled a little.

"You sound like you must have been like a canon let loose." John teased him with a chuckle, before pecking his lips and turning back to Rosie's food.

Sherlock chuckled, "Well actually I think you'd have thought I was boring as hell, but given the standards back then, yes, you could say so." he said with a smirk as he started to chop carrots for the soup.

"Well, I'll have to take your word for that." John chuckled, before glancing to the staircase. "I think I'll check on them in ten minutes again." He said, hoping Charlie hadn't thrown up or anything.

"She's going to be fine." Sherlock said and sighed, "She's over the worst already and with her vampire healing, her head should be perfectly fine when she wakes up and her stomach will recover soon as well. The awful thing is, even vampire healing can only do so much when you're dehydrated. So soup, water and blood is the best treatment, anything else will only cover the symptoms."

"Oh, alright. I'm glad I don't have to worry as much in that case." John said and got a loaf of bread. "Having a hungover child upstairs is still awful, but at least she'll learn from it." He sighed.

"She has already." Sherlock said and laughed, "Did you see her face when I told her that drugs are about 20 times worse?" he asked and smiled, "Guess we don't have to worry about that at least."

"Hopefully. I don't ever want to have to deal with this kind of thing." John said and shook his head a bit. "A bad hangover is the only thing in that direction I'd accept."

"Agreed." Sherlock said and smiled at his fiancé, "Everything else will result in being grounded until the age of 500." he said and chuckled, "Which is actually a serious threat given the circumstances."

"Sounds just perfect to me." John said with a laugh and turned back to the French toast.


	66. Torch

It was two more days until Sherlock's birthday, so of course the perfect time to do some DIY home improvement. At least according to Sherlock and of course the girls, who had great fun watching them trying to break down the wall in Charlie's room that concealed some more space with hammers (according to the blueprint of the flat it wasn't an important one anyway and there should be no cables or such); Chalie's stuff had obviously moved into Rosie's room in the meantime so she wouldn't have to inhale that dust at night. After about two hours they had actually managed to get a decent entrance into there and John figured it was time for a break now and put down his hammer. "There we are, it already looks like a door." He said and wiped the sweat off his brow, though he didn't take off his safety goggles straight away since the kids were still in the room (wearing safety goggles and masks, which did look quite unusual).

Sherlock chuckled a little at that, looking at the uneven hole in the wall, "More or less anyway." he said in reply to John's comment, while Rosie walked closer and peeked into the dark through the hole, "Where's the lightswitch?" she asked, looking at Charlie, because it was her room, so she would know.

"There's no light switch yet." Charlie explained and jumped to her feet to peek inside the hole too, before looking over at Sherlock. "Können wir bitte schon reingehen?" She asked him in German, so Rosie wouldn't get any ideas in case he said no. "Bitte, du hast doch sicher eine, erm, Fackel irgendwo." She said with an innocent smile.

"Sicher hab ich eine Fackel." Sherlock said and pulled a torch out of the tool box, lighting it with his lighter, "There we go." he said with a smile.

Charlie grinned and took the torch, before taking Rosie's hand to explore that place with her. "Come on, there has to be something amazing back here." She chuckled. "Let's better follow Indiana Jones and her partner." John suggested with a smile and took a step inside after them.

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah that sounds reasonable." grabbing another torch and lighting it for John and himself before he followed him into the hole. "So much wasted space..." he said and looked around.

Charlie laughed and sped up a bit, since the place seemed to be so big... "...Shit, I can't see their torch anymore." John cursed after a moment of absolute silence, before tugging hard at Sherlock's hand.

"I mean.. they can't exactly be far away.. this is an enclosed space.. It's not like they could just stumble through a portal or something." Sherlock said, following John's lead.

"I still don't like this." John mumbled and went where he thought he'd last seen the girls, gripping Sherlock's hand more tightly the longer they went on.

Sherlock held his head as he woke up, god that was a weird a dream, he thought, slowly realising that he was lying on a hard wooden floor instead of a bed, had he passed out? He couldn't even remember going to bed or lying down somewhere so that seemed like the only possible conclusion, sitting up, he opened his eyes and.. now that was really strange, he was in his room at the cottage. God, whatever had knocked him out must have been quite the hard blow, he didn't even remember coming here. "John?" he called, looking around the room, which itself seemed a little off, he just couldn't pinpoint how so.

"William?" An older man's voice called back after a few seconds. "Is anyone up there with you?"

"Father?" Sherlock called with a very deep frown, must have been a much harder blow on his head than he had realised. He was a little relieved when he stood up and spotted Charlie and John lying next to the bed, just a little relieve because they both seemed to be unconscious too. And the voice of his father in his head, which he was clearly imagining didn't help much either. "Charlie?" he asked quietly, shaking the girl a little.

Charlie blinked tiredly, when Sherlock woke her up. "What's it, t-paps?" She mumbled and rubbed at her eyes, wondering why she was lying on the floor. It took her a moment to realise she didn't even know that room though and that John was unconscious... "Yes, William, why are you shouting?" The voice demanded from downstairs. Within a second, she shot up, rather alert than scared. "Who is that?" She whispered, incredibly thankful Sherlock was both here and awake.

Sherlock quickly walked over to the window, gesturing Charlie to be quiet, while he looked out of it, what he saw down there proved the theory that had formed inside his head when he had realised Charlie heard that voice too. Impossible as it was, it seemed to be the truth. His room proved it too, it wasn't in the state it had been when he had last seen it, it looked.. new. Fresh in a way. It looked like someone currently lived in it. Even the fire in the fireplace was burning. "I erm.. it's nothing, /father/!" he called back, emphasising the last word for Charlie, giving her a look that told her that he didn't have any idea what had happened either as he walked over to John, trying to shake him awake as well.

"William, you don't have someone up there with you, do you?" His father called, sounding sceptical. Charlie's eyes widened in shock and she quickly woke up her other Dad and whispering that he needed to be quiet or otherwise they'd get busted by Sherlock's Dad. "Wait, what?" John asked confused and rubbed his head, before looking quizzically at his fiancé.

"She's right, apparently." Sherlock said and shook his head, "I have no idea what's going on here, but I do know that tone of voice." he said, looking Charlie over in that dress she was wearing. Why was she even wearing a dress? Charlie hardly ever wore dresses, but that wasn't a question he could dwell on right now. "He's going to come upstairs to check for himself, Charlie, hide in the wardrobe, John, take off your shirt." he said and started to take off his own shirt. "Finding me in bed with a man is hardly worse for him than disgracing a young girl, which is what it'd seem like to him since /to him/ Charlie will look like she's just wearing underwear." he said, having no time for further explanations just now, "Just trust me, alright?" he asked, looking at both of their sceptical faces.

John kept the frown on his face, but he'd be damned if he didn't trust Sherlock and just took off his shirt the way he'd said. "Fine." Charlie frowned at them, but still went inside the wardrobe, mumbling something about weird families and holding back a snicker at the weird clothes inside; it was like a big cosplay wardrobe, just that this was.. less dusty? Meanwhile you could hear the footsteps of William Holmes senior making their way upstairs.

"I'm fine, father, don't come in!" Sherlock said (like that had ever stopped the man) as he slipped into bed, gesturing John to slip into bed with him, "Cover yourself up with the blanket so only your arms and shoulders show.." he said and frowned, "And try to look ... erm.. I guess a mixture of the worst humiliation you can think off and terrified will do when he walks in, but don't say anything."

"Don't worry, I know that routine." John whispered as he got into bed with him, though, he'd never been told to actually let some body parts show. A few seconds later, Mr. Holmes entered the room and obviously this was not what he had wanted to find. "WILLIAM SHERLOCK, what in GOD'S name do you think you're doing?!" He shouted after two seconds of absolute silence, while John gave his best embarrassed caught-in-the-act face. Though... he actually did recognise that face from somewhere. Meanwhile, Charlie looked away, since this wasn't exactly a position she wanted to see her Dads in.

"I... I'm sorry... father.." Sherlock stuttered, not an act as seeing his father's face again, shocked him. Hearing his voice had been disturbing enough, even more so realising it wasn't just imagination, but his face. Seeing him alive and in the flesh.. it was entirely different. It was a wonder he even managed to say anything at all. "I .. didn't mean.. I... I'm sorry." he said, not managing to form a more eloquent sentence right now.

"You should be ASHAMED of yourself, young man!" He said angrily and stepped towards his son's bed to have a proper look at him. "What kind of light does this cast upon our family name?! You're not even thinking about that, are you? But your sleeping around with strangers is something I will NOT tolerate in this household. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"

"Yes, father. I apologise." Sherlock said obediently, still struggling with the idea that he was actually talking to his father. He was simply going through the motions here. "It won't happen again." he said and nodded.

"I should hope so." Mr. Holmes said and let out an angry sigh, before turning to John. "And you have seven minutes to get off my property. I don't want to see you anywhere near my son again." He said at which John nodded quickly, before turning to leave again.

Sherlock let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding when the door closed behind his father. "Jesus Christ.." he said and was actually trembling. "Don't worry, he'd like you if he'd properly get to know you." he mumbled, knowing that was the truth, but in that situation, his father had actually reacted rather mildly, given the time period they were in. And they were, weren't they? There was no other explanation for his father being here and the house looking like it was in constant use and.. the sight outside, where he had seen people in period fashion.

John looked at Sherlock, still struggling with the idea of it all. "Jesus, I just met your bloody father..." He mumbled and sat up, before looking over to the pair of eyes in the slid of the wardrobe. "You can come out now." He told her, but Charlie seemed to be much more out of it than Sherlock now that she'd had time to think in the wardrobe. "Where's Rosie?!" She asked immediately, trying to keep the quaver out of her voice and tears out of her eyes.

Sherlock's eyes widened at that, causing him to look around hectically. Where was she? He hadn't even noticed Rosie wasn't with them, but she had been definitely with them when they had... travelled? When they had broken down the wall anyway. And she had been with Charlie when they had seen their torch disappear. So where was she? "Maybe.. she's at home?" he asked, hoping it was true, but it didn't make sense for her not to have travelled with them. She had to be here somewhere. "We'll find her, wherever she is." Sherlock stated eventually, getting out of the bed and looking down at himself, before looking at the other's clothes. "But not like that. We need to change. Charlie you can't walk around like that outside, that'd be like walking around in bra and slip back home." he said and looked at John, "And you can't wear jeans and trainers.." he mumbled, scratching the back of his neck.

"But I- I know I held her hand when we walked through that room..." Charlie muttered and before she could say another word, John crouched down in front of her, ignoring Sherlock for the moment, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, as far as we know, she could really be with Mrs. Hudson and eating biscuits. Charlie, neither of us knows what's going on, but don't you blame yourself. If anything happens, that's on Sherlock and me, and we will take care of it, okay?" He wiped a tear off her cheek with his thumb and she gave a little nod. "Yeah, okay." She said and swallowed, before looking back up at Sherlock, expecting he had a plan.

Sherlock's get to work expression softened a little, before he walked over to her, "He's right, don't blame yourself, okay.. neither of us could have expected ... well whatever happened back in that room." he said and frowned, "But I'm sure she's alright and I'm sure we'll find her. Maybe she woke up before us and went on an expedition, wouldn't put it past her." he said and smiled reassuringly at Charlie. "Anyway, I need to get clothes for us.. I mean.. for John and me, that should be doable easily, my wardrobe's right there, but I need to find a proper gown for you. A nice one too." he said and looked outside, “I've seen some girls from the neighbourhood outside and I know their attitude when there's a ball coming up." he said and smiled at Charlie, "So perhaps I can get Jane to accompany you there and you can look out for Rosie.. there will be music and pretty dresses, if she's strolling around she'll be curious." he said and frowned, "I'll try to get one of my mother's dresses." he said and looked at the two, "You wait here. If my father comes back, John, you tell him I said I'd try to sneak you some breakfast from the kitchen, he'll easily believe that." he said and looked at Charlie, "And you go back into the wardrobe if he comes in."

The both of them nodded and Charlie could almost muster a smile; it was actually really likely that Rosie was out there exploring the neighbourhood; especially if there were nice dresses involved. "Okay, I'll stay here even if your Dad throws John out for good." And John glanced at Sherlock and nodded; "Yes, please hurry."

"Right, if he does that.. walk around to the back of the house, walk towards the large oak next to the pond and hide behind it, that way you won't be visible from the house or the street and behind the house are miles of untouched meadow so you won't be seen from other houses either." he said and leant over to peck John's lips. "Also try to find something in my wardrobe that fits you." he said with a smile. "I'd be lying if I said I'm not curious what you look like in that kind of outfit." he said with a chuckle.

"Right, well, we'll soon find out. See you in a minute then." John said and gave him a bit of a smile, before turning to the closet to get some clothes out, hoping Sher's father wouldn't come in while he was stealing his son's clothes. Meanwhile Charlie got back into the wardrobe once John had stepped away from it again "See you."

Sherlock returned just two minutes later with a corset, a white gown, a pair of shoes and a small navy blue jacket for Charlie. "Alright then, I think your dress really does work as an undergown for this." he said and spread the clothes on the bed, revealing a little box as well, containing a hairbrush and some ties and hair clips. "I'll just quickly do your hair. You won't believe how often Jane made me do it for her so I should get a usual hairstyle done, but don't expect a work of art." he said, steering Charlie over to the bed, feeling somewhat rushed since his father could come back any time, but he was likely to give them half an hour at least instead of his usual seven minutes.

John quickly, well "quickly", changed into some of Sherlock's shorter clothes, finding the overall situation still strange but ignoring it for Charlie and especially Rosie's sake. Charlie smiled a little when Sherlock made her hair, it had something calming to it, especially now that John and Sherlock seemed to know know what they were doing (she logically doubted it, but still believed it for some reason.) "Could you do that more often when we're back at home?" She asked Sherlock after a minute.

Sherlock smiled at that, humming a, "Mhm.." before he pulled another hair clip from between his lips to fix another strand of hair, before he pulled all the clips out of his mouth and smiled, "And there we go, done." he said, quite proud of himself that he had managed her hair so well as he handed her a handheld mirror. "What do you sa..." he said, cutting off as he spotted John, yes, he did look just as bloody well in clothes like that as he had imagined.

"It looks great, thanks." Charlie smiled and looked at her hair in the mirror, while John ran a hand through his hair and smirked a bit at the look on Sherlock's face. "You like my new look, I take it?" He asked and walked over to Sherlock and Rosie.

Sherlock smiled at that, "I do." he said and bit his lip, before looking back at Charlie, "However, we don't have all day, so let's get that corset on you, Ms Marple." he said and glanced again at John as he picked up the corset, helping Charlie to get it on properly, before tying the laces much more loosely than they were worn usually though.

"So Violet used to wear this?" Charlie asked, thankful for the help, since all of this tying business on her back seemed quite complicated. Once it was on, John handed her the white gown or rather helped her pull it over her head.

"Yeah.. and that's one of the easier ones to put on, up until the early 1900's women usually had maids to help them get dressed, there really were dresses you couldn't even get off yourself." Sherlock said as he started to get dressed with ease, everything about how to do what came back to him quite naturally.

"And how did the maids get dressed?" Charlie asked him, before sitting down on her bed to slip into the white shoes Sherlock had brought for her.

"They helped each other, or other servants helped them." Sherlock said and gave a little shrug, "Most of the time they didn't wear the really fancy dresses though, the fancier the more complicated the dress was." he said, slipping into a pair of boots, knowing the streets would be somewhat muddy. "Right, let's get out of here before my father, or even worse before /I/ come in here." he said and got slight headaches from that idea.

Charlie frowned, even though she was kinda curious to see what Sherlock was like in his actual teens. "By the way, just out of interest" She began as she followed her foster Dads outside "How old would Lowell be these days?"

"To know that I'd have to know what year it is, but since my dad didn't seem to think it weird that I'm suddenly a grown up or anything, I'd say it must be around 1791-93.. which makes Lowell.. somewhere between 12 and 14." Sherlock said and gave Charlie a little smile, "I'm really not sure if we get to see him, though." he said as he steered them past the servants rooms and kitchen to the staff entrance, his family usually wasn't in that part of the house.

"Sherlock", John began and kept his voice down. "What do we do when we meet you or Victor?" He asked, knowing that at this age they'd likely already been together. Obviously Rosie was still his priority, but it would be a good idea to know how to react to people.

"We avoid me and if we meet Victor, we'll tell him what's going on." Sherlock said immediately, "He'll believe us." he said, knowing that was true. No matter how crazy the story, Victor knew that Sherlock would never lie to him. "He'll help us find Rosie." he said, only now feeling his pulse quicken a little at the thought of seeing Victor again, not that he still felt the exact same for him, but he still missed him and loved him, even if it wasn't in a romantic way anymore.

"Okay, good." John said. He was genuinely glad that Sherlock used to have someone he could rely on like that; and if he'd help them find Rosie that was even better. "And what do we do in case we find, well, you? Your current self, I mean."

"Well.. I don't know much about time travel, but I think it wouldn't be good if we meet each other.. or.. if I meet me, rather, god that's a weird thought." Sherlock said and frowned a little. "Anyway, I guess it's better if you go and knock me out. Maybe lock me up or something?" he asked and shrugged, "At least that way I won't be running into myself. Actually, try the shed first..." he said and smirked, "The one behind the house I told you about. I was there rather often.."

"Alright, I'll see if I can find you." John said with a chuckle. "You take care of Charlie. How about we meet tonight by that shed?" John suggested.

Sherlock nodded at that, "Yeah, I'll get Charlie to Jane and after that, I'll go check places I used to go to when I was little." he said and looked at his watch, which he had put into his pocket, "Okay.. it's 2pm now.. we meet at 9pm at the shed, I'll ask Jane to get you there as well Charlie and do not run off to look for Rosie by yourself okay, stay with Jane? I don't want to have to look for you as well. One missing daughter is bad enough, don't make it two, promise?" he asked and looked at Charlie with a smile.

"Yeah, I promise, but if I'm sure I know where she is, I will get her." Charlie replied, because after all this was Rosie they were talking about and there was no point in splitting up if she was supposed to just sit around and wait for everyone else.

"No. If you know where she is, you will tell Jane and you'll get her together." Sherlock said and looked rather sternly at her, "You won't wander off on your own, first, you don't know the town, you can easily get lost, second, you don't know the time period you're in, we don't know when we'll get to go home, or.. if... so, you stay with Jane. If you know where she is, you tell Jane, she will know how to get to her, but - and I'm very serious here - one false move, or word and you can ruin your reputation which will make your life rather miserable in this era. A woman's reputation is fragile these days. So please, stick to the promise you made when you had that hangover, if we tell you not to do something because it might harm you in whatever way, don't do it."

Charlie looked at him for a few seconds before visibly giving in; especially after the last point. "Okay, I won't." She promised, even though she really didn't like the idea of not being able to run to Rosie's help whenever she wanted to. "I'll stay at Jane's side until you come and get me."

"Good. But... if you know where she is and she might be in danger, and I mean actual danger.. don't wait. I know you wouldn't if you see she's in danger, but you might hesitate if you think you're forbidden." Sherlock said and smiled a little at her when they left the house. "But that's only in a situation where you really can't wait. Everything else, you go to Jane and you will do what she says. If you really get into that situation, though, there's a church, you can see the tower from basically everywhere in town," he said, pointing at the church tower that was rather far away, but still clearly visible. "If you get lost, that's where we'll come to get you. Understood?" he asked, wanting her to confirm, just to ease his mind, "Oh and I erm... I think I stole my own money.." he said and wasn't sure if that would be actually considered theft, though he shook that thought off quickly, they had time to think about that kind of thing when they had found Rosie. "Here, that's ten pounds which is as good as about 300 pounds in our time." he said, handing her a small purse with containing some coins and notes.

"Okay. I'll stick with Jane unless Rosie is in actual danger and I can't wait, in which case I'll wait for you in that church." Charlie repeated and glanced at the church tower Sherlock pointed at to show Sherlock she knew the drill. "And I'll make sure not to lose this." She said and took the purse, before tying it around her waist.

"Alright, let's find Jane, then." Sherlock said and quickly glanced around to make sure there was no one watching, before he very quickly pecked John's lips, "And you.. don't knock me too hard, yeah.." he said and smirked a little, "Bet you've been waiting to get to do that for months." he said with a chuckle.

"You bet I have." John teased with a chuckle, before giving Charlie a quick hug and turning to head for the shed. "Be careful." He told them, before leaving the two to themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here of course the English translation of the part in German:D  
> "Could we already go inside, please?" She asked him in German, so Rosie wouldn't get any ideas in case he said no. "Please you surely have an, erm, torch somewhere." She said with an innocent smile. "Of course, I've got a torch."


	67. Of Mouldy Thumbs And Future Lovers

"I tell you, someday men will be allowed to marry each other." William Holmes Jr. said softly, running his hands through Victor's hair, quite liking to have him trapped between his legs and shirtless at that as he sat on a haystack, "That is ridiculous." Victor said and leant in to press a small kiss to his friend's lips, "You're ridiculous.." he murmured softly, muffling any protest William might have given with a deeper kiss and wrapping his arms around his bare waist.

John went over to the shed and knocked first (after the way Sherlock had looked, it was probably a good idea not to burst right into a making out session or whatever they were doing in there) A courtesy second later, he opened the door.

Being much to entranced with each other, neither William, nor Victor, who had the other boy flat on his back on the haystack at this point, had noticed anything around them, before the door the door opened and they both froze, their faces going white, before Victor's soldier reflexes kicked in and he grabbed William's shirt which was lying next to them, tossing it over William's face, "Rupert, run." he said and moved quickly off of William, pushing him towards the back door of the shed, before William could protest, he knew he probably would, but he couldn't let anything happen to him. He just couldn't. Mostly blinded by the shirt, William was much too startled to even grasp the situation, but the use of a false name and the tone in Victor's voice made him obey blindly as he pushed the door open and ran towards the house as fast as he possibly could.

John was a bit startled by Victor's (he looked exactly like on that painting) sudden reaction, which made him immediately a lot more sympathetic to John. He showed him his hands to signal he wasn't about to start a fight or make any quick movements, really, before speaking. "Hello Victor, I'm John. I'm a friend of Sherlock's. I'm not going to tell anyone about the two of you, I just wanted to talk to you. He's told me a while ago, I could find him in here when he's not in his room." He said calmly.

"I don't know who you're talking about." Victor said defensively, making slow and subtle, but determined steps backwards to reach his bayonet, which was unfortunately covered by his red coat. It did strike him as odd, however, that this John person (really who would just come up to you only giving you their first name and address you with yours without prior acquaintance?) knew his name and especially William's second name. Barely anyone but his mother called him that.

"Come on, I can recognise Sherlock. He's got this weird mole triangle right above his waist and forgets to eat all the time. He even let me borrow his clothes for that matter." John said, figuring it was very unlikely for a complete stranger to walk into some cottage and walk out with stolen clothes, so that argument must've been worth something.

Victor frowned at that, tilting his head a little to look at the stranger more closely. Yeah, he could definitely see that Sherlock would think that man handsome.. "So.. he.. you and him.." he mumbled and his frown deepened while his face fell a little. "I mean... we haven't.. talked about.. other people.. and I suppose I've got no claim on his affections, no legal one by engagement or marriage anyway.." he murmured, mostly talking to himself as he tried to understand the situation. William.. had another man? It seemed unlikely. Very much so. But this man knew even about specific attributes of Williams naked body. He just didn't understand it.

"Oh, what, well, not exactly.. wait, you don't even know about half of this..." John said, before scratching the back of his head. "It's complicated, but I'll tell you everything. Sherlock has told me I could trust you with everything." He explained, partly to genuinely make victor feel better after that blow. "He was never in a relationship with the both of us at the same time, I know that for sure, but yeah, it's complicated. Anyway, will you listen to me? Preferably without whatever's under your jacket though."

" _William_ told me he's never been with anyone before.." Victor said, kicking the jacket off his bayonet and using his foot to slide the sword over to the haystack he had just lied on with William, before walking over to it and sitting down, keeping one foot on the blade, mainly so this stranger couldn't pick it up, but also so it was in reach. "I still don't know what to make of you, but I'm willing to listen." he said with a decisive nod. He didn't trust the man, but for some reason he didn't particularly distrust him either.

"Good, I'm glad." John said and closed the door behind himself, careful not to be too fast, because damn, Victor was impressive; the story book picture of a trained 18th century soldier. He could definitely see what Sherlock liked about him and he certainly didn't want to get into a fight with him in any case."Right, you call him William here." John remembered and shook his head a little. "Okay, so first off, do you already know about his, erm, I don't know how to put this in case-" John began carefully, before spotting tell-tale bruises on Victor's neck; thank God, he already knew about the vampire thing. "Good, forget what I just said." He said. "Going by your literal love bites, I'm safe to assume you know about the vampire thing too, right?" He asked, just so that they were on the same page.

"I do.." Victor said, instantly growing suspicious again and reaching for his blade and stabbing it into the haystack next to him, letting his hand rest on the handle, "You have a very handsome face, goes well with your pretty neck. It would be a shame to separate the two of them, but I swear to god if you've been the bastard that assaulted him, I will make that sacrifice." he said, giving John a cold, piercing look.

"No, I'm not." John said, forcing himself to stay calm (at least one thing, he'd become quite good at); if roles were reversed he'd be suspicious too. "No teeth or anything. If you go at me, I'll just bleed to death, like any normal person, if you need proof, but I'd prefer if you just checked my teeth, if you really want to." He offered, still not into the idea of getting stabbed to death, even if he didn't think that that was extremely likely. " But I'm glad Sher- William's got a protective boyfriend like you."

"Boyfriend?" Victor asked with a frown, having never heard that term before. "You mean.. like... a husband? But not a husband?" he asked, wanting to make sure he wasn't misunderstanding the man.

"Erm, yeah. I mean, you're only seeing each other romantically, but aren't engaged yet." John explained with a nod.

"Or ever..." Victor said with a bit of a sigh. He'd propose to William in a heartbeat if it was possible. "William is convinced that someday it might be possible for men to openly be together and even get married," he said with a huffed chuckle, his eyes lighting up a bit at the idea, "He's such a romantic." he said with an almost dreamy smile.

John couldn't help smiling at that a little. "Yeah, that's true." He said, before brushing his thumb over his engagement ring pulling himself together. "Look, what, I'm about tell you, is gonna sound even crazier than this whole vampire thing, so I want you to know that I'm not lying and that I actually know Sher- I mean William very well and that I care about him. Is there anything you want to ask me to prove that?"

Victor smirked a little at that, "Is there any limit to what you might find in William's hiding places?" he asked, thinking of the half rotten experiments William sometimes worked on, telling him that's exactly the way it was supposed to look, he still shuddered remembering that almost alive again dead pig William had nicked from the local butcher, claiming that its organs were so similar to a human's that he could collect "valuable data" from it.

"Jesus Christ, I wish." John said a laugh. "Mouldy thumbs, livers and he forgot a brain lying around in a bag somewhere until it looked like paint." John said and shook his head. "I guess, you know what I'm talking about."

Victor laughed outright at that, "Yeah that.. sounds like him." he said and chuckled a little again. "You must love him quite a bit if you put up with that." he said and gave John a little smile, "Yes it's obvious whenever you say his name. So.. tell me.. assuming William didn't lie to me when he said he's never been with anyone before and also that you don't lie to me when you say he's never been with both of us at the same time.. how would that work? How can both of those things be true?"

"I was born in 1997." John said after some hesitation and glanced down. "I know that this sounds ridiculous. And please don't ask me how we got back here in the first place, because I have genuinely no idea." He paused. "But that's how I knew you were here. Sherlock remembered it and told me." John sighed; he wouldn't believe himself, if he was being honest.

"1997?" Victor asked sceptically, raising a brow at John, thinking for a long moment, before nodding, "Zooks, my head says you're insane, eh wot?" Victor said and ran a hand through his hair, "My gut's another matter..." he said and sighed, "Go on, I'll decide if I believe you once I've heard the whole story."

"Okay, so, another thing about vampirism that you're going to learn about is that he's not going to age or die naturally for that matter." John said. "I mean, you probably can't tell right now, but my Sherlock is about to turn 243 and I'm already looking older than him. From my point of view our story is relative simple; I'm studying medicine and Sherlock was studying chemistry for the, I don't know, fortieth time? So we met during one of our classes. I mean, I obviously liked him and things went back and forth a bit until he asked me out on a date." John didn't even notice the small smile that had crept onto his face. "Anyway, thanks to Mycroft, who put the portraits his mum had painted of you two, into the gallery we went to, I made him tell me about how that was possible and all. I really didn't believe him at first.. Anyway, Mycroft didn't want Sherlock to go through the same thing he had after your, erm, death. Sherlock loved you an awful lot, you know, and I don't think he'll ever forget you." He said and glanced down. "Anyway, we immediately decided to marry and got engaged a few years ago." John said and took off his engagement ring so Victor could have a look. "That sopping romantic melted his mum's engagement ring and reused the sapphire for me." He said and smiled down at it, before holding it out to Victor. "I proposed to him, though, but we're both wearing rings." he said, before clearing his throat. "Coming back to our life though and why we need your help; back at home there's an orphanage for vampire children (don't worry they're ageing until they're fully grown) and we suspect that someone is deliberately killing parents and turning children to.. use them. That's why we've taken our two foster daughters in, Rosie and Charlie. We suspect, that they're in danger, so having them with us is the best way to protect them..." He said and sighed again. "I know, this got out of hand quickly.. I still don't know how we got here, but my Sher- I mean William and one of our girls woke up in his room back here after a strange dream of going through some portal." he explained. "Anyway, right now, we're missing Rosie, our four-year old and my Sherlock, I mean William is talking to Jane, but I don't know if he'll tell her about all of this." He glanced at his hands, before looking back at victor. "Okay, that's my story."

Victor was quiet for a good five minutes, trying to decide if he did trust John's story or not, "Okay... I think I will trust you. For now. But I do want to meet that other Sherlock." he said and nodded to himself. "And we'll find that little girl of yours. If necessary, I'll tell some of my friends in the military about her. I'll tell them she's your sister and that you're a close friend of mine, the more people looking for her the better." he said reached for his shirt, starting to get dressed properly again.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it." John said and looked properly relieved at the prospect of getting help to find Rosie. "But.. oh wait, there's something I should tell you." John said and looked a little conflicted. "I don't know how it would affect our future, if I told you new information, but.. I know how vampires can turn mortals into vampires. Sherlock found out decades after you died and he's blamed himself for not being able to turn you." He said and swallowed. He loved Sherlock, more than anything, that he knew for sure, and he absolutely couldn't bear the thought that he could potentially prevent the loss of his dead lover... Spare him centuries of grief... even if that meant no one in his family would ever get the slightest chance to meet him. OH. Oh... "I love him." John said after several seconds and looked up at Victor. "And I know you made him happy and losing you was the worst thing in his life, so I'll tell you how it works, if you want me to." He said eventually, having made his choice. He couldn't let this chance pass for Sherlock. He just couldn't.

Victor stopped moving at that, looking at John for a long time, "If I don't die..." he said and paused, "If I don't die.. you might never meet him.." he said and gave John a little smile, "You'd really do it, wouldn't you? You'd give him up, just so he wouldn't have to suffer from my loss decades before you'd meet him?" he asked and sat down again, thinking about this. "Don't." Victor said eventually and shook his head, knowing that it meant his time with William would end eventually. But how could he take this from John. How could he take this from William? Having a fiancé. Kids, even. A proper family, without any need to hide, except maybe for the fact that he was a vampire, but that was different. "Don't tell me." he said and took a deep breath. He might be asking John for that information after all, but he did want to see how William, or Sherlock as he was apparently calling himself in the future was acting around John. That was what he would base his final decision on. "Not.. yet." he added to be fair. "I need some time to think about this."

"Yes, of course. I understand." John nodded and clenched his fist, trying to push this out of his mind for now then. Rosie was more important now. "So, do you want me to bring you to him or are we going to look for Rosie?" He asked him. "You understand, I have to find my daughter."

"Where and when are you going to meet him?" Victor asked, starting to put on his red jacket, "You and I will have to go to our camp first. You need to describe your little daughter as best as you can to a friend of mine. Very talented with the pencil." he said and smiled a little, "It'll be easier to find her if we have a painting of her."

"I'm meeting him here at this shed at 9pm." John said before remembering. "Oh, actually I've got a photo of her on my-" John broke off and frowned. "Erm, in the future our technology allows us to carry around very realistic-looking paintings, or photos." He explained and pulled out his mobile to open an image of Rosie. "Here there she is. This is called a mobile phone by the way." He said. "But I probably shouldn't show this to anyone besides you."

"That is incredible..." Victor said and took the strange device from John's hands, looking at it from all sides, before touching the surface and jumping a little when the image disappeared and and another photo showed, that one showing .. definitely William, yes. And the room he was in looked.. very different than rooms looked these days, but William looked just the same, if a little more.. grown up. It wasn't so much a physical difference than .. just a sort of aura, so to speak. A feeling. "How many of those... photos fit into the phone? And how do you get them out of it?"

"Well, that depends on the phone entirely." John said, figuring that he'd save explaining the internet and the concept of the cloud for another time. "But currently I surely have almost two thousand on there and there's space for more, but I think explaining that, would go a bit too far." John said. "Oh and you can't really get the photos out of there. Or, well, you'd need a different device for that."

"Right..." Victor said and looked at the device a little longer before handing it back to John, "The future seems exciting..." he said and thought again of the fact that he might not see it. Which shouldn't feel so strange to him, after all this was his time, going by all natural laws he shouldn't see that future. But he maybe could, couldn't he? Did he want to? Perhaps, yes. But not enough to take a happy future away from William to replace it with an uncertain future. Who could tell if there wasn't a way to kill a vampire after all, so even if he would turn, maybe he would be killed in battle after all as the situation with the French was still unstable and frankly would probably always be.

John nodded, the smile slipping from his face a little. "From your perspective certainly. For me this is like walking through a museum to be honest." He said with a bit of a chuckle, before slipping his phone back into his back pocket and swallowed. "Tell me, when you've decided by the way. Anyway, shall we go to your camp now?"

"Yes. Let's go, but.. John." Victor said and gave him a genuine smile, "I wouldn't even hesitate to accept your offer if I didn't think you're worth him. And, thank you for giving me that chance.." he said and took a breath. "I will tell you the moment I've decided.. waiting for my decision is probably about as hard as my decision itself.. probably about as hard as giving me that opportunity at all. I want you to know that I really do appreciate it."

John smiled back a bit. "It is. And I'm glad you do. It goes without saying that I think the same of you." He said, before holding back a sigh and going to the door, waiting there for the other to follow. Obviously Victor had no idea what this actually meant for John; and it was better that way.

Victor nodded and adjusted his belt, putting his bayonet back into it's sheath, before he walked over to John, "You're not going to tell him about it, are you?" he asked as he opened the door, making sure no one was around as he looked out of the door, out of habit. Living this way made you very conscious of your surroundings and who might be around to watch. Even more than people normally did, before he walked out of the shed, gesturing John to follow.

"No, obviously not." John said and shook his head. "It's nothing he needs to worry about." He said and followed along. And it was true; however this was going to end, Sherlock would never know, which was comforting, since he had a feeling Sherlock might not agree with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Excerpt from Chapter 17: In The Lion's Den - Pt. 1
> 
>  
> 
> "And that he's [Richard] also a vampire thanks to you seventy years ago." John added and shrugged. "I have no sodding clue, Sher. I hadn't expected any kind of conversation with him to go further than. 'Hi, this is my handsome boyfriend and yes, I know where the door is.' I don't even know how to react to this kind of information... And I'd like to meet him before we tell dad, if that makes makes sense. Oh, and Sherlock?"
> 
>  
> 
> Sherlock smiled lightly, understanding that this would be very confusing for him, honestly, Sherlock wasn't any less confused, he had never guessed that John and Richard would be in any way related, but now, thinking about it, he could see the resemblance. "Yeah?" he asked.
> 
>  
> 
> "Thanks for my bloody existence." He said after a moment, looking at him with a bit of a grin and shaking his head. "You've been waiting for a while for me, hm?"
> 
>  
> 
> "Obviously... It all worked out according to my master plan of creating the perfect partner for me." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, pulling John into his arms, "You think the fact that he wouldn't have been born without me will score me some more points with your father?" he asked and smiled, wrapping his arms loosely around John's neck.


	68. Let's Find Jane

"Alright, let's find Jane, then." Sherlock said and quickly glanced around to make sure there was no one watching, before he very quickly pecked John's lips, "And you.. don't knock me too hard, yeah.." he said and smirked a little, "Bet you've been waiting to get to do that for months." he said with a chuckle.

"You bet I have." John teased with a chuckle, before giving Charlie a quick hug and turning to head for the shed. "Be careful." He told them, before leaving the two to themselves.

"You too!" Charlie said as she watched him leave, before looking back up at her father. "So how do we get to Jane?"

"I know where she is." Sherlock said with a smile and gestured Charlie to follow, "She used to be out in the their garden to write nearly everyday around this time of day." he said as he led Charlie towards a house that was a bit away from his own, "You need a cover identity." he said with a smirk, "How about you're my friend's sister, that friend being John. He's ridden off to find your four year old sister who ran off, so he left you in my care, but obviously we need a chaperone, so I'll ask if Jane can join us. It's incredibly indecent for a young lady to be alone with a man she hardly knows and that isn't part of the family." he said and frowned. The whole business of people marrying at young ages had always bothered him, but now having a daughter, he'd slaughter any man that would seriously intend to marry her this age.

"Oh, that all sounds like some pretty serious business." Charlie said, hoping more than anything they could all return home. "So I'm actually not considered a child around here but a 'young lady', yeah?" She asked as she followed Sherlock to Jane's home. It was a very strange thought and she probably didn't understand everything that label implied around here.

"Yes. It was rare, but there were people that actually got married at your age." Sherlock said and frowned, "And don't you even think about marrying Lowell here." he said, half joking, half serious as he knocked at the door of Jane's house, "You need to do a little bow like that," he said and demonstrated how a young lady would bow, "If we meet Jane's mother, don't bow to the maid that will open the door, she's lower in rank than you are, so she will bow to you. With Jane it doesn't really matter, even with the danger that we'll end up in one of her books, I'll tell her the whole story anyway. She's a vampire, she's a bit more open minded about unbelievable things."

Charlie smirked at that, after doing that bow after Sherlock. "Would be cool to end up in one of those." She chuckled, before falling silent when the door was opened as a maid opened the door. She made a bow to each of them, before speaking. "Mr Holmes, Miss. How can I help you?" She asked Sherlock politely.

"Good afternoon, Mrs Lucas." Sherlock said and gave her a polite smile. "Miss Watson, this is Mrs Lucas, the Austen's housekeeper." he said and looked back at the maid another person he didn't think he'd see again. "May we see Miss Jane Austen?" he asked.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Lucas." She said to which the housekeeper replied. "Likewise, Miss Watson." She gave another bow, before nodding and stepping aside. "Most certainly, Mr. Holmes. Please follow me into the drawing room and I shall see to talk to her."

Sherlock smiled, walking into the house and waited for Charlie to follow so Mrs Lucas could close the door, before following her into the drawing room.

"Please excuse me." Mrs. Lucas said with a polite smile and gave another bow, before turning around to go upstairs. "Wow. And that's normal?" She whispered once Mrs. Lucas was out of sight.

"Yep." Sherlock said with a little chuckle, "Everyday routine. It's actually less weird when you've grown up with it, though even for me it's strange after not having behaved like that in ... well, centuries. It was terribly hard to come out of it though."

"Really? I'd have thought something like that would've felt, I don't know, "organic"? Though, you're right, there must have been a day from which onwards you completely stopped bowing to people." Charlie mused with a chuckle; it was all strange, really.

"It really doesn't." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "To be quite honest, I feel rather at home in our time, actually." he said and turned around as the door opened and Jane walked in on her own, "Sherlock, it's been so long." she said, closing the door and chuckling a little, "I expect you've been occupied with Victor? I'm so glad I introduced you, but I feel offended you forget me over that." she said and smiled at the girl with him, "Oh and who are you, my dear." she said and gave Sherlock a worried look, "Don't tell me she's your fia.." she began and Sherlock shook his head, cutting her off, "Good god, no." he said and shook his head. "Sherlock! Show some manners, you don't have to make it that clear. Don't be offended, my dear." she said, turning from Sherlock to Charlie, "He doesn't mean it that way, he's just never been good with words." she said and chuckled a little.

Charlie gave Sherlock a bit of a grin."Yeah, I know, it's alright, really." The thought of being his fiancée almost made her shudder herself. "I'm Charlie, Sherlock's d- erm, the sister of his friend." She said, remembering her cover story. "It's really nice to finally get to meet you, Jane." She said, glad Sherlock had said she was more tolerant in terms of etiquette than the others.

"Daughter. She's my daughter" Sherlock said, since no one else was in the room at the moment. Jane looked properly appalled by the thought of an illegitimate daughter, especially since she thought Sherlock preferred men. But then she thought it through completely, "You're just making fun of me," she said and snickered again, "You almost had me there." she said and Sherlock shook his head, "I'm serious, Jane. She is my daughter. I told you, it's a complicated story." he said and Jane still frowned, because that girl looked to be at least 11 or 12 if not older and she could still count. Sherlock would have been 6 or 7 when that must have happened, which was impossible. "But she can't.. Sherlock.." she said and Sherlock sighed, "Let's just go for that walk, alright?" he asked and Jane nodded, her smile slipping a little, realising that whatever story she was about to hear from Sherlock, it would be a vastly complicated one. "Alright, I'll just go and get dressed, I'll be quick." she said, before leaving the room.

Charlie couldn't help smiling a little; It felt extra special when Sherlock actually called her his daughter, especially in front of others. Not even Jane's reaction to it could ruin that for her. "So who are we telling the truth?" She asked after a moment, just to double-check. "Only Victor and Jane, right?"

"Yeah." Sherlock said and gave a nod. "I'd say Mycroft, but he's always away on business that's been his thing even in this era." he said and rolled his eyes, "Though, vampire or not, I suppose he would have trouble with time travel after all." he said and sighed, "I hope John is making progress with .. well me and Vic..." he said  
"Yeah, I hope so too." Charlie nodded. "What are we going to do after Jane knows about us though? I mean, I could imagine that she'll help us find Rosie either way. I mean, we've still got to find a portal, but I don't think anyone could help us with that. Though, it's probably good if at least someone from here knows about your doppelganger situation." She commented; right, they might not get back that easily.

"Well, our best shot at that, would be Baker Street, don't you think?" Sherlock asked and smiled at Charlie, "And even if it takes us a while.. at least you and Rosie are safe here. I hardly doubt that group we're trying to find has been operating for over 200 years, it just doesn't seem likely and anyway, they wouldn't know you're here if they have, so that's on the plus side."

"Right, that's true." Charlie nodded. "I still hope she's okay though.. Erm. Sherlock? Did you have that weird dream in my room too before waking up here?" She asked him after a moment since they hadn't had time for that yet.

"You mean where I handed you an actual torch instead of an electrical one?" Sherlock asked and chuckled a little, "Yeah.. I'm not sure that was a dream though... mind you, I'm not sure what's gotten into me giving you a burning stick either, but I'm really not sure if it was a dream."

"Yeah, that one! John and Rosie don't speak German." Charlie remembered, finding this kinda creepy. "We could ask them to confirm it, I guess. After all they wouldn't dream in German... This is not one of those situations where you point something creepy out and everything gets worse from then on, right?" She asked, because after everything today, she figured that was a justified question at this point.

"I have no idea what this is, to be quite honest." Sherlock said and cleared his throat, "But we'll make the best of it, alright? We'll find Rosie, I'm still quite hopeful about the ball.. if she's strolling around on her own music and girls in pretty dresses might get her attention and she'll follow." he said and smiled, "Don't worry, we'll find her, Charlie. And I promise you one thing, the same I promised you a while ago, neither of us will rest until we've found her." he said, giving Charlie a quick hug, before Jane returned, holding a little blue bonnet in her hands, "Here," she said, holding it out for Charlie, "I think this will go really well with your jacket and it might get rather windy, the weather doesn't look too cheerful." she added with a smile.

"Thank you." Charlie said with a smile and put on the bonnet, almost feeling sorry for covering up her new hairdo. "Shall we go outside then?" She asked them.

Jane nodded, "Yes, let's do that, I'm rather eager for that story." she said and Sherlock huffed a laugh, "It's unbelievable, I can tell you that much. Oh and you can talk about the blood and what happened to us in front of Charlie. She's like us." he said and sighed at Jane's alarmed expression, "It's fine. Well.. not fine, but why it's not really fine is another story. Her being like that is fine though, turns out vampire kids still grow until they're fully grown." he said which seemed to relax Jane a little. "Right." she mumbled and sighed, "Anyway, let's leave, now we're getting into matters I'd really rather avoid my family or the servants to hear even by accident."

"Oh, yeah sure. I'm following you." Charlie said with a smile; speaking of blood, she could sure use some in a few hours, she thought at the back of her mind, before waiting for Jane to go outside.

Leading the way, Jane quickly walked outside while Sherlock and Charlie followed, "Alright then, what is so unbelievable?" she asked, once they were far enough away from the house to not be overheard, heading for a small path leading into the forest. "Well.." Sherlock began and wasn't sure how to put it exactly, "I'll just be blunt about this.. I'm not the Sherlock you know in this era." he said and frowned along with Jane, because that just sounded wrong, "I mean, I am.. in a way. But.. alright, in short, my fiancé, John and our two vampire daughters, Charlie and Rosie stumbled through some kind of.. I don't know, it might be some sort of portal, whatever it was, we happened to walk through it in the year 2017, Jane. 2017. And all of a sudden we woke up in my old room in .. I don't even know what year we have." he said and Jane looked for a long moment at him with an expression that made Sherlock wonder if it really was a good idea to tell her, but then her expression changed to a little smile, "I knew there was something different about you..." she said and looked at him more closely, "You seem.. more grow up.." she said and for some reason found herself believing her friend. If it was anyone else, she'd have considered them insane, but she had known him ever since the both of them were born, she knew when he was lying and she knew when he was telling the truth. And right now, he was telling the truth. "So you were right? It will be possible for people of the same sex to get married?" she asked and Sherlock sighed in relief, realising she believed him, "Yeah, it only took humanity more than 2000 years to get that far.." he said, rolling his eyes.

Wait, so you don't think we're insane?" Charlie asked Jane after a moment, since had that been quite a story to believe.

"No." Jane said and gave Charlie a little smile, "When he lies to me, the tips of his ears go red and he can't directly look at me, always been like that, from the very first lie he told me." she said and smiled warmly at Sherlock, "But there's more isn't it?" she could see from his face that wasn't the whole story. "Yes. It's Rosie, she's four and when we woke up in my room, she wasn't there, so we don't know what happened. Maybe she just woke up earlier and decided to go on an expedition, or maybe she was ... transported somewhere else, we really don't know, but logically it would only make sense for her to be around as well, there's no logical reason why she would have been sent somewhere else than we have. So, I need your help. Can you take Charlie on the ball tonight? We think that music and pretty dresses will lure Rosie there, really." he said and glanced at Charlie before looking back at Jane, "Also, if Lowell happens to be there.. could you introduce the two? Because it just so happens that Charlie is a little infatuated with him in the future and I wouldn't want her to miss the chance to dance with him in a time where he's about her age. Just make sure the two won't elope." he said and chuckled a little.

"Yeah, that'd be great. He's about thirteen now, isn't he?." Charlie asked with a smile and blushed a little, very grateful Sherlock had mentioned that part, before remembering her mission. "Rosie though, she's about this tall, has chin-long blond hair and brown eyes. Oh, and she likes bees. Could we maybe go to the beehives you have around here before anything else?" She asked, figuring that'd be one of the first places she'd try to find.

Jane snickered softly, "I'll do what I can. Though I can't promise you'll have any time to dance with him with all the other boy wanting to dance with such a pretty young lady." she said and Sherlock cleared his throat, but didn't comment on that, he'd rather not think about all the other boys wanting to dance with his daughter, thank you very much. "But yeah, we can go to all the places you think she might be." she said and Sherlock smiled, "The bee hives are a very good idea, Miss Marple." he said and gave Charlie a smile.

Charlie smiled at that, glad she'd contributed something to finding Rosie. After a moment she turned back to Jane about what she'd said first. "So you think I'll actually get to meet some boys?" She asked her with a bit of a grin. "Back at home, I literally only know one boy my age and a handful that are a bit younger or older." She said with a sigh. "But, you know, Sherlock's actually already showed me a few old regency ballroom dances, so I already know that." She said, before wondering if they were already calling their time period that.

"You're twelve. That's more than enough boys to know for you." Sherlock said and gave a small huff, which made Jane laugh. "My, my, you've turned into a proper father." she said and chuckled a little.

"You should see John, he's almost worse than him." Charlie teased Sherlock with a chuckle. "Seriously though, they're such Dad's you'd almost think they're trying to nail every cliché there is. But you're also still like a couple straight from a Disney film." She giggled a bit.

"What's a Disney film?" Jane asked with a raised brow and Sherlock smiled at that, "Oh you'll know soon enough." he said and chuckled again, "That'd take a while to explain..." he said and looked at Charlie, "And it's not cliché it's reasonable concerns." he said and smiled at her.

"You think that knowing more boys than Scott, Ryan and Jacob is a reasonable concern?" Charlie asked with a raised eyebrow, before shrugging, figuring this wasn't the right time to talk about that either way. Plus, she knew, Sherlock was extremely lenient in pretty much every way, so she wasn't going to argue with him; at least not today and here.

"Yes it is." Sherlock said and couldn't help laughing a little, "Oh god, I really am a dad." he said and shook his head, "Anyway, since I'm the one knowing my way around here better than you or John, I'll go looking on my own. Jane, can you bring her back to the shed behind my house at 9 tonight?" he asked and Jane nodded, "Alright.." she said and held her arm out for Charlie to hook hers through it. "Let's go then, Miss.. Watson, was it?" she asked, realising that it was probably a false name, but it was probably better to go with Sherlock's plan here.

"Yes, exactly." Charlie said with a smile; that had quite a nice ring to it. "See you tonight. I'll try not to elope." She snickered as she gave Sherlock a quick hug (in case something did happen, she at least wanted to have hugged both her foster fathers before), before turning back to Jane to lock their arms.

"Take care, Miss Marple." Sherlock said with a smile, though he did feel kind of weird letting Charlie out of his sight, but he had his own spots he would look in. He did find it reasonable to check the near forest as that was a place he often got lost in when he was little.

Charlie began to walk with Jane back to her cottage. "Jane, can I ask you a question? Is the older Sherlock very different from your young one?"

Jane chuckled a little, "I don't know, he seems.. more serious. Well, after all, these days, he actually is a teenager instead of just looking like one." she said and smiled at Charlie.

"I mean, John's actually 20 and still more serious a lot of the time." Charlie said with a chuckle. "Is he really as he said he used to be?" She asked, before frowning a little. "That sounded less weird in my head, but you know what I mean, right?"

"Well what did he say he use to be like?" Jane asked with a soft chuckle, "Well the way I know him .. he's aloof, sometimes rude, childish, yet he's got a soft heart, which more than makes up for that." she said and smiled, "What's he like in your time?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, he's told me he wasn't too good at people skills." Charlie said. "But nowadays, or in my time he's, well, pretty patient with children. Oh, he's begun to work as a teacher at our orphanage by the way, so that's how I know him. Apart from that he's very protective of his family and he can't really say no to anything we ask him unless it's actually dangerous." Charlie chuckled. "With other people he's more assertive though."

Jane chuckled, "You mean dangerous things like boys?" she asked and snickered again, "What is fiancé like? John, was it?" she asked, quite curious about that one.

Charlie rolled her eyes at the first one, before answering. "Yeah, John. Well, he's studying medicine to become a military doctor and he's working as a paramedic right now. And he's more.. I dunno, grounded than Sherlock. So like, if Rosie decides she wants to get a pony, for example, John will step in to tell her it'd be too lonely in our basement. And then he'll stop Sherlock from buying three." She said with a laugh.

Jane smiled, "He sounds like a good father." she said and chuckled again, "I always told him so, you know. He was always so good with the kids in the neighbourhood. He'd never admit it, but they love him and he loves them." she said grinning.

Charlie smiled at that. "Yeah, I can't really imagine him anything else." She chuckled, thinking it was a shame she wouldn't get to meet teen Sherlock. "Did you ever think he was going to have kids someday?"

"To be quite honest, no." Jane said and shook her head, "But whatever more advanced time period you live in with men being allowed to marry men and adopting too.. this one's quite different. Men can be executed for being in intimate relationships with other men. And.. well, he's never been interested in women at all, not even as a young boy, when the other's begin to show some interest in girls, when he was your age, he swooned over the local baker's son." she said and shook her head, "Nothing's come of it, of course. But I could read it from his face as clearly as letters in a book."

Charlie's eyes widened at that. "Executed?! I know it used to be bad, but-" Bloody hell... But it was nice to know Sherlock didn't immediately fall in love with a guy he'd spend the rest of his life with.. She sort of always thought that's what he'd done. "So what's Victor like?"

"He's great. He's been so good for Sherlock.. I've never seen him that happy before." Jane said and chuckled little, "I suppose there we have his type, since Victor is a soldier." she said and smirked.

Charlie began to chuckle at that. "Interesting. By the way, I'm probably not supposed to tell you what's going to happen in the future, am I?" She asked after a moment, remembering that she for example probably shouldn't talk about Violet so as not to mess anything up; she'd seen some films and didn't want the future to change like in the Butterfly effect.

"Better not. But I guess I'll have my share in it. I'm a writer. We appreciate all parts of the story unlike those types of persons that read the last page of a book first." Jane said with a chuckle, "So. No. Don't tell me anything unless it's necessary."

"Okay, then my lips are sealed." Charlie said with a smile. "So what's the plan right now? Bee hives and then the ball tonight?"

"I think so." Jane said and frowned, "Maybe we could check some of the farms as well, would cattle and sheep make her curious as well?"

"Yeah, maybe. I mean, she's four, she loves all kinds of animals." Charlie said with a nod and sighed. Hopefully they'd find her.

Jane smiled, "Don't you worry, if I know one thing about Sherlock, then it's that his plans usually are a little.. unusual, but most of the time they work out." she said and glanced at Charlie, "Are you two related by blood? You and Rosie, I mean." she asked.

"Oh, no we're not. But we're from the same orphanage. Rosie came up to me one day because of a break-in and, yeah, the rest is history, I guess." Charlie said with a smile.

"A break in?" Jane asked with a soft chuckle, "I can see why you and Sherlock get along so well.." she said and smirked a little.

"Yeah, I think after the second one he decided to take us in." Charlie said with a bit of a grin.


	69. To Tell Or Not To Tell

Some time before nine, John and Victor returned to the empty shed. They'd spent the past few hours partly at Victor's camp and partly looking for Rosie themselves. Victor's mates had promised to look out for her, so now that they were about to meet up with the others, they couldn't do much more than wait. "So, when did you decide to join the army?" John asked him, as he closed the door behind them.

"Well.. I wanted to help people and that was a way to better my social status and send money to my family on a regular basis." Victor said and gave a little shrug, "My father died early and we weren't rich to begin with. Was my duty to start earning money." he said and chuckled a little, "By the by, if anyone asks you, I'm in my mid twenties.. I was 14 when I joined the militia, told them I'm 17.. it's not like people really look too close, they can use every man."

"So you're what, 22 right now?" John asked him and sat down on the hay. "Damn, fourteen's very young. I mean, I technically joined when I was 18, but my actual service doesn't even start for another four years." He remarked.

"21." Victor said and gave a little shrug, "It's not unusual. What do young men do in your time when their fathers die? If you're old enough to work, you have to. It's not like their mothers have a lot of options, certainly not many honourable options."

"Right. Well, very low-come families rely on social services, or state funding, for that. It's actually not legal for children to leave school before they're 18 or have finished all years of school." John said. "The women's situation's also improved quite a bit, if I dare say so, but I probably shouldn't go into too much detail."

"Yeah, I guess it's better not to know too much." Victor said with a half smile, glancing over at John, "It's weird to think that you're engaged to my ... boyfriend?" he asked, hesitating a little at the word boyfriend. It felt a little weird to say that, but then, it was a bit of a relief to be able to name him something. To have an actual term for what they were.

"Yeah" John nodded, "and it's equally weird to know my you're going to spend your life with my fiancé." John said and shook his head a little, because it was hard to wrap your head around that one, now that they were sitting across from each other. "But being together with Sherlock, we should be used to a little weirdness, I suppose." John joked with a bit of a chuckle, remembering their earlier conversation about rotten organs.

Victor nodded, giving a proper smile now, "Yeah.. that's true. He's absolutely worth all the weirdness, though.. That's the crazy thing about this, I absolutely wouldn't want to have him any other way." he said and frowned, "Although I could live with less rotten flesh in corners where you least expect it." he said and smiled at John wondering how he was supposed to give William up and how he on the other hand, could take him away from John.

John couldn't help laughing a bit at that. "I agree, but people like us need someone who keeps life exciting. Though he actually did cleaned up the flat with me before we took the girls in so as not to traumatise them by accident." He said with a smile, forcing himself absolutely not to think about the fact that none of it might ever happen. "You're right. I mean he's by no means perfect, but great in all the areas that matter."

Victor chuckled a little at that, "Have you.." he paused, it was very much inappropriate to talk about this, but this really was something he couldn't talk about to anyone else. "You mentioned the bite marks... have you.. has he.. I mean.. do you know what that feels like?" he asked and blushed just a little.

"Yeah, I know." John said with a bit of a grin. "I mean, now with the girls we'd probably be a bit to loud but, yeah. Almost makes vanilla sex a bit boring; thinking about it like that, Sher's kinda addictive, isn't he?" John said with a chuckle, though he couldn't help a bit of a dreamy look in his eyes.

"He is, but he's already been that before he was assaulted." Victor said and smiled, thinking for a moment, "Are you going to do it? If I don't turn.. will you? I assume the matter's come up since he knows how to do it by now."

"Erm, he wants me to, but I'm still undecided to be honest." John said after a moment. "I'm afraid I might regret an eternal life sometime down the line and become resentful or something, you know?" He admitted.

"You wouldn't." Victor said and gave John a little smile, "Do you realise what you're willing to give up for him, just so he doesn't have to suffer from the loss of losing the person he loved before you? And.. from the way you looked when you offered it, I get the impression that there's even more at stake than you let on." he said and looked down for a moment, before looking back up, "You know what my only concern is about the whole turning matter? It's not the possibility I might regret it.. I just want to make sure he's happy. If it weren't for that, if you were just a friend of him and you didn't have the girls.. I wouldn't even have to think about it. I'd instantly say yes."

John looked down after listening to Victor, because this was probably the only person who really understood his situation. ...He genuinely hadn't realised what he'd be willing to give for Sherlock not to suffer. And that's what was going to happen again, wasn't it? Just that the price he'd pay for Sherlock not to suffer again, would be staying together with the girls, Sherlock and half his family... John swallowed. "I hadn't actually thought about it that way." John said after a while. "You'd want me to do it then? if you weren't going to, I mean."

"I can't make that decision for you," Victor said and smiled a little, "It's just.. if you love him deeply enough to give up all of this for him.. how can you think you'd regret the decision to stay with him?" he asked and gave a little shrug. "How can you regret deciding to stay with the man you love? How could you ever regret the decision to stay with your daughters?"

John rubbed his hand over his face and gave a huff. "I couldn't, could I?" He realised after actually thinking about what his decision boiled down to. "I could never regret choosing them. In any scenario, really." He said after a long while, his eyes cast down.

Victor chuckled a little after a moment, "God, look at us, we're swooning over him like besotted schoolgirls." he said and shook his head, before turning serious again, "I wonder what it will be like for him.. meeting me, I mean.. did he tell you .. how I died? I mean.. was it in battle? Was I executed for sodomy? Was it very horrible for him? I don't want to know when or something like that, I just.. I'd like to avoid him having to witness it if it was gruesome in some way."

"I probably shouldn't give that away - he's told me a lot about you - but no, nothing like that. You died of old age sometime in your 90s next to Sherlock. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't still be careful now that I've told you." John eventually said, wanting him to know they did get to have a future together.

"90?!" Victor asked, blinking stupidly at John, before recovering a little, "And you say he doesn't visibly age, yes?" he asked and frowned, "Well at least that way we can find interesting excuses for living together at some point. It would be simple enough to pass me off as a widower and him as my son when I've reached an appropriate age, or later on we can tell people he's my grandson."

"I don't know exactly what you did, but it must've worked." John said and gave him a bit of a smile. "And yeah, he doesn't age. The Sherlock you're going to meet looks exactly the same as yours."

"Is he going to be alright, seeing me?" Victor asked, looking at John, "I mean, for your William, I'm dead. Have been dead for a long time. Can you keep an eye on him? Make sure he'll be fine?"

"Yes, of course I will." John said with a nod. "I've no idea how he'll react either, but he'll definitely be shocked; even if he was curious to meet you again."

"I think it will be weird for me to meet a version of him that.. well doesn't love me.." Victor said with a frown, "At least not the way he used to." he added and frowned, "It'd probably be similar to you meeting his younger version who wouldn't feel anything for you.. Speaking of it.. can you do me a favour? My Sherlock.. he is probably worried sick just now, can you go and tell him everything's alright, but just to be safe, I want him to stay at home today? I'll meet him tomorrow as usual here at the shed and explain what happened." he said and chuckled a little, "Oh and don't worry, I know for a fact that his father is accompanying his wife to the ball so you won't be in danger of running into him at the house." he said, remembering what John had told him about their arrival here. "From what you told me about his reaction.. maybe I'll actually go to him at some point and properly ask for his son's hand.. so to speak. It would be the honourable thing to do and since he mostly objected to Sherlock being in bed with anyone, rather than being in bed with a man.. it seems like he'd appreciate the gesture and wouldn't murder me on spot."

John smiled a bit at that. "And I'm sure at least Sherlock would appreciate that a lot." He said with a chuckle. "And sure, I'll go tell him." John said and glanced at his watch. "If I'm quick, I think I could be back before the others come here. Especially the way I know Charlie." He said, figuring she wouldn't voluntarily leave a ball any earlier than necessary.

Victor smiled, "Thank you." he said and stood up, "I'll grab some blankets and food and.. well it's not the most pleasant business, but I've put some effort into getting close with the local mortician and for a few shillings a week he agreed to extract a bit of blood from the newly deceased if need be. I told him I know a physician that is doing a few.. not entirely legal experiments to improve medical treatment in battle, which is why I can't give him certain physicians name, he was quite fine with that, the less you know the better when it's about criminal activities. I thought it'd be good to have an alternative at hand in case Sherlock can't find.. other sources, or simply doesn't have time for that. And I suppose it'd be a good time to make use of what I've been paying for the whole time." he said and shrugged, "Your girls will and your Sherlock will probably be hungry.."

"I don't know how to thank you, Victor. Seriously, especially because of the girls here." John said; he'd just lifted one major problem from their shoulders, because they really couldn't let the girls drink from actual people (especially not Rosie).

"Yeah, I wouldn't really want a four year old to have to bite and drink from a person.. especially since you said Rosie doesn't even know about the whole truth yet. What did you say she calls it? Tomato juice? I've got to remember that, I wouldn't want to scare her, telling her I've got blood for her.." Victor said and smiled a little, "It's in a way, rather nice that I'll get to meet Sherlock's children, you know. It's weird, but.. nice."

"Hm, Charlie already knows who you are by the way. I'm pretty sure she's also seen a picture of your portrait, just for your information." John said and got to his feet to head out once more.

"Alright." Victor said and smiled a little, "Oh and in case Sherlock wants proof that you really are a friend of mine.." he said and chuckled, "Give him this." he said and pulled an old askew Roman coin out of his pocket, "It's a lucky charm, he knows I'd rather swallow it than letting it be taken away from me. My father and I found it on our field when I was a little boy. He gave it to me." he said and smiled."

"I'll make sure to be careful with it." John said with a smile and closed his hand around it, before putting his hand into his pocket. "We've come quite a long way from your almost beheading me earlier on." He remarked with a chuckle. "Take care and see you at nine."

Victor nodded, before he walked out of the shed, making his way back to his camp to gather the supplies, while William sat nervously in his room, he just didn't know what to do about this. He knew he had to go and help Victor, but.. he didn't even know what had happened to him, /if/ something had happened to him. But it's been a few hours now and he still hadn't heard of him. It was just that one hasty question could get him in trouble, if Victor hadn't been arrested his friends in the military would probably become suspicious about why he'd think he had been and with both of their secrets, being suspicious was the last thing they needed.

John made his way quietly into the house, slipping through an open kitchen door so as to avoid as many servants as possible. Before long, he was back in front of Sherlock's old bedroom, hoping to find the younger version of his fiancé in there. God, what was he like now that they were the same age (and now that he didn't know John yet). After some hesitation, he knocked on the door.

"I'm not hungry, Miss Ellis, I told you." William called from inside his room with a roll of his eyes, why his parents still kept his governance was beyond him, she was such an irritating person too, constantly bugging him about having to eat. It had bothered him before... that thing had happened already but now it was just completely useless. It wasn't like he actually could get any of the consequences of not eating enough she kept reciting.

John opened the door at hearing that familiar voice. "Hello William, this isn't Miss Ellis. I need to talk to you." He said, remembering to use Sherlock's first name, before stepping inside. And jesus, it was incredibly surreal to actually see Sherlock sitting in his old room..

"Who are you?" William said with a frown, standing up and subtly scanned the room for something he could use as a weapon. "And how did you get into the house? What for do we even have servants? If everyone can just walk in, we might as well hand out keys to the whole neighbourhood."

Victor's told me about the missing lock in the kitchen door." John lied, because the fact that Sherlock himself had told him this morning didn't sound very convincing. "I've got a message from him he wanted me to convey."

"Says the man that just broke into the house." William said and frowned, "Why would I trust a housebreaker?" he asked, trying not to show how eager he was for a message from Victor.

"Here, he told me I should give you this as proof he actually sent me." John said and held the coin Victor had given him out to Sherlock or, well, William. Jesus, this was strange.. looking at his fiancé who didn't recognise him. Though he did seem different, but that might well have been because of the shock.

"Right..." William said and frowned as he took the coin from the man. "Where did he get it from then?" he asked, figuring that this man could have simply stolen the coin, but Victor wouldn't have told him the truth about how he got it if that man had done something to him. "Wait a minute, that suit seems quite familiar.." he said and took a step closer to look at the strangers clothes. "That's my suit." he said and frowned, truth to be told, it did suit the man, he'd still like to know where he got it though, since the last time had seen it, it was in his wardrobe.

"Victor said he found it with his father on their field when he was little." John recalled. "Said he'd rather swallow it than let someone take it from him." He said, before looking down on himself. "Oh, I needed a proper suit to get some work done in the city. Couldn't really use my red coat for that.. Victor got it from your closet then?"

"You're lying. Not about Victor, that part is true, but since I've been in this room since... since I've seen him last it must have happened before I met up with him today and he'd have told me, you're in luck though," William said and looked at the coin, taking a deep breath to brace himself for the truth about what had happened, he didn't want the other man to know how important Victor actually was to him. "I want to hear that message, so I'll forget about the suit. Suits you better than me anyway." he said, carefully pocketing the coin. "Has he been arrested?" he asked, unintentionally chewing on his lips.

"No, he's fine. He wants me to tell you that everything's alright, but that he wants you to stay in your room just to be safe. He'll meet you tomorrow as usual at the shed and will explain everything." John repeated.

William let out a breath in relief, "Good." he said and smiled a little, "Thank god." he said, visibly relieved, "He really isn't going to be arrested?" he asked, wondering what Victor's connection to that man was. He's never seen him before. Did he know about Victor and him?

"No, don't worry, he isn't." John said with a bit of a smile, still marvelling at the fact that this was his Sherlock some 220 years ago. "I'm not going to go into too much detail but I'm a friend of Victor's, so it's not like I'm going to tell either of you out to the authorities or something." He added.

"So you know?" William asked, blushing a little, but inspecting him a little closer now, "You're.. like that yourself, aren't you? That or someone close to you is. You're much too comfortable about it for it to be otherwise."

"Mmh, I fancy both men and women and my sister's homosexual." John nodded and ran his thumb absently over his engagement ring. "But don't worry about Victor, I'm in a relationship right now." John teased him a little with a smirk.

"Homo what?" William asked with frown, not having heard the word before. "I assume you mean she prefers women to men?" he asked, at least that was what the context suggested.

"Yeah, exactly." John said. "Anyway, I really wish you and Victor good luck with your relationship. If I hadn't seen you myself, I'd almost say it's ridiculous how he swoons over you in private." He said with a bit of a chuckle. "Anyway, is there something you want me to tell him for you?" It almost hurt, how Sherlock looked at him but didn't /see/ him, so he really just wanted to get out of there again now that he'd met him.

William's blush deepened at that and he looked down for a moment, unable not to smile, "Tell him that he's an idiot for making me leave him to deal with this on his own." he said and smiled a little wider, "And.. erm.. tell him that I love him." he mumbled quietly, feeling rather weird about talking to someone about this.

"I'll tell him. And as a third party I can tell you it's obvious he loves you too." John said and bit his lip hard, before turning around to get some air. He'd never been good with jealousy, but this was just cruel. "Take care, William." He said, before walking outside.

"Wait.." William said and quickly walked after the other man, "Thank you.. whoever you are." he said and gave him one of his rare, genuine smiles. "And you can keep the suit." he added with a smirk.

John recognised that smile for what it was (even if it wasn't his '2017 John smile') and chuckled a little. "You're welcome. And thanks, I've got a feeling my fiancé will like it." He said, before turning around for good to get back to the shed.


	70. Warm Introductions

"Alright, so I don't know what you do on balls in your time, but here, don't talk to people, especially men or boys unless you're introduced to each other, don't giggle loudly, don't draw attention to yourself." Jane said as they made their way to the ball, partly she really just summarised what she had already told Charlie before to distract her from how disappointed she seemed because they hadn't had any luck finding her sister yet. "Are you certain you remember all the dance moves Sherlock showed you?"

"Yeah, I think so. I've got a good memory." Charlie nodded, remembering the dance lessons after watching Pride and Prejudice; those had been quite memorable. It was a wonder he himself had remembered those. "Does your Sherlock already do ballet by the way?" She asked her after a moment, her eyes going a bit wide as she spotted the house they were headed for.

"No. But I can really see him doing that." Jane said and chuckled a little, "He really loves to dance, just for the pleasure of dancing, not like most people who just use it as an opportunity to flirt each other. Then again, he's already found a partner." she said, "Oh and.. better not talk about your parents anymore in there, never know who might be listening in. Wouldn't want to have the wrong people overhear you and cause trouble to your father..." she said meaningfully.

"Oh, okay. Thanks for telling me, I'd have almost forgot." Charlie said, before looking back at the tall building. It was equally exciting as it was intimidating, so to calm herself she bit the inside of her cheek until she could taste her blood.. hm, that was better. She still had some time until she got really hungry, so going to the ball should be fine.

"Don't worry, dear. You'll be fine." Jane said and smiled, "Also no one would really take offence if you make a mistake or something like that with your age everyone will figure that it's your first real ball." she said and held her arm out to link it with Charlie's again.

"Okay, that's good." Charlie said and hooked her arm into Jane's again. "So you think you could still introduce me to Victor's brother?" She asked after a moment with a small smile; if they'd been back in 2017, she'd have definitely asked Lowell herself, but since that wasn't allowed here..

"I will." Jane said and chuckled softly, finding it really adorable how eager Charlie was to dance with Lowell. "Just really do not elope. You've got to remember that your Sherlock actually knows how to kill people like us and I'm not very eager to have that knowledge tried out on me." she whispered with a smirk.

Charlie began to chuckle at that and smirked back. "I'll try my hardest not to in that case." She whispered as they went to the entrance. Oh, this was really exciting, she thought as they came to the reception, though she more or less kept a poker face from then on.

Jane smiled politely and bowed as she gave their names, nudging Charlie a little to remember her to bow, before she let her into the large hall, where a lot of people had already gathered. Spotting a familiar face, Jane smiled, "Oh it seems we're in luck." she said and smiled over to the rather tall for his age, dark haired young man, she had to admit that Lowell really was a pretty young man. "Look who's there." she said and smiled as she nodded with her head into his direction.

Charlie had to really hold back a grin as well as a blush as she saw him. "So how does this whole bowing and introducing business go again?" Charlie asked her and looked back at Jane.

Jane smiled and pulled her along as she started to walk towards him, "Well, I'll introduce you two and you bow after that, he will bow too, so that'll be your cue." she said and smiled at Lowell, "Good evening, Mr Trevor." she said and bowed, waiting for him reply, "Good evening Miss Jane." Lowell said and bowed as well, looking curiously at Charlie and giving her a smile, "Mr Trevor, may I introduce Miss Charlotte Watson to you?" she asked and Lowell smile grew just a little wider as he bowed to her, "Good evening, Miss Watson." he said and Jane smiled, she could tell that Lowell was just waiting for the common small talk to be over and it was appropriate for him to ask her to dance with him. Those two had palpable chemistry, she found.

Charlie couldn't help smiling too as she bowed to him. "Good Evening, Mr. Trevor. It's a pleasure to meet you." She said politely and did her best to play it cool, though in her mind she had a shrill voice 'eeping'.

"Miss Watson is in town for a few days with her older brother and her younger sister." Jane said and smiled a little, "Mr Trevor, is there something you might want to ask Miss Watson?" she asked after a few seconds of silence between them, while the two younger people just stared at each other, "Oh, yes. Of course. Yes." Lowell said somewhat sheepishly and cleared his throat, "May I have the next dance, Miss Watson?" he asked and Jane couldn't help but chuckle a little to herself.

"I'd very much like that, Mr. Trevor." She replied with a smile, finding Lowell just incredibly sweet and attractive... And now they were going to dance.. (Charlie did hope to make a lasting impression, in a good sense, obviously)

Jane smiled looking after them as the walked off to the dancing area, before she made her way over to a few ladies she knew, while she waited for Charlie, glancing over every now and then to make sure they were actually still there and hadn't sneaked off.

"So, Mr. Trevor, you're family is not from here, if I understand correctly?" She asked him, as they began to dance, figuring that wasn't too intrusive a question (she really didn t want to scare him away)

"No, no we're not, we're from London." Lowell said and chuckled a little nervously, "Where is your family from?" he asked and couldn't stop smiling for some reason, Miss Watson was very pretty indeed.

"Some small town on the coast, you probably haven't heard of it." Charlie replied with a small chuckle. The way Lowell looked at her just made her want to wish they were somewhere private... "Are you interested in music by any chance?" She asked him after a moment.

"Oh yes, I am. I play the guitar." Lowell said and smiled a little, "Not very good, I have to admit, I've only recently been able to afford an own one." he said, visibly proud about that.

"That sounds amazing. I do hope I'll get the chance to listen to you sometime." Charlie said with a shy smile. "The guitar is one of my favourite instruments."

"Is it?" Lowell asked with a smile, "I've got it with me.." he said and looked a little flustered, "I didn't want my brother's friends to play around with it while I'm here. I put it into the kitchen, do you want to see it?" he asked excitedly. "I can just get it quickly and we can look for a quiet spot so I can play for you."

"That sounds perfect actually, Mr. Trevor." Charlie said with a small chuckle, before glancing over at Jane, who was thankfully in the middle of a conversation with her girl friends.

"Alright, when they all switch positions, we move out of the line and sneak away, alright?" Lowell asked with a cheeky, but still somewhat sheepish smile. "Wait for it..." he said quietly and grinned, "Now." he said with a little chuckle," keeping hold of Charlotte's hand as he pulled her along.

Charlie giggled a bit a followed Lowell into the kitchen, loving the fact that the first thing they were doing together was breaking the protocol; and it wasn't like Jane was really gonna notice the short time they were away.

When Jane turned back to the dancing crowd and realised that one particular pair was missing, she rolled her eyes, murmuring, "Dammit, Sherlock, are you sure she isn't blood related to you?" to her self before she excused herself and made her way through the crowd to look for the two troublemakers.

Once Lowell had retrieved his guitar from the kitchen and they'd found a nice and quiet spot outside by a fountain, Charlie felt as if she were in heaven, completely unaware of the fact that she could play more songs on the guitar than Lowell right now. He was just so dreamy... "That sounds wonderful." She said with a bit of a shy smile. (Why was she like this around her crushes??)

"Really?" Lowell asked and stopped playing, quite glad he had the distraction of picking the conversation back up, because what he had just played was in fact everything he could play so far, but he didn't really want to admit that. "Do you play an instrument?"

"A friend of mine taught me a handful of songs on the guitar, but it's really not much." Charlie said with a smile, wondering why she was downplaying herself. "It's impressive you could afford that guitar yourself though."

"Do you want to play?" Lowell asked and smiled happily at Charlie, she was so interesting! Way more interesting than all the other dull girls. And she played the guitar! Most girls learnt to play the piano or harp or just sang. But the guitar was much more fun. And it didn't sound as boring as a harp or piano either.

"Yeah, sure!" Charlie said with and took the guitar. "Okay, so this is an, erm, foreign song, but it's a lot of fun." She said with a smile, before beginning to to play the beginning of "Beat It" by Michael Jackson... er, maybe he'd like it? If not he sure would in a couple of centuries.

"That's amazing. I've never heard music like that before." Lowell said and grinned at Charlie, "Can you teach me how to play it?" he asked, shifting a little closer to Charlie on the edge of the fountain, giving her a little smile, a faint blush forming on his cheeks.

"Yeah, sure." Charlie said with a smile, before shifting a bit to give Lowell his guitar back. Though once she looked up at him, the guitar was suddenly utterly unimportant. Instinctively she leaned a bit closer, noticing her breath hitching.

Lowell was pretty much entranced by Charlie's eyes, so much that he hardly even noticed how his hand moved up to carefully brush a strand of hair behind her ear which had escaped from her hairdo, before he gently cupped her cheek, caressing her cheekbone with his thumb for a moment, before he hesitantly leant in, his heart hammering in his chest as his lips met hers.

Charlie was sure her heart skipped a beat when Lowell kissed her and she closed her eyes soon after. He was such a perfect gentleman... Bringing her free hand up into his soft brown hair, she was glad to have something of him to hold onto and hummed quietly into the kiss.

"...twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty." Jane murmured to herself, standing with her back against the door leading outside after she had just stumbled in on the two of them kissing, she could have intervened, but she kind of felt like those two deserved at least 30 seconds of enjoying their inappropriate little adventure, which she found actually really sweet, if she was honest, but he was pretty sure her brother wouldn't be as fond of the two together as she was. "Alright, that's enough. I'm sorry, Mr Trevor, but I have just remembered that Miss Charlotte and I have a pressing engagement, we can't miss."

Charlie's eyes went wide at the sound of that voice and she withdrew from Lowell quickly, still having his guitar awkwardly on her lap. Oh, come on!... She thought, though she was equally disappointed as she was terrified Jane might tell her father.

"We promised your sister that we'd be home early and play hide and seek with her, remember?" Jane asked, knowing that would push her a little. And it was really about time to go to the shed, they were already a little too late and had 20 minutes of a walk ahead of them, but they had known that it would be a quick visit at the ball (or supposed to be quick) so Charlie would get her dance with Lowell (the kiss really wasn't a part of the plan) before they'd go to the shed. "But.. I can accompany you, two such handsome women really shouldn't be out alone at this time of night." Lowell said quickly, looking back and forth between Charlie and Jane, before fixing her gaze on Jane, since she seemed to be the authority. "I'm not sure if her brother would be too fond of that." she said and gave him a little smile, "But I'm sure you two will see each other tomorrow. It isn't that big of a town."

Charlie bit her lip at that, because they were hopefully not going to still be here tomorrow so she could kiss Lowell again... She handed Lowell his guitar and used the moment to steal herself a naughty peck on his cheek, before standing up. "I'm afraid I really do must leave now. I hope to see you soon." She said with a smile, before turning back to Jane. She really needed to know where Rosie was and if the others had found her already.

Lowell looked all but crushed as Charlie said goodbye, but quickly gathering his manners and standing up to give Charlie a bow, "I'm looking forward to it." he said and smiled at her again, but remembering much too late that he hadn't asked where she was staying, so he didn't even know where to start looking, but Jane had led Charlie away already. "Are you out of your mind?" Jane asked, once they were outside and a bit away from the crowd. "You can't just.. I mean.. how could you... your father is going to kill me." she said, but soon her expression softened, "How was it then? If I'm going to suffer for your pleasure, I at least want some details." she said and chuckled a little.

"Well, I mean, we could just keep the whole thing a secret if you don't want to see his reaction either..." She suggested, looking up into the sky innocently before giggling and saying. "And it was absolutely brilliant.. He showed me a song on his guitar and I showed him one too... And then he said he wanted me to show him how to play it, but in fact he leaned in and cupped my cheek and..." She grinned, before her face fell just a little. "Well and then you came, so you should know the rest."

"I did give you half a minute to enjoy yourselves and who knows how long you've been at it before I walked in." Jane said and snickered a little. "You liked it then?" she asked and smiled at her young friend.

"Yeah, it was amazing. And he's just gorgeous..." Charlie said with a grin and let out a soft and happy sigh. After a moment she looked a bit more serious. "Seriously though, please please please don't tell my dads.. They'll think I'm I'm pregnant halfway through your story and have Lowell killed by the end of it." She said, giving Jane a look.

"Alright, I promise. But if we'll go out a second time, please stay in sight?" Jane asked and sighed, "Also, don't kiss boys in dark corners, that's really not doing anything good for our reputation and you're still not certain if you can go home, you might have to live with your reputation you earn yourself here. Thank goodness no one but me saw."

"Oh, right." Charlie said and looked down. "I was pretty caught up in the moment." She admitted. "Yeah, I really won't stray away the next time." She said, before suddenly feeling as if her stomach was full of lead. "I'd promised him not to leave your side." She told her older friend more quietly. She'd broken that promise in a way, hadn't she? "Do you think I should tell him?"

"Maybe when he's under a little less pressure. He puts on a strong act, but it's a bit much for him as well." Jane said with a smile and linked arms with Charlie again, "I mean.. apart from Rosie being missing, he's also meeting a lot of people again he had thought dead for a very long time." she said and gave Charlie a smile, "That can't be easy. Especially Victor. Since he's with John now, I assume in the future, Victor is dead." he really couldn't see them seperated for any other reason.

"Right, you're right." Charlie said and shook her head, feeling a stupid for no putting herself in his situation properly. A lie without any consequences wasn't a top priority thing at the moment. "And yeah, most people here are dead in the future.." She said and sighed. "He's good at not letting on how he feels. I mean, I guess John can probably tell most of the time, but it's kind of him towards Rosie and me."

"It's what fathers do." Jane said with a smile, "Speaking of that, are you sure you and Sherlock aren't blood related? Because I can see some very apparent similarities in your behaviour." she added with a laugh.

"Yeah, pretty sure that's not the case." Charlie said and began to laugh as well, feeling a bit better about the whole sneaking away thing. "But we've also got a similar taste in people apparently. I can see why he likes you that much." She said with a smile.

"Because I'm easy enough to persuade and let most things slide?" Jane asked with a smirk as the neared Sherlock's house. "Seriously, though, we just have a lot in common, he and I. I mean, we grew up together yes, but I think I was more understanding about him being interested in.. other things than men usually are, because I'm partly interested in things other women aren't interested in, if you know what I mean." she said, talking a bit cryptically here because she didn't want to be overheard.

Charlie nodded at that. "Hm, yeah, I think I do." She said looking curiously to the shed in the distance. "Do you think they're already there?" she asked a bit suddenly, hoping to see her family soon again.

"Yes, I'm rather sure they are." Jane said and smiled, "I if you look closely, you can see the light from the fire through the little cracks between the wooden boards and it looks like they opened the roof hatch so the smoke can escape.

Quite hopeful, Charlie opened the door of the shed, looking both happy as well as disappointed at seeing John and Victor but not the missing half of their family... "Hey Dad" Charlie smiled and ran up to him, admittedly a bit relieved to have someone familiar close to her again. "Hi Charlie, is everything alright?" He asked her with a smile and crouched down to pull her into a tight hug. He too was a little disappointed not to see his other daughter who he still knew nothing about, but he was better at hiding it. She hugged him back and closed her eyes for a moment. "No, we haven't found Rosie yet." She mumbled quietly into his shoulder and suddenly felt really worn out by it all. "Maybe your father has found her, hm? And Victor's whole camp is looking for her too." He said quietly, making himself sound hopeful and completely ignoring anyone else in the shed right now.

Sherlock sighed as he walked the last few metres towards the shed, god he'd have paid every price for a shower at that moment, his suit being covered in a mixture of dirt, grass stains, mud, dirt and blood and was certainly beyond washing - even for modern standards. He had literally searched every corner, bush, hole and tree and every other place a toddler would or could hide in the entire forest and with all the leaves in his hair, he probably looked like a moor monster, but at least he had been able to surprise a group of sleeping travellers biting them so fast that neither of them even woke up and only stupidly grinned in their sleeps with the sudden rush of endorphins while Sherlock had done his best to get as much blood into the couple of bottles he had nicked from the cottage as he could. Although it was difficult to aim and the fact that the blood flow stopped after a couple of seconds and he had to bite open the wounds over and over again, really hadn't helped. An injection set would have been nice, maybe he'd pack one of those on his next time travel, he thought sarcastically as he entered the shed and suddenly stood stock still as his eyes fell on Victor, his heart skipped a beat at the sight, but then he noticed John and Charlie and went over to them instantly, "Thank god you two are alright." he said and crouched down in front of Charlie, giving her a smile, "I'd hug you, but.. I'd ruin your dress." he said with a small chuckle, settling for a little ruffle of her hair, before he stood up and moved to John, "Meh.. I never liked that suit anyway." he said and wrapped his arms around his fiancé, before pecking his lips, he'd need a good long rinse of his mouth before he could do any more than that. But god, he had been worried they might disappear as well, or get lost, or maybe just get arrested for something that'd be normal in modern times, not here. Looking around the shed, he felt a pang of disappointment, "You haven't found her either, have you?" he asked with a sigh.

"No, I'm afraid not." John said with a sigh, looking just as disappointed. "But you've no idea how relieved I am you two are alright. You look like you were thorough by the way." John said with a wry smile. Meanwhile Charlie was also relieved that her Dads were still there, but more importantly she was incredible disappointed that they'd got nowhere closer to finding Rosie. She was tired, was worried about her sister, Sherlock really, really needed a shower and her bloody hunger was driving her insane after having ignored it all day... In short, this was pretty awful.

"You gotta be hungry." Sherlock said and turned to Charlie again, taking of the bag he had emptied and then nicked from one of the travellers, he had to transport the bottles somehow after all and it wasn't like they couldn't put the contents of the bag into one of the others they had with them. Pulling one of the bottles out, which he had wiped clean on his shirt before, he handed it to Charlie, "Here, that should help." he said and smiled at her.

Charlie gave him a 'seriously not funny' expression after thinking he'd actually brought wine to remind her of her hangover (or was suggesting she shoot herself up) and was almost about to tell him that until she noticed that there were blood stains on it... "Thank you, thank you, thank you, I love you..." She said quickly, her eyes having lit up as she pulled the loose cork out herself to get to the blood. Without another word, she began to gulp down the liquid inside, almost feeling as if she could cry.

Sherlock couldn't help but smile at his daughter, he wasn't even sure if she had really noticed what she said, but he had, looking up with a 'did she really just say that?' look, he glanced up a his fiancé.

John grinned back at him (though he was admittedly a little jealous he was the first one she'd said that to) and nodded a little with a look that said 'Yup, looks like it, doesn't it?'

Sherlock smiled for a moment at Charlie, before he stood back up and at last addressed Victor with a bit of a weird feeling inside his stomach as he gave him a hesitant smile. "Victor." he said and bit his lip, trying to somehow sort the feelings whirling around inside of him at seeing the man. It were a lot of feelings, but none of those was love. No romantic love anyway. "It's good to see you." he said and Victor nodded, having expected Sherlock to be a little disturbed seeing him again, though he hadn't really expected him to be so.. attached to his new family. Or maybe he had wished he wasn't, that maybe he'd still play a bigger part in his heart still, but he could clearly see whom that heart belonged to now. And it was strangely ... okay. He was disappointed, true, but Sherlock was happy with his family. They were happy with him. Maybe things were quite alright the way they originally went. "You too." Victor said and the two of them stood in an awkward silence before Sherlock cleared his throat, "I uhm.. I should probably clean up a little." he mumbled, turning around to John again, "There's a little spring, five minutes away.. you wanna join me?" he asked, looking at Jane who had been quiet during the whole exchange, "Can you two take care of Charlie for a moment?" he asked and Jane nodded, "Of course." she said with a nod, there was more than just a need of washing.

John's throat painfully constricted when he saw Sherlock talking to Victor, so he glanced away until Sherlock addressed him again. "Course, love." John nodded and moved to get his coat and trying to put it on without getting it completely dirty. "See you in a few minutes." He told Charlie, before moving to go to the door.


	71. Night Falls

Sherlock took a deep breath once the door was closed, shutting his eyes for a moment, before opening them again, "God this is so weird." he said as he started to walk towards the spring he had mentioned.

"I just talked to your younger self and yeah, weird, describes it quite well." John said with a sigh, before asking him a bit more carefully "Are you okay though? Seeing him must be a shock."

Sherlock smiled a little at John, "I'm fine.." he said and sighed, "It's just confusing. The last time I saw him, there was nothing more important to me than him. And now.. there's you and Charlie and Rosie.. it's just that I've realised how my whole world-view has shifted. Or rather.. he's not my whole world anymore and I think.. I feel ... kind of guilty about it.. like I'm supposed to feel more strongly for him."

"Hm, but you couldn't have lived a life without slowly moving on, you know? At least I'm pretty sure that's the consensus, so I really think you're the only one blaming yourself here." John said after a moment.

Sherlock nodded at that, "Probably." he said and smiled at his fiancé, "You know this changes nothing between us, though, right?" he asked, wishing he could just hug John, but out in the open, even in the dark they couldn't do that. Maybe a hug wouldn't be so weird, but he didn't want to take any risks. "I love you." he said and chuckled, "And as soon as I've rinsed my mouth properly, I'll kiss you. Just a warning. Prepare yourself for the moor monster." he said and chuckled softly, starting to pick a few leaves out of his hair.

John smiled back a bit, still trying to push Victor's impending decision out of his mind. "I love you too." He said after a moment and followed him into the woods. "And I'd still kiss you even if you'd stumbled into thorn bush, so don't worry about that." He said with a bit of a smile.

"You have no idea how weird it was to fill bottles of blood straight from the wrist though.." Sherlock said and remembered Charlie's words, "You think she meant it though?" he asked and smiled a little, "Charlie, I mean... what she said. or do you think it was more a kind of.. thank you so much for the blood god I love you for bringing it?" he asked, really not sure about that.

"I mean she looked very hungry, so it might be both, but this way or another I'm pretty sure she meant it." John said with a smile. "Her complete posture changed when you came inside, you know? She looked a lot less tense."

Sherlock smiled a little at that as they reached the spring, taking off jacket and shirt, before he crouched down to start to wash it at least, using the little piece of soap he had in his pocket, also from the cottage, it really was useful that he still knew how to get in and out of there without being seen. "Would you mind to remove everything green from my head? And while you're on it, pick out everything that's crawling too." he said and chuckled lightly.

"That's what fiancés are there for after all." John said with a bit of a smile and began to carefully pick out various parts of.. the forest out of Sherlock's curls. "If someone wanted to study vegetation they could just have a look at your head really." He said after a while, though he'd begun to massage Sherlock's head with left hand, after the biggest sticks were out, and was continuing to pick out the smaller things with his right hand. It was a nice excuse to be close to him right now.

Sherlock closed his eyes again for a moment, enjoying the head massage before he resumed to washing his shirt, "Jane has a secret." he said after a while, glancing up at John, "Pretty sure it's got something to do with Charlie. The problem with Jane and me really is that neither of us is able to keep something from the other and I saw that I know something I can't and or don't want to tell you and she looked much too often at Charlie with that look." he said and frowned.

"Oh, you think so?" John asked, now frowning too. "Do you think it's something serious?" He asked him after a moment. "I mean they've only been at Jane's cottage and the ball, haven't they?"

"If it was something really serious she'd sure tell us." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Maybe she's still going to and just didn't want to interrupt us before." he said and smiled a little, "So.. how did you like regency me, by the way. You didn't say much about it."

John sighed. "Looks like you, but doesn't know me; that meet-up had something nightmarish to it in that regard." He said, before adding. "But apart from that it's kinda sweet to see how excited you were about your first love."

"I told you about V... oh my god that was you!" Sherlock said and huffed a laugh. "You were the guy wearing my suit and breaking into my house to give me Victor's coin and tell me he is fine after someone... that was also you, wasn't it?" he asked and raised a brow, "The person that walked in on Victor and me in the shed and I even sent you there myself." he said and shook his head.

"Yup that was all me; almost got cut in half by Victor back then by the way." John said with a bit of a chuckle, before asking. "Did you already know all of that when we came here or did we make an actual change here?" He figured it was quite an important thing to know, if they could actually change their time lines.

"No, I did know that. I just never knew it was you, to be honest all I remembered was that my clothes really suited you.. but I couldn't remember your face." Sherlock said and smiled, "You know I appreciate the effort of coming to let me know Victor hadn't been arrested, but did you have to let me sit there for hours?" he asked with a laugh, "It nearly drove me insane not to know what happened."

"Had to think of Rosie first." John said with a shrug. "Plus you were probably even more relieved to see me after that long a wait." He teased him a bit with a chuckle.

"That is true. God, I just want to know where she is.." Sherlock said and bit his lip, "But like this.. it's horrible. Do you think she's alright? I mean... it's getting late and cold, she has no blood.. and even if someone took her in, she'd still have no blood.." Sherlock sighed, leaning back against John for a moment.

John rested his wrapped an arm around Sherlock's middle and sighed as well. "I firmly believe she's alright. It means we won't give up looking for her." John said. "You know, maybe a vampire actually took her in, or Victor's comrades have already picked her up." He offered. "You can't say that these things don't happen and I don't think Charlie could bear it if we told her we think it's hopeless."

"Of course I won't stop looking for her. Never." Sherlock said and closed his eyes, "It's just... she's all alone in a different time for god's sake." he said and ran a hand through his dirty hair, frowning a little, before he took up the soap again and sat up, dipping his head into the ice cold water, quickly rubbing it off with the soap, before he rinsed it out in the spring as well grimacing at both, how cold the water was and how much dirt and other things came out of it. "I even checked fox holes." he said with a roll of his eyes.. and I drew little bees on little pieces of paper and pinned them on her height to trees, leading several ways out of the forest and into the town with those markings." he said and shrugged, "I thought that maybe.. if she got lost in the forest and we simply missed each other, she'd find her way out."

"Yeah, maybe. The way I know her she'd definitely follow them, if she stumbled upon them, so you've effectively saved her from the possibility of getting lost in there." John said and brushed a thumb over his back, not saying much more than that since that was still better than saying the wrong things or something meaningless.

"I'll go out again as soon as my shirt and my hair is dry." Sherlock said and shook his hear out a little, before standing up, "I don't need much sleep anyway, so I'll use that time. Charlie will have you and Victor around to protect her." he said, shaking his shirt out as well, slowly starting to actually shiver from the cold.

"Here, bloody put that on already." John said without any anger, once he saw he was shivering, and took off his jacket before holding it out for Sherlock to put his arms into it. "You're getting sick isn't going to help anyone. Where do you want to look for her then?"

"I don't know, everywhere." Sherlock said and put on the jacket, wrapping it around himself. "And tomorrow, I'll go knocking at all the doors asking for her." he said, decorum be damned, he wanted his daughter back.

"I want her back just as badly as you do, you know? And I'd follow you in a heartbeat, if just so that I'd have something better to do than sleep and feel useless." John said and looked him into the eye. "If we had to stay here long-term, you think that'd be a good idea? Or do you think that exhausting yourself is going to do much more than scare Charlie? Sher, I can't accept it either, but right now we've done everything and have to come up with an actual plan."

"Fine. But then at least take watch turns? Two of us could go and walk through the town, keeping an eye out for her, just so we don't miss her if she does walk around alone." Sherlock said and rested his head against John's chest, before remembering that he wanted to rinse his mouth, so he knelt down again and did just that.

"Yes, we can do that." John nodded and sighed; Jesus, he wanted to get his daughter back... "I love you, Sher. I can't say how glad I am the three of us aren't separated on top of all of this."

"Me too." Sherlock said and moved his arms around his fiancé, leaning in for a kiss, there was barely any chance someone would see them here at the spring in the in dark, it was pretty shielded from view even during the day, so he figured they were safe.

John couldn't help smiling into the kiss and closed his eyes.. He'd really missed this today. Humming a bit, John cupped Sherlock's wet cheek stroked it gently with his thumb.

Sherlock rested his forehead against John's once the kiss broke, smiling a little, "God I needed this." he said, before wrapping his arms around himself, starting to shiver a little again, "But I guess I really need that fire inside the shed too." he said and chuckled.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's get back inside." John said and replaced the dripping shirt in Sherlock's nearly frozen hand with his own one. "Come on, I'll take that."

Sherlock nodded, "Jesus, how did people survive without a hair dryer here again?" he asked, chuckling a little again, before he let go of John's hand, "Better not walk like that here." he said and only now he started to really miss the modern times.

"Right. Shame that." John said with a sigh as they walked back to the shed. "So you think Charlie and Jane are keeping something from us then?" He asked after a while to have something harmless to chat about.

"Probably." Sherlock said and shrugged, "But as I said, if it was serious Jane wouldn't wait to tell us, so I'm not too worried there." he said and walked a little faster as he saw some snowflakes fall, praying that Rosie was somewhere where it was warm. Not that she could freeze, but she could very much get sick from the cold.

John nodded quietly and didn't say much more until they arrived at the shed. Opening the door for his fiancé, he waited for him to get in first. Meanwhile Charlie had put the empty wine bottle into an empty and was now talking with Jane and Victor.

Walking back into the shed, Sherlock gave Victor a hesitant smile, "Uhm.. I'm sorry about the thing before.." he mumbled and cleared his throat, "It was a bit overwhelming." he said and Victor gave him a smile, "Well.. understandable. Wouldn't know what I'd do in your position." Victor said and walked over to Sherlock, holding one of the blankets he had brought, "There you go." he said and wrapped the blanket around Sherlock's shoulders. "Thank you." he said and turned to Charlie, "Alright.. so what's your secret?" he asked, raising his brows as he waited for an answer.

Charlie had genuinely hoped he wouldn't figure it out that soon. She swallowed and looked down, figuring he'd probably be able to tell if she was lying anyway and she really didn't want to go down that road. "Erm, yeah, first of all I'm really sorry, but I didn't really think about it when I did it." She said, wishing she could just tell him in private. "I broke that promise I made to you this morning when I was at the ball." She began quietly, feeling as if a she'd been run over by a lorry. It hadn't even been a week since New Year's Eve and now she'd disappointed him again.. Meanwhile John raised and eyebrow at that kind of beginning. "It wasn't Jane's fault... I'm sorry, it was just a few minutes and I just- Lowell was going to show me his-"

"Showing you his.. I'm going to murder him. Victor if you want me to convey any last words better tell me now." Sherlock said and already started to take his wet shirt back on, it was cold but it would do, this would be over fast.

John jumped to his feet as well, equally unhappy about the news. He'd never liked that Lowell bloke anyway... "GUITAR!!" Charlie exclaimed. "Jesus, he showed me his guitar, paps!" She said and looked at him for a few seconds, wondering for a moment if he was still going to kill him... She had literally seen that coming hadn't she?

Sherlock stopped in motion at that, hearing Charlie's next words, rolling his eyes a little as Victor started to laugh quietly. "Oh. Right. Pray continue." he said, picking the blanket back up to wrap it around himself again.

"Yeah, well, he wanted to show me a few songs on it, so we went outside for a moment." Charlie admitted after a moment, since that was the part she'd actually been worried about. "And yeah, he showed me that one song he knows, I showed him that one song I know, erm, we kissed, and then Jane and I went back here." She summarised the last part quickly; he'd never told her not to kiss boys, but something told her he still wouldn't like it.

"He kissed you?" Sherlock said and smiled down at her, thanking everyone who'd listen that it was just a kiss, while he tried to keep cool on the outside. Not that he was particularly fond of Charlie developing some serious interest in ... well .. kisses and.. stuff. But a kiss was still much, much better than what he had originally thought. Crouching down at her, he smiled properly, how could he not? Even with how terrified she seemed of his reaction, he could still see the excitement underneath that. "That's really nice, Charlie. I'm sorry.. I just.. I may or may not have overreacted a little, but I'm really happy for you." he said and gave her a little hug now that he was not so filthy anymore.

Charlie sighed, really relieved. She hadn't expected his reaction to be like this. "So you're, I mean, erm not murdering any of us tonight?" She asked, still unsure what to think of this change in mood.

"No.. that is, if you promise that you'll stick to kissing boys for the next three years at the very least." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "But.. to be honest, I do remember how exciting the first kiss is." he said and glanced at Victor who smiled back at him at that, before looking back at Charlie. "So.. I'm really happy for you."

Charlie smiled a bit, visibly relieved and happy, before remembering something. "So you're not mad at me for anything and there's nothing on my tally anymore?" She asked him just to double-check. Or well, she hoped that in case he actually had forgotten about that promise thing, he wouldn't be able to bring that up anymore, if he said yes now.

"Well you did break your promise, but then, I'm pretty sure you'd have gone back to Jane even if she hadn't come after you, so it was only half broken." Sherlock said and really, every teenager, really every teenager in what era ever broke some rules, he had the feeling everything else wasn't healthy, if he was honest. He sighed, "Hm.. how about you do the dishes for a week when we get home and that's that then?" he asked and looked over to John to double check if he was going to soft on her.

John gave him a look that said he was absolutely fine with that, (it's not as if he'd been a saint and slipping away for two minutes really wasn't worth mentioning) and Charlie nodded quickly before either of them could change their minds. "Yeah, I take it." Back at she orphanage she could literally break into offices and Sherlock would even encourage her to do it, so she wasn't really used to getting punished. This right or wrong business had got a little more confusing now with her new fathers.

"Okay." Sherlock said and smiled at her again, for some reason he was strangely proud of her, even if he didn't entirely like the idea of her getting seriously into this boys business (really how was David offended about his daughter fancying girls, that at least came with a lot less... well.. boys), but then getting your first kiss was a big step in development, so yeah. He was a bit proud of her.

 

A few hours later Jane had already left while Sherlock and Victor got ready for their first shift looking for Rosie, when you could hear several footsteps coming towards the shed. "What a cheek! And I'm /telling/ you I'm her grandmother." A familiar, annoyed voice said, as it came closer. "I'm sorry Mrs., but we've got our orders. Did Trevor say it was this one?" A male voice asked, before another confirmed this and knocked on the door.

"Mrs Hudson?" Sherlock, John and Charlie said with one voice, before Sherlock dashed to the door of the shed, realising what her words meant. Had to mean. Please let her words mean what he thought they meant, he prayed as he pulled the door open facing a group of soldiers in red coats surrounding Mrs Hudson and nearly collapsing in relief when he saw the little blonde head peeking out of a cocoon of blankets, held by one of the soldiers who looked as taken in by the little girl as anyone who met her was while she was babbling happily away at him, "And then I saw a carriage and a lot of girls in like really pretty dresses and hats and so many horses and..." stopping abrubtly, Rosie looked at Sherlock her eyes going wide as she smiled, "Lock!" she said and wiggled a little in her cocoon trying to free herself to get over to Sherlock, "Charlie! John!" she added as she spotted the others. "Oh god, come here, honeybee." he said and gave the soldier an icecold stare as the man hesitated to hand the girl over. "It's fine, James. He's her .. brother." Victor said, walking closer. "Isn't that Holmes boy?" James asked and Victor shook his head, "Cousin. Strong family resemblance, I confused them myself. Scary that." he said and smiled, "Now hand the girl over, her siblings have been searching the town up and down since she ran off." he added and Rosie frowned, "I didn't run off." she complained with a pout and Sherlock chuckled a little, finally being allowed to lift her out of the man's grip, "Doesn't matter. I'm just glad you're back." he said, feeling tears sting in his eyes.

John immediately wrapped his arms around Rosie and Sherlock, effectively sandwiching her in-between them. "Thank god you're alright." He whispered and kissed the top of her head. "We were worried sick." Charlie went on her tip-toes and squeezed herself in between Sherlock and John so as to form a triangle around Rosie. "Hey Speedy" She said with a grin and closed her eyes, crying a bit on Rosie's blanket.

"I was just with nana Hudson, why are you all so sad?" Rosie asked and looked dumbfounded, which made Sherlock chuckle, "We're not sad, honeybee, we're happy to see you." he said and huffed another laugh as Rosie smiled, "I'm happy to see you too!" she stated and scrunched up her nose a little, "But I'm hungry! Can I have some tomato juice?" she asked and Sherlock glanced at the soldiers, he could hardly give a four year old a wine bottle, let alone one filled with blood while they were watching. Glancing at Victor, he gave him a look he hoped he would understand and smiled when he seemed to do. "Right then, thank you very much, you lot." Victor said to his friends and walked over to them, "But perhaps we should give them all some privacy, yes?" he asked and ushered the soldiers out of the shed, "I'll be back soon. I'll just go and grab some more blankets." he said as he closed the door behind himself and the other soldiers. "Erm.. do we have a cup here?" he asked, before he noticed something else, "Hang on, what are you doing here anyway?" he asked, looking over at Mrs Hudson, "Are you.. do you.. this might sound weird, do you actually know us?" he asked hesitantly, not knowing if this was modern Mrs Hudson, or her regency version as well.

Mrs. Hudson chuckled a bit. "Yes, I do know you all, dearie, don't worry. But I would like to know too what we're all doing here." She said, before sighing. "I would have come earlier, but it was a bit of a long way. I'm glad you're really here; little Rosie here has been very patient with me." She said with a smile. "Have you two already had your tomato juice? We didn't find the right occasion to squeeze any." She asked Sherlock and Charlie. "Yeah, Sherlock got some in those wine bottles over there." She was quick to answer.

"We still need a cup thou..." Sherlock began and paused, smiling as he noticed the little basket with food and supplies in the corner of the shed, which Victor must have brought, "There we go." he said and picked up a couple of teacups, spotting even a bottle of.. blood. Had Victor actually managed to get some? It didn't look too fresh though, so he rather took up one of the bottles he had brought himself, filling two cups, handing one to Rosie, before holding the other out to Mrs Hudson. "So.. maybe it didn't have anything to do with the room we found upstairs after all if you're here..." he said, looking with a frown at Mrs Hudson. It didn't make sense that it was a portal that brought them here if Mrs Hudson was here too.

"You've found a room upstairs, Sherlock?" Mrs. Hudson asked, before taking the teacup gladly; it wasn't as if she couldn't get any, but together with Rosie that hadn't really been an option. John frowned at this and gave Sherlock a questioning look, not quite understanding how any of this seemed to work.

"Well, yes, I have. We have." Sherlock said and sighed, "We thought we might have walked into a sort of portal or something, but since you weren't with us and haven't been in that room.. that doesn't really explain it anymore." he said and smiled at Rosie as she tugged at Sherlock's hand, "Can I have more?" she asked, smiling up at Sherlock, who nodded with a smile, "Of course." he said and filled her cup again, "Here you go, bee."

Mrs. Hudson drank some of the blood and frowned a bit. "That's strange indeed. No, I remember hoovering downstairs in 221A. Rosie wasn't even with me at that time as far as I know." She said and Charlie frowned to, sitting down on some of the hay; so they had absolutely no way of getting back home. "Where did you two wake up then? In 221A?" Charlie asked and Mrs. Hudson shook her head. "No, sweetheart, that house hasn't even been built yet. We woke up in my old house in London and thankfully Rosie has the same dress size as one of my young nieces." She said with a smile.

"Yeah, Mrs Hudson had so many pretty dresses! I didn't even know which one to pick! But this is the prettiest, look!" Rosie said and turned around a few times and Sherlock quickly halted her, taking the cup from her hands, "Rosie, love, what is our rule? Don't move to fast when you're holding a glass or cup with tomato juice. It's really hard to get those stains out of clothes, especially white ones." And he really didn't want to have to explain blood stains on the dress of a little girl to anyone.

"But you're right, it's really very pretty." John chuckled and gave her a smile, before turning to his future landlady. "Thank you so much for bringing her to us, Mrs. Hudson, I don't know how to thank you." He said, but she just shook her head. "Of course, I did, honey, you're family. And I could imagine, how you two must've been feeling without your youngest around." She said with a smile before putting her cup into her lap.

Sherlock smiled, "The worst was not knowing where she is." he said and smiled at Rosie, handing her cup back to her, "Be careful with it, alright?" he asked and Rosie nodded, "Okay." she chirped and nipped at her cup again, taking a deep breath. When the door opened and Victor walked back in, Sherlock smiled, "Oh, you two haven't been introduced yet, have you? Victor, that's Mrs Hudson, our future landlady and well.. she's more like mother to John and me, really. Mrs Hudson, this is Victor Trevor."

"Oh, that Victor?" Mrs. Hudson asked in Sherlock's direction, looking quite surprised. "Hello, Mr. Trevor." Mrs. Hudson said with a smile and give him a small bow, keeping the introduction as formal as the young man was probably used to. "Our Sherlock has told me quite a lot about you."

Victor couldn't help but smile at that, "Well, I'm glad I've made an impression." he said and looked for a moment at Sherlock, before he turned to look at John, "Can you help me outside for a moment, I want to hang up a blanket outside to shield the door from the cold wind."

"Yeah, sure." John nodded and went with Victor outside, pecking Sherlock's cheek after walking past him (now that they were still allowed to). "Were you thinking about fixing it to the roof or just hanging it over the door?" He asked, before closing the door behind them; he had a feeling Victor probably didn't just want him to help him out here.

"Oh no, we've got to keep the roof hatch uncovered because of the fire, wouldn't want you all to suffocate inside." Victor said, closing the door behind himself and turning to John, "And erm.. I still owe you an answer." he said quietly, not wanting the other's inside to overhear him.

John clenched his fist, trying not to show how nerve-racking this was for him. He'd expected Victor to tell him out here, but his stomach dropped nevertheless. "Do you want me to tell you then?" He asked after clearing his throat.

Victor took a deep, steadying breath, before he turned to look at John properly. "No." he said and shook his head, "No. I do not want you to tell me." he said and looked down at his hands for a moment, before he looked back up. "Just.. promise me to take good care of your family." he said and smiled a little, though the smile seemed a little sad. "But I still think you should consider to do it yourself. You've got a family in there who loves you so much. Just ask yourself if you really want to leave them in a few decades.. and if not.. then you know what to do."

John let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding in, not even noticing the tear that escaped one of his eyes. "Yes, I do. And of course I promise to take good care of them." John said with a nod, still a bit in shock, before running a hand through his hair. It was good to know which kinds of sacrifice they were willing to make for Sherlock. "I've got a lot of respect for you Victor and I'm glad we've got each other's approval."

"Me too." Victor said with a sigh, "It's just a little hard to .. think about it, but I've still got 70 years with him after all. So that's something." he said and smiled a little., unfolding the blanket he was holding. "Your little girls are quite precious, though." he said and smiled, "Rosie especially, I'm glad you've found her."

John smiled at the mention of her. "Yes, they are brilliant. And thank you, we would never have found her that quickly if it hadn't been for your help. Really, you're giving up so much for us, I just want you to know it I appreciate it a lot. I genuinely do."

"Well, I've had my time with him." Victor said and frowned, "Or will have." he said and shook his head, this was just so confusing. "And I can see how much he loves you. It annoys me a little, but that's jealousy. Even I can tell. God of course I'm jealous. But I suppose you understand it, at least the way you looked when you came back from seeing William tells me you do. Did you think I didn't notice the way you gritted your teeth when you told me he said you should tell me he loves me?" he asked with a half smile.

"At least I'd hoped you didn't." John said with a wry smile. "But yeah, I really am awfully jealous myself, so I'm the last person to judge you." He said and sighed.

"At least we're in love with the same man in different eras." Victor said as he started to hang up the blanket. "This would have been much more unpleasant otherwise."

"I don't know which one of you I'd have killed first, if he'd cheated with me on you." John joked and shook his head, quite certain of the fact that Sherlock having an affair with someone was almost more unlikely than time travel itself, before helping Victor with the blanket,

"Good thing he isn't the type for that." Victor said and sighed, "Although you did give me a bit of a scare when we met." he said and shrugged. "It's hard to believe he'd cheat, but it's all too easy to believe not to be good enough for him."

"Yeah, that's only too true. But who knows, maybe that crippling fear will pass with time." John offered with a shrug and gave a sigh, suddenly remembering this whole Dennis story; well, at least he was happy with Jim.

"Let's hope so." Victor said and chuckled, "Well I suppose that should do." he said and frowned, "I still wish we could get you a proper place to stay, but everyone knows Sherlock so your cover-story wouldn't work and you probably wouldn't want to split up again and there literally is no way you could all share a room."

"I know, but we'll manage. And thankfully everyone inside the shed right now can't catch a cold very easily so at least there's that." John said, before letting go off the blanket. "Go back inside?"

"That's good to know. So vampires get sick less often?" Victor asked as he opened the door, waiting for John to walk in.

"They do and recover faster than us." John said with a nod and walked inside, figuring it was best not to tell him much more than that. "Hey" He said with his first genuine smile of the day and wrapped and arm around his fiancé. Sitting down next to Sherlock and with his whole family, he actually felt contended. He'd be able to spend his life with Sherlock...

"You look suspiciously happy." Sherlock said with a small frown, handing John a cup of water, with all the blood talk they had forgot that John had to eat and drink too. "Sorry, I was so distracted with Rosie and getting something to drink for them that I forgot that not all of us live on blood." he mumbled and pecked John's cheek.

"Thanks, love. And don't worry, you don't have to look after everyone at the same time, I did get the chance to eat something during the way." John said with a smile and took a sip of the water. "And of course I'm happy, I'm with my family. What more could I want?" John asked him with a warm smile, while Mrs. Hudson and Charlie 'awwed' in the background.

Sherlock rolled his eyes, looking over at the girls and Mrs Hudson, "Charlie have you told Mrs Hudson already about your recent adventures as a heartthrob." he said and chuckled a little.

Charlie blushed a little and gave Mrs. Hudson a bit of a grin, before asking. "You know, the story involves a guitar, a fountain and sitting under the moonlight. Wanna hear it?" She asked her with a smirk at which Mrs. Hudson cackled. "Of course I do, all the interesting details."

After listening to Charlie's story again and talking some more, they eventually tucked Rosie into her small pillow-pile when she almost fell of a haystack sitting down. When another hour later another child was down, the others decided to go to sleep as well, since it was getting quite late and they had to be quiet now anyway. And really, no one in that shed could say they weren't going to sleep utterly deeply that night.


	72. Ladybug men

When Sherlock woke up the next morning, he rubbed a hand over his face, smelling the familiar scent of their detergent and feeling the softness of his own bed. His own modern bed. Thank god, it's all been just a dream, a really strange one, he thought as he opened his eyes and smiled quite stupidly at his bedroom as he sat up. He really wanted a hot shower now. He felt like he could still feel the icy water of that spring.

John grumbled a bit, when Sherlock moved and mumbled "Morning, love", before opening his eyes and stretching; he was really just going through the motions. It took him a solid five seconds to realise where he was and where he wasn't. Oh thank God. Jesus, what kind of dreams did he come up with these days? "You go first, I have to think about something." John murmured after a while.

Sherlock nodded, leaning over to steal himself a small kiss, "You're alright?" he asked, yawning again, god he felt like he hadn't slept all night. When had he gone to bed yesterday anyway, oh well, he'd probably remember after a cup of coffee and a glass of blood.

"Hm? Yeah, course. Weird dream, that's all." John mumbled absently, before going back to staring at the other side of the room. Because his subconscious had forced him to make a decision last night.. now was the time to contemplate it, apparently.

"Yeah, I can definitely relate to that." Sherlock said and smiled softly, pecking John's lips again. "Anyway, I'll be in the shower... just.. you know in case you feel like joining in." he said and smirked at his fiancé.

"Not now." John said, a soft frown on his face and his eyes glued to the wall, as he began to go through those conversations with Victor he'd had in his dream.

"Alright..." Sherlock said, watching John with a frown, before deciding to just give him some time to think about whatever he needed think about, while he tried to ignore and wash away some details of his dream, for instance that his 12 year old daughter kissed some boy. Not something he wanted to dwell on for too long, no matter what his dream self had told Charlie. It probably wouldn't be that bad if she would get her first kiss that age, but yeah he was a bit relieved that this dating business hadn't started just yet.

Charlie came down the stairs with a bright grin on her face. She'd just about had one of the coolest dreams ever, including her entire family in cosplay and a happy ending. Jeez, she wished her actual first kiss could play out like that (especially with her paps' second/ final reaction) it had just been too brilliant for words. And kudos to her imaginations for that image of Lowell, nice...

When Sherlock walked back into the bedroom to get dressed he still had to think about his dream, that was weird, he just couldn't shake it off like normal dreams, but maybe that was because that dream had been particularly realistic and maybe because it had contained a lot of faces he hadn't seen in a long time. A very long time.

John almost found himself unable to leave his bed for a long while, so when Sherlock entered the room he hardly even noticed him. All of the arguments had been valid and it still shook him how real it had felt. And that he'd almost given up his bloody dream existence; no, dream him had actually done that and dream-victor had refused. Jesus, this felt real...

"Are you sure you're alright?" Sherlock asked as he slipped into a fresh pair of pants, before grabbing a pair of trousers from his wardrobe, "You look like you've seen a ghost, to be honest." he said and frowned, he was the one to talk. He'd seen several in his dream.

"Mmmh" John hummed and for the first time today looked at his fiancé. "S'ppose I have in a way." He muttered, though mostly to himself. "We need to talk later today." He said with a soft frown once he was on his feet, before turning to head for the shower.

Sherlock frowned a little and caught John's hand before he could turn away, "Are we... I mean... we're okay right? You're not going to .. break up or something?" he asked, suddenly feeling a little insecure with John being so.. distracted. It really felt a little like he was avoiding him.

"What? No. I- "John began, before focusing his eyes properly on Sherlock this time. "I think I might love you too much, if anything. Does that make-" He shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind a bit. "We're good. Definitely good, I'm sorry I'm like this right now." He told Sherlock and looked at him for a few seconds so the other would see he meant it. "I just need a shower right now."

Sherlock sighed, nodding, "Alright.." he said and smiled a little, pecking John's cheek, "I'll make some breakfast." he said, before letting go of his hand and moving to put on a tshirt, before he walked into the kitchen.

John let out a sigh and stared at the spot his fiancé had occupied a few moments ago until he remembered he wanted to take a shower. Meanwhile, he still had this dream replaying in his mind. // "Morning!" Charlie chirped, already making some hot chocolate with blood; she felt like this was a good morning to try out weird things.

"Morning." Sherlock replied, scratching the back of his neck, he really didn't feel good about John's strange behaviour and that dream still spooked around in his mind as well, though he forced himself to give Charlie a little smile, not wanting to seem too grumpy around her. "Sleep well?" he asked as he started to make coffee.

"Nope! Feel like I've partied all night to be honest." Charlie said with a chuckle. "Not that I have though, before you get any ideas." She said, before taking a steaming mug out of the microwave and holding it out to her paps. "Wanna try? I'm calling it hot chocblood"

"You're awfully cheery." Sherlock said and couldn't help but chuckle a little as he watched her, shaking his head, "But no thanks, I think I'll stick to coffee and glass of blood." he said and looked at her cup. "Are you sure that's gonna taste good?" he asked, not having made many good experiences with blood in the microwave.

"No idea, let's give it a try." Charlie said, before taking a probably too generous sip and making a face at the blood clots, but downing her experiment either way. "A bit like mini marshmallows if you don't bite into them." She concluded after a moment. "But it's not muddy so there's that." She said, remembering her dream, before having a giggling fit at the image of Sherlock covered in mud and vegetation.

"Muddy? What's so funny?" Sherlock asked with a frown, shaking his head, "Are you sure you didn't nip on some wine again? This is rather close to how you behaved on new years." he said and smiled a little, he had absolutely no doubt she hadn't tried some wine again, but he was still curious why she was in such a good mood.

"Not without your permission. Scouts honour!" Charlie grinned and held up to fingers so as to pledge. "Just a very, very nice dream." She said, before wrapping her arms around her paps, because he'd been so very nice in it too and she didn't doubt for some reason he'd be like that in real life. "I love you" She smiled happily.

Sherlock chuckled again, wrapping his arms around in her in return, "I love you too." he said and hummed another laugh, "And I'm glad at least one person in this house had a good dream." he said and looked down at the girl with a smile.

Charlie perked up a bit at that. "Oh, you and John didn't?" She asked with a frown and looked up. "And is Rosie still lying in your bed?" She added, figuring, she must've come downstairs because of a nightmare or something if Sherlock put it like that.

"Rosie isn't in our bed.." Sherlock said with a frown, oh no not again. "Are you sure she isn't upstairs?" he asked, growing nervous again.

"What? No, I haven't checked, I assumed she had told you that she had had a nightmare." Charlie said, before frowning; she still didn't like this, especially after that dream she didn't want to take any chances. "You check upstairs, I check downstairs."

Sherlock nodded and already started to walk towards the stairs to check Rosie's room, basically running up the stairs and pulling the door to her room open only to be disappointed, finding her room empty. "No, no no no.." he murmured, checking Charlie's room too just to make sure Rosie hadn't sneaked in after Charlie got up, but Rosie wasn't there either. Not wasting any time, he made his way back down the stairs.

Charlie immediately ran downstairs and pulled Mrs. Hudson's door open (this was an emergency!) only to find Rosie sitting in her nighties on Mrs. Hudson's table while Mrs. Hudson was cooking breakfast. "Oh, good morning, dear-" She began warmly, but was cut off by Charlie's running back to the stairs and yelling. "CODE GREEN. ROSIE IS HERE!" Only then did she return to the kitchen. "How about we all go upstairs, hm?" Mrs, Hudson suggested after a moment. "We should've thought of your fathers and sister looking for you."

"Mhm." Rosie said and smiled, "But when I knocked at their door they didn't answer and I didn't know anymore what I should do when they don't answer so I went downstairs to nana Hudson!" she explained, while Sherlock nearly tumbled down the stairs as he heard Charlie call. Thank god.

“Oh, okay." Charlie said and wrapped her arms around her sister. "You can come to me too next time." She was just glad Rosie was alright, //Meanwhile John didn't hear any of it with the shower and his inner monologue running on the highest volume.

"I did, but I didn't see you when I walked into your room." Rosie said and blinked at her, while Sherlock, very much relieved that Rosie was downstairs continued to make breakfast for all of them.

"You. What?" Charlie frowned, because she had definitely woken up there. Mrs. Hudson frowned a little as well, (it was strange nobody had been there for Rosie) before ushering the girls upstairs. "Come on, let's have breakfast with your fathers first."

"I thought maybe you were on the loo!" Rosie said and smiled as Mrs Hudson lifted her off the table, "I forgot sometimes when I'm on the loo at night and go back to bed, once I left my plush bee on the cupboard next to the sink and only when I found it there I knew I was on the loo."

"Hm, right. And Sherlock said John and him had been both dreaming so that's why they didn't hear you." Charlie said and immediately felt stupid because of overreacting like that (she was almost like Sherlock when he was feeling normal). Meanwhile Mrs. Hudson took Rosie's hand and walked them up the stairs. "That must be it. Now, did you have nice dreams?" She asked them halfway up.

Rosie nodded happily, "I dreamed something really exciting! But I can't really remember, but I know there were pretty dresses and ladybug men!" she said and chuckled.

"I dreamt of pretty dresses too." Charlie said and smiled to herself, while Mrs. Hudson chuckled a little. "Sounds very nice indeed." She said and walked into the flat, Hearing the sound of a running shower. "Yohoo?" She called, before spotting Sherlock and giving him a smile. "Good morning, dearie. You didn't get much sleep either?"

"Hm?" Sherlock asked as he put some buns on the table, looking over at Mrs Hudson, "No, actually I did, it just wasn't very relaxing." he said, nipping at his coffee again.

"Hm, well that's not much better." Mrs. Hudson said and began making some tea now that she was already in the kitchen. "And how's your John?"

"Still in the shower, I guess." Sherlock said, "Fear he hasn't slept so well either." he said with a shrug, "One or two cups of coffee and he and I will be fine." he said and smiled at her.

"Hm, yes, that helps with most things, doesn't it?" Mrs. Hudson said with a smile, before getting out some of the milk.

Once they all had finished breakfast, Sherlock gave Charlie a meaningful look, before he nodded towards the dishes on the table, waiting for her to get up, clear the table and do the dishes like she had to this week.

Charlie looked at him and gave a sigh, before standing up to do her duty. "But I only broke that promise in a dream. That shouldn't count." She complained and pulled a face, before stopping mid-motion and just staring at her father as she realised what the hell she'd just said.. Even John perked up at that.

Sherlock stared at Charlie, just as startled as she was, having only remembered that he had dreamed that a week of doing the dishes was her punishment for breaking a promise when she had stood up, but Charlie had been faster to point it out. "How do you know what I dreamed?" he asked and frowned at his daughter.

"That was /my/ dream!" Charlie said and frowned at him, before adding. "Rosie and Mrs. Hudson weren't there yet but John was." She pointed out and looked at her Dad who was literally about to choke on his last bite of toast.

"For once... I actually don't know what to say.." Sherlock said and blinked at her, before looking at John, patting his back a little, "Are you alright?" he asked, frankly quite glad to have John's cough as a distraction because the situation gave him a headache.

John didn't respond, but coughed out that last piece of toast, while Charlie just continued to stand where she was. "Is that why you thought Rosie was with me?" Mrs. Hudson asked suddenly, before recalling something Rosie had said. "Did the 'ladybug men' bring us to the shed with your fathers and sister?" She asked after a moment of silence.

Rosie nodded excitedly, "Yeah! And then Charlie said she kissed Lowell!" she said and snickered, scrunching up her nose a little and Sherlock literally just gaped at his youngest daughter.

"I actually did kiss Lowell in a ball gown?" Charlie asked with a grin. Her dream first kiss was her actual (and maybe Lowell's?) first kiss? "Smashing!" John now looked as if he had choked on that toast several hours ago.

"I take the way your face looks as a confirmation that this all happened in your dream as well?" Sherlock asked, looking at his fiancé, wondering what on earth could have made him act the way he did when he woke up though. What he.. or.. they(?) had dreamed was troubling to some extend but it had all worked out in the end, so why was he so absent?

John looked over to him and nodded, before swallowing dryly. How on earth had that been an actual possibility? Obviously he had believed it at the time, but now that he was back here with his family... He'd actually talked to Victor and he almost didn't get to have any of- literally anything. That hadn't /just/ been a dream. "Jesus Christ" He muttered to himself, before clearing his throat and pulling himself together as best he could so as not to scare the girls (he'd even made that promise to Victor, hadn't he?...) "I need some time to myself, Sher. Could I just leave you here with the girls while I go outside for am hour?" He asked him after a while.

Sherlock frowned at him, but nodded, "Erm.. sure.." he said, actually starting to get worried now. What was wrong with him? "Are you alright, Daddy?" Rosie asked and offered him one of the cookies Mrs Hudson had given her meanwhile.

John accepted the cookie and made himself push all of those thought away for a few seconds. "Thanks, sweetheart." John said with a smile. "I'm really alright. I'll be back at half past nine, so you can tell everyone when I'll be back, okay?" He told her to distract her a little, before standing about to get his jacket. Charlie could tell he really wasn't alright though and gave Sherlock an alarmed look that said 'Can we let him outside like that?'

Sherlock looked John over and frowned, but he gave Charlie a nod. Maybe John was a little upset (for what reason ever, maybe his jealousy had something to do with it? Perhaps seeing him with Victor had upset him? Or well.. his younger self with Victor that was). "He'll be fine." he said and sighed a little.

Another minute later John had pocketed his phone and left his keys neatly lying on the mantle, where he'd immediately see them once someone had let him inside again. Wearing his coat, he stepped outside to have a good long (re)think about the past night...


	73. "Why do you even want to marry me!"

About fifteen minutes later, Sherlock, Charlie and Mrs Hudson were still busy comparing even the tiniest detail about their stories, all still amazed about this, while still being worried about John. When eventually the doorbell rang, Sherlock's eyes moved instantly to the mantel, where of course John's keys were lying, as usual. "I'll let John in quickly." he said and smiled a little, that bit of familiarity, John forgetting his keys was weirdly comforting. Making his way downstairs, Sherlock's had a very unpleasant flashback to the nightmare he had had months ago as he opened the door and instead of John, he found a neatly dressed woman in front of the door. Anthea. What did Mycroft's personal assistant do here? Uncommunicative as usual, she texted away on her phone, with one hand while handing him a very old, yellowed envelope, before turning around and walking back to the black limousine. Looking at the envelope, Sherlock was a little startled to find his name - or well, /William/ - written on the front in a very familiar handwriting.

"Paps, is everything alright?" Charlie called after hearing nothing from downstairs for a while, before dashing down the stairs to see why they weren't coming upstairs already.

"I.. yes, sorry. It was just the post." Sherlock said and hid the envelope a little as he finally closed the door. He hadn't even known that he had been still standing at the opened door. "I'm sure John will be back soon, though. Don't be too worried, alright?" he asked and sighed, "Maybe this is just a little harder to grasp for him than it is for us, we're.. well.. vampires.. we're probably naturally more open to .. unbelievable things, while he.. isn't. He probably just needs a moment to deal with this." he said and nodded towards the stairs, "Let's go back upstairs, alright? How about we continue our discussion when John is back? Meanwhile you, Rosie and Mrs Hudson can maybe find something fun to do, I still have to prepare a little for school tomorrow." he said, he felt a little bad about that white lie, but he really did want to read that letter with some privacy in his room.

"Oh, erm sure." Charlie nodded and went with Sherlock back up the stairs. After a few minutes they'd managed to convince her to go out with them for an hour to sit at an ice café (fancy!) and Charlie helped Rosie put some winter clothes over her pyjamas, figuring at extra layer really couldn't hurt at that time of the year. "You've got my phone number, don't you? And don't worry too much about John, I'm sure he's going to come around to all of this." Mrs. Hudson told him with a reassuring smile, before going downstairs to the waiting girls.

Sherlock smiled, feeling quite reassured to let the girls leave if Mrs Hudson was with them and if he was honest, for once he was glad to have them out. He really wanted to read that letter now. He couldn't even begin to try to understand why Victor would send him a letter beyond the grave. And to leave it with Mycroft of all people. Well at the very least the wax seal hadn't been broken, so Mycroft had actually respected his privacy this time. Taking a breath, he opened the letter and began to read.

About forty minutes after leaving, John found himself back in front of 221B, having made up his mind. The short alone time had really helped putting last night's (?) events into perspective and frankly he was looking forward to seeing Sherlock again now. With a sigh he knocked on the door, having forgotten his bloody keys again. They were still on the mantle, weren't they?

Sherlock reluctantly opened the door for John, before turning away, not acknowledging John's presence otherwise as he walked back into the kitchen, while he pressed his teeth together hard. He really didn't trust himself to speak to him right now. He just couldn't believe what John had done. Walking past the letter that was still lying open on the table, he opened the fridge, pouring himself a glass of wine with blood, hoping that'd cool down his fury a little while he completely ignored the other man.

John followed Sherlock inside the flat with a growing frown. It was more than obvious that Sherlock was angry with him, but he had no idea quite what he'd done to make him /this/ upset. "Look, Sherlock. I'm sorry I just left an hour ago. I genuinely didn't mean to scare neither the girls nor you." John said and when he didn't get an answer looked to the staircase before asking. "Sherlock, where are the girls?"

"They're out with Mrs Hudson." Sherlock replied briefly, nipping at his glass, before he sat down in front of the letter again, looking at his ring for a moment, before he looked up at John, "You know, you didn't have to propose to me, if you didn't want to and if you wanted to get rid of me, there are easier ways than giving up your whole bloody existence." he growled quietly as he pushed the letter towards John, in which Victor explained how John had offered him just that. Obviously Victor hadn't phrased it that way, he had just written that John had offered to tell Victor how to turn people, which he had eventually declined, yet the larger implications of that would have been that John would have never been born. Richard would have died if Sherlock's life had taken another turn, David wouldn't have been born, nor Harry or John. "If you're so depressed about your life with me that you're basically suicidal, you could have just left." he added quietly.

John looked more than confused before picking up the letter and skimming over it. Oh, shit. John swallowed thickly. "I never meant for you to find out." He said dryly, utterly not having expected Sherlock to know about it. He knew it wasn't a bloody excuse or anything, he was just at a lack of words in that moment. But why did he feel like Sherlock had caught him in the act of something? It's not like he wouldn't do this all over again for- "Wait, what did you just say?"

"I said, you could just break up instead of begging my ex boyfriend to take me back and in the process effectively killing yourself." Sherlock said and sighed, "Have you even thought about that? I very much doubt I'd have joined the service or fought in World War one and two, John. Did you even consider this?" he asked and sighed, "No, actually, it's not killing yourself if you just do everything in your power to make sure you're never born!" he said and shook his head, gulping the rest of his wine down in one go, before he stood up again, pacing the room.

"/What?/" John asked and looked at him as if he were out of his mind (which apparently he was at the moment). He too had his insecurities, but what Sherlock was just saying was getting deeply hurtful. "How could you even /think/ that that's why I did it?" He asked him and was basically stunned for a moment there. Was he really doing such a bad job at showing Sherlock how much he loved him? "Don't I tell you at every possible occasion what you mean to me?" He said, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice.

"And yet, you don't even consider asking.. I don't know.. me what I want.. just a thought.. since you know, it's not just your future you're giving up!" Sherlock hissed and ran a hand through his hair, standing up, "You're being very heavy handed with my future there, John. I feel like I should get some say in the matter. Did you think I want that? That I'd gladly replace you with Victor? I want to bloody marry you, John Watson. I want to build a life with you, how could you even for a second think I'd want this. That I'd rather have Victor back than having all of this with you?"

"You grieved for bloody decades, Sherlock, during which you had no idea you'd end up here with me." John said with a sigh. "If things had been different all those years ago and you had known how to turn Victor, you wouldn't have hesitated to turn him. He wouldn't have hesitated to agree and you could've stayed together. All I wanted was to give him that choice. A choice you desperately wanted back then, it's really as simple as that. History would've turned out differently, but we never know all the consequences of our actions anyway."

"Yes, back then, I wanted that choice, but you have nothing to do with that. The me you should be concerned with is the one right in front of you, right now. John, I don't love him. I love you. Of course I still feel sad about him being dead and yes, I still miss him as well, but.. you know I'm almost madder at you for making me think about this at all, than you deciding to be all generous and give me to him, but.. maybe it makes me a bad person, but.. I'm glad I didn't tell him when I met him again. I'm glad I didn't know how to turn people back then. Because all of that lead me to you. Even if I hate myself for being happy that I couldn't save him. Thank you for making me realise that. But what it really boils down to is.. maybe he was my first love. And maybe I suffered a lot when he died, but he wasn't the love of my life, John. What I've felt for him is not even a fraction of what I'm feeling for you. And to be quite honest, John, I'm not even sure I'd still be with him at this point. You don't get it, do you? What Victor and I had.. it wasn't the same, it didn't have the magnitude of what we have. I didn't get a choice with Victor. I fell in love with him because he was there, he was like me, we had that in common. We loved each other, a lot, John. But back then, when you were like this, you whether ignored it and got married, or you stayed lonely. It was luck to meet someone like you and get to know he's like you in the first place. It was grasping at straws. He and I we needed each other because the only other option was loneliness. That was the foundation of our love, even if we didn't realise it at the time.. You and me... we chose each other, both you and I could have other people if we wanted, we don't have to be together, but we want to. And we don't just want to be together because it's the only way we get to have love in our lives." he said and took a deep breath, he hadn't even noticed the tears that started to roll out of his eyes when he had talked. Wiping his face, he poured himself another glass of wine, before grabbing the whole bottle as well and turning around, shaking his head as he walked towards the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind himself. He really did hate himself for feeling that way, but it was the truth. He was pretty sure Victor and him would have split up at this point. And if Victor had agreed to let John tell him how to turn.. he wouldn't even have a chance to meet John, because he wouldn't exist. So what John actually did was giving Victor the chance to unintentionally ruin all of their lives, wiping one of those lives out entirely and that was why Sherlock couldn't see John's actions as the sacrifice it was.

John listened to every word and watched Sherlock storm into their bedroom. As he stood there, looking after him, he was at a loss for words and rubbed hi face. If this had been someone else, John would've likely been able to tell that Sherlock had a point and was scared by not having got to meet John. But thank god, no one could hear them, because John was angrier than he had been in a long time. Well, he was hurt on so many different levels, that it was easier to simply call it anger. After several seconds had passed, he walked straight after Sherlock and opened the door. "This isn't over yet. You're not the one who gets to sulk and I'm fucking NOT going to just nod and apologise. Not this time. I was bloody willing to give my life and - I can't even think about it - my family's life away, just so you wouldn't have to suffer. You don't even REALISE what this means, do you? And I never asked for acknowledgement or anything, but this is fucking ridiculous. You don't get to tell me that I really just wanted to commit suicide or that I'm too blind to see that what we have is special. To hell with you, if you actually believe that, but you don't do you? You just don't care how I feel right now. You just want to sulk and have me apologise for everything, but I'm not the bad one. I wasn't going to make this about me - because dear Lord, how could I have the audacity to make anything about myself these days - but you're not exactly giving me a choice, are you?" John spat out angrily. "I don't want to be patient and understanding and mature right now, if you're just going to be focused on yourself, you selfish prick! I'm sure you've got your reasons as always, but I don't care about them right now!" He stared at Sherlock, calming his breathing as he came down from that.

"If I'm that selfish, then why do you even want to marry me for fuck's sake!" Sherlock asked and angrily pulled his ring off his finger, throwing it onto their bed, "What exactly did you want? That I'm going to be overjoyed you I get to have Victor instead of you? Are you out of your mind? How can you be so stupid? It's unbelievable! What about your family then? What about your father, your grandfather, what about your sister for god's sake! You can't just decide all of this on your own! You presumptuous dick!" Sherlock was actually shouting at this point. How did John dare to do this without even talking to him about this. "And what about Rosie and Charlie? Have you thought about them? Without us, who knows when the people in the orphanage would have realised what's going on? The girls you call your daughters would be taken in by that.. cult or whatever it is! They'd be brainwashed and turned into criminals, or what ever other horrible thing they do to them! But no, you have to go and make a bloody great gesture to feel good about yourself, very well done indeed!"

"Fuck you, Sherlock Holmes! Fuck you!" John was now shouting as well; his heart had clenched hard when Sherlock had taken his ring off. "Don't you bloody dare to give me that! "Feel good about myself"?! "/Feel good about myself/?!?! There wouldn't have been much left to feel good about, would there, don't you think?" John yelled, trying not to show how scary he actually found that idea. "You have no idea how much you three mean to me. For fucks sake, when I came back I was gonna tell you I wanted to turn to stay with you!" He suddenly fell silent when he realised what he'd just said.

Sherlock just blinked at John for a good long while, he couldn't even tell how long it took for him to sort his thoughts and actually grasp the meaning of John's words. He wanted to turn? Unsure what to say, Sherlock frowned, sitting down on the bed and picking up his ring, toying with it in his hands. "I suppose I've just managed to change your mind then..." he murmured quietly, pressing his eyes shut as he felt tears well up and ignoring the painful stinging behind his eyelids as they tried to roll out.

John let out a sigh and looked at Sherlock, for a moment, before crouching down in front of him, unable not to glance at the ring. He swallowed, his anger having evaporated, before saying. "You really think that after all this some empty shouting could chase me away?" John gave him a weak smile. "Now you're the one being stupid."

Sherlock gave half smile at that, not raising his head as he opened his eyes and finally allowed the tears he had held back to fall out, "I was just.. I've never felt anything like what I feel for you and when I read that letter.. it felt like you had jeopardised it.. even though I knew that Victor had declined.. I just.. I panicked. I felt like you were trying to take that away from me." he mumbled, still turning the ring around in his hands.

"You know, after I had talked to Victor, it was so strange to think that I was going to be married to you and not he." John said quietly, avoiding to look at the ring now. "It felt so selfish to just accept that I'd got lucky here, even though I knew you'd have to suffer Victor's loss first. I thought, if I really loved you, then I couldn't just let that chance pass for you, if it might make you happier in the long run."

"You make me happy." Sherlock said and smiled a little more now, "I'd gladly suffer three times as much if I'd get you in the end." he said and held up the ring, for John to take it, "John Hamish Watson, I don't want anyone but you, would you do me the honour of again agreeing to marry a selfish prick like me?" he asked with a small chuckle.

John chuckled a bit at that, before he looked up at the other and took the gold band to slip it back onto Sherlock's finger. "I love you, Sherlock Holmes." He said with a soft smile. "Forever and always."

"I love you too." Sherlock said and smiled at his hand, "And .. I'm sorry.. I know what you were willing to do for me.. it just scared the hell out of me to think I might never even meet you.." he said and chewed on his lips. "But what I said is true, I guess.. with Victor.. I think we started to like each other, because no one else would in the first place. And eventually that crush turned into love. But it was nothing like us." he said and smiled a little, "So don't you ever think again I'd want to exchange you for Victor."

"Apology accepted. And that's quite a reassuring thing to hear to be honest." John said with a small smile, before pulling Sherlock's head down a little to softly kiss his lips.

Sherlock smiled against John's lips, "Are you sure, though?" he asked, pulling back a little to look at John, "I mean.. about turning. Are you really sure you want that?" he asked quietly.

"As sure as I can be." John said and looked back at him. "You know, Victor actually asked me how I could regret deciding to stay with the man I love and my daughters.. And that's what I've been thinking about, why I've been so absent the whole morning. And really, I couldn't. And I certainty don't want to end up like my gran and regret it when it's too late."

Sherlock smiled, "God it's so strange to think that all of that was real, though.. I wasn't sure before, I thought that maybe it was all just a massive coincidence, something.. I don't know what, but certainly not time travel, but Victor did mention you by name in his letter..." he said and rested his forehead against John's.

"Jesus, how would that even work?" John asked and huffed a bit. "I mean, I can't imagine coming up with any of that, even in my dreams but..."

"I don't know. I really really don't." Sherlock said and chuckled, "But at least you've met my father."

"Right. Of all things that's not how I would've expected that to go." John said with a chuckle. "He must've been seriously open-minded for the time considering he didn't kill me or anything."

"He was, I told you, Victor went to go and ask him for his consent. And my father did appreciate that he did that." Sherlock said and frowned, "Do you think that he reacted so relaxed when Victor approached him because he already had an idea I might not be interested in women, given that he actually found me in bed with a man already?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, maybe. Actually, that might be why Victor ended up asking that early. After I had told Victor about your father's reaction he seemed glad to learn he had a problem with a my being a stranger, not specified a man." John said, before chuckling a bit. "Is it awful of me that I quite like the fact I technically was your boyfriend to meet your father?"

Sherlock shook his head, "No.. it's not. I kind of like that as well." he said and smiled, pecking John's cheek, "I just wish he could have properly met you. He would have really liked you." he said and frowned, "Maybe I shouldn't say things like that anymore.. just in case who or what made us go there gets any ideas."

John chuckled. "Yes, I'm perfectly happy here as well." He said with a smile. "I'm already more than grateful I got to meet both of your parents and at least your mum properly." John said and wrapped an arm around Sherlock's waist. "God, would you have expected any of this two months ago?"

"Not really..." Sherlock said and bit his lip, "Did you already think about when you want to do it? I mean.. we should make sure you've got at the very least two or three days off after. You'll sleep for almost a whole day after that and you'll feel a little weak at first so going to work or uni isn't really the best idea then."

"Hm, I could skip microbio.. That's on Fridays, so if I did it on a Thursday I'd have a long weekend." John said after some thought, before running a hand through his hair. "This is beginning to feel real."

"So.. how long do you want to wait then.. do you want to be .. you know.. a few years older before? Or...?" Sherlock asked and bit his lip, he actually was rather eager for it to happen since he still wasn't entirely over his paranoia about John dying or getting hurt before they did it.

"Well, I've got to walk around with that face for a while, don't I?" John said and frowned a bit; at least that part was something he'd really been thinking about the past few weeks. "I mean, on the one hand probably few people will believe that I'm a doctor when I'm looking like twenty, on the other I don't want to look much older than you." He said with a sigh. "But I'm as healthy as I'm going to get right now and I know you don't want me to wait very long. So I'd like to do it soon, maybe within the next few weeks if that's fine with you."

Sherlock sighed, "Well.. we could always get the necessary papers to make you appear like a medicine prodigy later on. Mycroft would help out with that. That way at least people will take you seriously as a doctor, even if you look too young to have graduated already." he said and chuckled, "There's been much younger people to have become doctors.. the youngest surgeon I've ever heard of was seven.."

John chuckled at that. "Really, seven? Makes me wonder why I'm even bothering to study for another five." He joked with a bit of a smile. "But I suppose, that'd work."

"Well obviously he didn't have a medical degree that age, but in a way that makes it all the more extraordinary." Sherlock said and smiled a little, "Anyway, what I'm saying is, I really think that in your field skill is more important than age. They might be rolling their eyes when you start out, but once you've shown them how capable you are they'll respect you."

"Mmh, yeah, you're right." John nodded. At least until he had to fake his death and start all over again, he thought. Thankfully a career wasn't something the most important thing about the job to him, even if he would have liked it. That wasn't something that would've made him reconsider his choices. "Do you think we should set a date during the next few days?" He asked him after a moment.

"That's up to you. You figure that out for yourself. I'll be ready when you are." Sherlock said, really not wanting to push him here. "Should we tell the girls though?" he asked, wondering if that'd be a good idea. "I mean.. we can also just surprise them to be honest, I kind of would like to see Charlie's face when you casually poor yourself a glass of 'tomato juice'." he said with a laugh.

"I have a feeling she's gonna pick up on the facts something's up much earlier than that." John said with a chuckle. "But really, I feel like I should at least tell my close family. I mean, I'll definitely talk to Richard and Harry first."

"And David." Sherlock added and chuckled a little, "Honestly, please tell him, I mean he knows you're considering it anyway and if you don't tell him, I really doubt that'd be any good for his and my relationship to each other." he said and shrugged, "After all he told me that he appreciates my honesty.. You could tell them on your fishing trip, actually."

"Right, that." John chuckled, already looking forward to that one. "If I tell Dad, I'll have to give my Mum a heads up too though. But I'll figure something out. Harry will be the first one to know though."

Sherlock smiled, "She'll be glad, I think. I did have the feeling she was worried about your.. well.. mortality too." he said and shrugged, "Even if she didn't say so. You could tell your parents again that they also have that option if they want to, you know."

"Yeah, I will. I bet you've already told my Dad though, haven't you?" John said with a bit of a smile.

"Well, yeah.. but to be honest, I think he was extra hesitant because one of his kids was still undecided since becoming more or less immortal also means he'd have to watch you die if you after all had decided against it." Sherlock said with a shrug.

"Hm.. Yeah, I'll definitely talk to him." John said and thought about that for a moment, before letting out a sigh. "So that's gonna happen." He said and glanced at his engagement ring.

"You know that I won't be mad or anything if you back out last the last minute or so." Sherlock said and looked seriously at John, "I mean.. if you change your mind, that'll be fine, alright?" he asked.

"Yes, I know." John said with a nod. "You're not pressuring me into any of this, but thanks for saying that again." He said.

"I just want to make sure." Sherlock said and stood up, pulling John up along with him who had still been crouching in front of him. "But really though.. you need to learn to take your keys with you." he said and laughed, "If that literally happens forever that might drive both of us insane."

At that John began to chuckle. "Maybe post-it notes would've made a good Christmas present." He said before pulling Sherlock with a sigh into his arms; they hadn't done that at all yet today, had they? "Speaking of presents, you didn't have anything planned for tomorrow, did you?"

"Nothing apart from mum and your parents coming over." Sherlock said and moved his arms around John in return, "Why? Got anything planned?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah, but nothing I'd be willing to tell you, curious." John said with a chuckle and relaxed a bit into Sherlock. "Just wanted to make sure you're not out and about while your surprise is waiting." He said with a smirk.

Sherlock smiled, "Can I get a hint?" he asked, wondering how he had once again not noticed that John was planning something - well at least this time he had the excuse of being distracted by things like time travel and letters from his dead boyfriend.

"Mmh... no." John said with a smirk, before drawing back to peck his lips. "I know you well enough to know you'll have guessed it by four o'clock if I give you a hint. My lips stay sealed."

Sherlock smirked, "Well I do have ways to unseal your lips." he said and chuckled as he leant in to kiss John properly, pulling him closer against himself.

Just as they're lips touched, the sound of their door interrupted them. "So, there we are, girls." You could hear Mrs. Hudson saying in the living room, before Charlie quickly pointed out. "Look, there's Dad's wet jacket, Rosie. What do we deduce from that?"

"It means Daddy's home!" Rosie said and chuckled a little, "And it means that Daddy hasn't been home long because the jacket is still wet!" she said and grinned, looking up at her big sister. "Brilliant timing as always." Sherlock murmured with a roll of his eyes, though he couldn't help smiling.

John rested his forehead against Sherlock's in defeat. "Seriously, how do they do it?" He asked a bit amused. "Sound reasoning, detective." Charlie praised Rosie with a proud smile, before walking over to the kitchen table to have a look at the letter that hadn't been there when they'd left... Meanwhile Mrs. Hudson had taken off her coat and gloves. "Boys, we're back now" She called with a small smirk, already figuring they were in the bedroom.

"Yeah we heard." Sherlock said, pretending to be annoyed, but unable not to chuckle as he walked out of the bedroom and rushed towards Rosie, pretending to be attacking her as he lifted her up and tickled her, making her squeak a little as she giggled, before he settled her to sit on the side of his hip, only now spotting Charlie with the letter, instinctively taking the letter from her and folding it up, hoping she hadn't read the bit about John offering to give up their family yet. "Sorry.. it's just.. it's.. private." he mumbled and really hoped she wouldn't mind that too much, "It's .. from Victor." he said, hoping that'd explain his reaction.

"Oh, okay." Charlie nodded, figuring he'd become nostalgic and had dug it up to read it again. She hadn't got much further than the standard "Dear Sherlock..." beginning. "Hi, Charlie and hi Rosie." John smiled and pulled her out of her thoughts. "Did you have some fun with Mrs. Hudson?"

"Yeah I had a huge bowl of ice cream!" Rosie said and smiled at John, "And Charlie Mrs Hudson and I played deduction!" she said and Sherlock couldn't help but chuckle at that, "Really? My brother and I played that too when we were little." he said and poked Rosie's nose, making her chuckle again.

John smiled and put his arm on Charlie's shoulder, who quickly leaned into his side with a small smile; she could feel he was at least mostly back to normal now. "Yes, both of them remind me of you and Mycroft in that regard." Mrs. Hudson said with a chuckle. "But I think I'll go downstairs now. I've still got a pie to bake for the church sale this afternoon." She said with a smile, before receiving a small hug from Charlie. "Thanks for taking us out today, it was really nice." "Oh anytime, sweetheart, anytime."

"Can I help?" Rosie asked excitedly, wiggling a little on Sherlock's arm, "I love pie!" she chirped and Sherlock chuckled.

"Of course, you can. I can use every little helper." Mrs. Hudson said with a warm smile, waiting for Sherlock to let her down. "I was thinking we could make a cherry pie What do you think?" Meanwhile Charlie had returned to her Dad's side and leaned back into him, before he put his arm around her.

Letting Rosie down, he watched her walk off with Mrs Hudson, "What about you, then? Not in a pie mood?" he asked and looked questioningly at his fiancé, wondering if they should tell Charlie about John's decision.

"Nah, not really today." She said and shook her head; if she could have some time alone with her Dad's every now and then, she'd take it. And after the way he John had looked this morning, she was just glad things seemed to be alright again. John thought about it for a moment, before nodding; she was old enough and it showed that they trusted her, if they kept her updated on decisions like that.

Sherlock sighed, hoping he was interpreting John's expression correctly as he poured both of them a glass of blood and one with water for John. "So.. about John's behaviour before, he's told me what was going on and.. we think you deserve to know as well." he said and looked at John, figuring that'd be better coming from John himself.

Charlie's eyes widened as she looked up at John. "Are you ill?" She asked immediately, reminded of his mortality by he glass of water. "What? No, Charlie. No, I'm really fine." He said and didn't know how feel about how relieved she looked. She reached for her glass of blood as he continued. "It's that I've been thinking a lot lately, especially because of our strange dream, and I've decided that I want to turn into a vampire. I mean, it's not a hundred percent guarantee that I'll definitely turn, but as of now I'm very sure of it. I don't want to have to leave any of you, especially not you, Rosie and Sherlock, and that's worth almost any price to me." He told her shortly, figuring it was better to keep it simple and straight to the point, before watching her reaction carefully. Charlie didn't know what to say. She still didn't think turning was that big a deal, but the way John reasoned was definitely one. Were Rosie and her really that important to him? After a few seconds of silence, she looked at Sherlock for help.

Sherlock smiled a little, rubbing Charlie's back, "It's probably not a big thing for you, is it?" he asked, nipping at his glass, "But that's because you don't know any other way of living yourself, but it is big to change your life like that and change the whole idea of how your life would go you grew up with."

"And I'm glad that I can trust you enough to tell you." John added with a small smile. Charlie frowned softly, quite overwhelmed after all of that. After a moment, she stepped forwards to wrap her arms tightly around him, closing her eyes and clutching at the back of his shirt. John quickly moved his arms around her too to hold her close. "Hey, I love you. You know that, right?" He whispered gently after several seconds, which only made her bury her head more into his chest.

Sherlock watched the two of them with a smile, wondering how they'd ever be able to let them go back to the orphanage. It seemed to be more and more impossible.

John kissed the top of her head and waited for Charlie to let go first. When that still didn't happen after three minutes, he picked her carefully up and carried her over to the sofa to cuddle there with her. He had no idea how they were supposed to let them move out again.

"Am I allowed to join?" Sherlock asked, following them to the sofa, looking mainly at Charlie. He really didn't want to intrude on her moment with John.

Charlie nodded and gave him a small smile, before leaning back into her Dad. After that John budged up a little, even though technically there had already been enough space for Sherlock to sit down before.

Sherlock smiled, sitting down next to the two of them and leaning in a little, stroking Charlie's back a little and giving John a smile.


	74. Of Rosie Sleeping Like A Starfish

When evening came and they'd tucked both of the girls into bed, John and Sherlock had their second quiet moment together that day. "What a day" John began with a sigh as he pulled his shirt over his head. Since noon, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about their daughters. "We've reached a lot of milestones with Charlie over the past few weeks, haven't we? With Rosie obviously too."

Sherlock nodded, unbuttoning his shirt and letting it slide of his arms, "You know, it really feels like they've been somewhat caged in the orphanage.. not literally, mind you, but neither of them could be completely themselves." he said and chuckled a little, "Although we really do need to work on their timing." he said and rolled his eyes.

"I feel like now that you've said it out loud we've got an invisible counter above our heads." John joked with a wry smile. "But you're right. I feel bad every time I think about them having to return there."

"We could always..." Sherlock began and glanced at John, "Keep them here." he said and bit his lip, not sure how John would react to that. "For good, I mean."

John nodded a bit. "I've actually been thinking about that." He said with a sigh, glad Sherlock felt similarly about this. "It feels like we'd break their trust in a way, if we didn't let them stay." He admitted

"Not the only thing we'd break if we didn't keep them." Sherlock said, moving behind John to wrap his arms around him and rest his head on his shoulder, "I'm glad she didn't get to read Victor's letter, though."

"Oh god, no." John said with a sigh and put his hands on Sherlock's. "I think I owe you my relationship with her because you stepped in. I can see how you could take it the wrong way.. but I don't want to imagine what it would've looked like to her."

"I think she would have understood it eventually, but I figured it was better not to try out that theory." Sherlock said and sighed again, "I'm really sorry about the way I reacted, you know. I really appreciate what you've been ready to sacrifice for me.. just.. never do that again." he said and smiled lightly.

"No, I promise you I won't." John said and brought Sherlock hand up to kiss the back of it. He could genuinely see how it was a terrifying thought that someone was willing to do that for you; which was exactly why he hadn't wanted Sherlock to find out in the first place. "Not that I hope we'll ever be in a situation like that."

"Me neither.. just for future time travels." Sherlock said and frowned, "I really need to talk to Jane.. I still can't quite believe all of this was real, but if it was. she'd know."

"If someone could manipulate our memories or buy us over that would be equally if not more terrifying to be honest with you." John said and huffed a bit.

"I'm actually a little nervous about going to bed." Sherlock said and sighed, "Who knows where we'd end up next? Do you have any idea how difficult it'd be to convince Rosie that she can't ride on dinosaurs?" he asked with a chuckle.

John had to laugh a bit at that. "You'd be the first to try and tame a dinosaur for her." He joked, before turning in Sherlock's arms to peck his lips. "How about you let me try and distract you from that nervousness tonight?" He asked with a smirk.

Sherlock smiled, pulling John a little closer against himself, "That would be very considerate of you." he said, starting to walk slowly backwards towards their bed, pulling John along.

Glad Sherlock hadn't put another shirt on yet, he ran his hand down Sherlock's back and under his pyjama bottoms as they lay down. A moment later there was a faint knock on the door and John laid his head on Sherlock's chest with a sigh. "Fuck me... They've got to be watching us somehow." He muttered under his breath, before rolling off Sherlock.

Sherlock couldn't help but laugh quietly, "That was actually exactly what I was hoping to do just now.." he murmured and sat up, "Come in!" Sherlock called, watching their two girls walk in. "Papa... can we sleep in your bed tonight?" Rosie asked, holding her stuffed bee in one hand and Charlie's hand in the other.

Charlie held Rosie's hand a bit timidly as she stood in front of their bed; it was a frightening thought that they might wake up in the middle ages or somewhere else dangerous. "Just tonight, please?" She asked them and John, who'd sat up again in the meantime pulled down the duvet in between him and Sherlock. "Yes, of course you can. Come here." He said with a smile. Charlie happily obliged and climbed inside so that she was lying in between Sherlock and Rosie. "Thanks" She mumbled.

"You know.. I'm a little nervous myself." Sherlock admitted to make her feel a bit better, leaning a little over to her, to whisper into her ear, "Just imagine how much work it'll be to keep Rosie from riding on dinosaurs.." he said, repeating his joke from before to cheer Charlie up a little.

"How much it /will/ be or how much it /would/ be?" Charlie whispered with a wry smile, looking over at him.

"Would, sorry." Sherlock said and wrapped his arm around the girl. "Just remember that we came back, Miss Marple." he said and smiled at her, "So even /if/ we are sent through time again, we'll be coming back. But I doubt it'll happen again. The place we went had a connection to one of us. Neither of you has that much of a strong connection to the past as I have and .. we've already been in mine. Been there, done that. So I am rather sure nothing like that is going to happen again." he said, not wanting to lie to her, saying it won't happen again. Going by experience, telling her the truth did seem to ease her more than making up lies to comfort her."

Charlie nodded and relaxed a bit. If even Sherlock thought it was unlikely even though he was nervous himself, then it should be fine to go to sleep. And she could tell he wasn't fibbing. "Kay, thanks, paps." She whispered, before gingerly taking Sherlock's hand to soothe herself some more. Molly was great, but Charlie definitely preferred this over her night shifts.. Better enjoy it while she still could.

Sherlock smiled, gently squeezing Charlie's hand and chuckling a little as he spotted Rosie already dozed of, lying on her back with her arms spread out to both sides, one hand still holding the bee. "Well at least one of us is deeply relaxed." he said and smiled.

Charlie looked over her shoulder to look at her sister, before smiling. "She looks like a starfish." She commented and had to giggle a bit since one of her arms was right in John's face.

Sherlock chuckled at that, "Who knows, maybe she's dreaming she is one." he said with a smile, sitting up a little to lean over and pull the duvet up over her.

John gave Sherlock a smile, but didn't move too much so as not to wake Rosie up. Charlie smiled a bit at them, before lying back down. "Goodnight." She whispered and pulled Sherlock's hand up in front of her face.

Sherlock frowned a little as Charlie moved his hand in front of her face, but shrugged and simply closed his eyes, "Goodnight." he said softly.


	75. Packed Bags

In the morning they all got up extra early to surprise Sherlock with special breakfast in bed. In the afternoon they were expecting Violet and John's parents. Unfortunately Paul was at work and Clara and Harry had already gone off to a second honeymoon (a trip around the world) since they hadn't really been able to enjoy the first one properly with Harry's turning. So around 4pm, they heard a knock on the door.

"That'll be mum." Sherlock said and was about to stand up to get the door as Rosie stood up, "Can I let her in?" she asked and Sherlock frowned, that probably wouldn't be a problem in a normal situation, but with them still being in danger, he didn't feel so good about that idea. "Sure you can, but let Charlie come with you, she really wants to open the door too." he said and looked at Charlie with a little smile, not wanting to patronise Rosie by telling her she can't go to the door on her own, but he still didn't want her to go alone.

"Come on, let's go then." Charlie said with a smile and waited for Rosie to follow her down the stairs.

Sherlock smiled at John as the two of them walked downstairs to open the door, holding hands. "Is there any chance you're present for me is the security tape of the bakery you got the cake? I'd really like to see their reaction to you ordering a cake with 'happy 243rd birthday' written on it." he said and chuckled, looking at the cake on the set table.

Well, I told them you were born in a leap year, which I know doesn't make too much sense either, but they didn't ask any more questions after that." John said with a laugh as he lit the three candles on it. "You know, I was actually playing with the thought of buying that many candles, but I dont know if they have even fit on there."

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah, I think you'd set the flat on fire if you tried that." he said and thought about how David and Emma would react to that number. Did they even know how old his mother actually was?

"Probably." John said with a chuckle, before looking up when the front door opened and the girls and Vanessa walked in. "Hello there" Violet said with a smile as she entered. "Happy birthday, darling" She said with a bright smile as she walked towards her son.

"Thank you." Sherlock said and only now realised how much it actually meant to him that he could celebrate his birthday with his mother again. Or rather celebrate his birthday again at all. Since Victor died there had been no one to remind him that it was a special day, so this kind of felt like too much already, but he had to admit that at the same time, he really liked it.

"Oh, look at you.." Violet smiled and put her hand tenderly on his cheek. "You hardly look 243." She said with a small chuckle, wondering if at least Mycroft had called him the past few years.. But who was she kidding, she knew her sons and how they thought about birthdays.

"You hardly look 273 yourself." Sherlock said with a smile, chuckling as Ally held a small self made birthday card out to him, "Happy birthday, Lock!" the twins said with one voice said as Sherlock took the card with a smile. "Thank you. It's very pretty."

"You're welcome! We made it aaalll ourselves!" Amy grinned up at him. "Amber's got an exam on Monday, so she's stayed at home today. But she still sends her best wishes." Violet said and got out a store-bought card with sheet music on it that read. "Dear Sherlock, I wish you a very happy birthday with the family and a good time with my favourite cousin (Don't tell the others). - Sincerely Amber" "Hi girls" John smiled and crouched down to be on their level. "Oh and hi Vanessa" "Hello John" She said with a smile.

"Well, no offence mum, but Amy's and Ally's card rather puts yours in the shade." Sherlock said and smirked a little, giving his mother a wink. "Really? You like ours better than mummy's?" Ally asked happily and Sherlock chuckled, "Oh, absolutely." he said and smiled.

Amy grinned at her sister, hopping excitedly on her spot, before Charlie walked up to them. "Hey, how about Rosie and I show you the new rooms upstairs, him?"

Sherlock chuckled as Amy and Ally nodded walking after Charlie and Rosie towards the stairs, before standing up as the doorbell rang again, "I'll go and get that.. John.. about your news do you want to tell your parents? Just.. so I don't accidentally spill the beans." he said, figuring it'd be fine to talk about it in front of his mum, after all she was a vampire and a therapist, she wouldn't go and tell anyone without John being okay with it.

"Erm, yeah, I think I'll tell them. But still don't spill the beans before me." John added the last part quickly, so Sherlock wouldn't use that as a conversation starter. Vanessa lifted an eyebrow at that, but didn't ask him directly.

Sherlock nodded and walked down the stairs, opening the door for Emma and David and giving them a smile, "Hi." he said and Emma smiled brightly at him, "Happy Birthday, Sherlock." she said and walked up to hug him.

"Yes, Happy Birthday from me too." David said with a smile and went in to hug him too after a bit of hesitation. "How is everything?"

"Thanks and.. yeah things are good." Sherlock said and didn't want to say too much yet, "Erm.. Should we go upstairs then?"

"Yes, sure." David said and waited for his wife to go inside, before stepping inside himself. "And how are you coping with fatherhood?"

"Quite well, actually." Sherlock said and smiled, "We've grown quite close together with the girls."

Some time later the adults were sitting in the living room and drinking some coffee after the girls had already had some cake and had gone back upstairs to play there. John eventually brought himself to clear his throat to tell his parents some the news... "So, Mum, Dad, you wanted us to keep you updated on everything and, well, I've decided to-" John broke off when he realised he hadn't talked to his parents since the 24th. That was something he should probably tell them first. "Well, I asked Sherlock to marry me and he said yes. And we're both wearing rings." He added and glanced at his hand, before giving Sherlock a short smile.

"Oh congratulations!" Emma said with a genuine smile, reaching over to take her son's and her son's fiancé's hand at the same time, smiling at the rings."Is there a story to why they're different? Or did you just get them separately?" she asked curiously and Sherlock smiled, "Well.. both, actually. I had the ring ready so I could give it to John when he proposed. I had my mother's engagement ring melted and worked into another shape. It was kind of a tradition to pass it along and well.. I wanted to keep that tradition." he said and shrugged a little.

Vanessa smiled at that. "Yes, I think it's wonderfully someone actually gets to wear it after me." She said, obviously not having thought that possible until recently. John nodded. "Well, there isn't too much of a story to Sherlock's, I have to admit. I just.. I don't know, looked at it at the jewellers and was reminded of that time we were studying in the park last summer. I mean, we hadn't been together at that point yet, but I can still remember when a bee climbed onto your finger and you just watched it for a while.. You looked so content and.. at peace." He said and gave his fiancé a smile, wondering if he could see it too. "I couldn't really not get it."

"That's so sweet." Emma said and nudged her husband's knee with her own under the table.

David cleared his throat and nodded. 'Yes, very, erm nice. Congratulations." David said and looked at them both, having promised to be civil today. He still loved John and this shouldn't have come as a surprise after everything. "Thanks, I appreciate it." John said with a smile.

"Thank you, David." Sherlock said and gave him a little smile, before he took John's hand figuring he could need some extra courage for what he was going to say next.

John bit his lip, before going on. "And there's something else I need to tell you." He said after a moment. "So, as you know we've got a lot of vampires in the family at this point. Most importantly, my fiancé, daughters, and sister are, which is why I've been seriously thinking about turning literally since our first date." John said. "And yeah, I've decided I want to turn in order to stay with them. I can't guarantee it, but it very much looks like I'm going to turn before my service." He said and looked at his mum for the last part, knowing she'd been especially worried about that.

"Oh.." Emma said and smiled a little, "Well.. I'm glad you don't rush that decision at least." she said and bit her lip, "But to be honest, I would feel a lot better knowing you can't just be killed over there." she said.

John smiled a bit at her before looking at his father. "Yeah, me too." David said a few moments later, though he wasn't too happy. "And I'm glad you feel like you can tell us these things."

"Well.. That's what we agreed on, haven't we?" Sherlock asked and smiled a little, "Speaking of telling you things.." he began and looked towards the stairs, just to make sure the girls weren't anywhere near and could overhear them, "John and I are.. well, we're thinking about actually adopting the girls after all.. It's not a final decision yet, I'd just.. well, I'd like to know what you three think about it." he said, genuinely interested in their opinions. After all it would be a decision that would affect the whole family.

"I think that that's be a wonderful thing, if you really think you can handle them. I mean, I had my first child when I was 23 and that was almost considered a bit late, so I doubt think either of you are too young really. You should just know what having children means for a relationship. The girls will be more important than your work, and balancing these with a proper sex life or just time alone hard. That's something you shouldn't be surprised by." Vanessa said, before looking at David who didn't look too happy, but waited for Emma to say something first.

"Yeah we noticed the latter already." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, trying not to look at David, John and his sex life was nothing he wanted to discuss in front of David and David probably rather ignored that part about their relationship anyway. "It's a great idea, I mean, I love those little girls wholeheartedly already. So if you really want to keep them, you have our support." Emma said and gave David a look that dared him to deny that.

"As I've said three weeks ago, I still don't think you're in the right position to start a family with John having just started medical school and I'm not going to apologise for that." David said and gave his wife a pointed look. "It sounds to me as if you haven't thought this through properly, at least I'm sure John hasn't. We will help you with the girls, that's out of the question. But then I expect you to live up to that responsibility, no matter how difficult you'll find it. Those are children we're talking about, not things you can just return. You've had them for a month maybe? That's not enough time to get a view on parenthood, so you need at least the right attitude."

"No, I know it's not enough time to get a proper view on that, but on the other hand, Charlie and Rosie don't know what it's like to have proper parents." Sherlock said and gave a little smile, "So we'll all have to learn for a while and it's not perfect, I never said that, but we love the girls and they love us. So.. I think that's a good base to build on."

At least it wasn't an accidental pregnancy and the girls really did need a home. "Like Emma has said, you've got our support." David said after a moment and glanced at his wife. Meant John looked more than relieved they were taking all of this so well. "Thank you. And it's true, this is happening really quickly, but at the same time you can be assured we're not making any of these decisions lightly."

"No, I trust that you wouldn't." Emma said and smiled, "And.. well if I may say so, you two are wonderful grandparents." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "Oh, speaking of grandparents, John you haven't told David about my Christmas present for you, have you?"

"Oh right. Sherlock gave me a fishing trip for the two of us and Richard." John said. "I haven't talked to him yet either, but if you'd like to do it, I'd call him today." John offered with a bit of a smile. David cleared his throat, a bit taken aback. "Yes, erm, that's a nice idea, I suppose. You can ask him if he'd be up for it."

Sherlock smiled a little, "I was just hoping it'd do you all some good to get some time away from everything." he said and shrugged, "Least I can do since I've been the source of most of your stress lately." he said with a little smirk.

David chuckled and shook his head a bit. "It's a nice gesture. We haven't gone on a trip in a while, have we?" He said to John, who nodded. "Yeah; I'm already looking forward to it."

"It's very nice of you, Sherlock." Emma said and chuckled a bit, "Too bad Clara and Harry are on their honeymoon right now, it would be just the moment for a proper girl's night. But maybe you'd like that, Violet. We could include the girls too. I'm sure they'd like an evening full of playing runway models and doing each other's hair. Would Charlie and Rosie want to come as well?" she asked, looking at Sherlock and he smiled, "Oh yes. They had me playing runway show with them a few times already, so that's definitely something they'd like."

"Perfect." Violet chuckled, already looking forward to seeing the look on the girls' faces when they found out. "What about you though, Sherlock?" John asked him after a moment. "Wouldn't that be a great opportunity to do something with your brother instead of being alone?" John teased him a bit, but Violet smiled. "I think that's a wonderful idea. I could call him up this afternoon so he can make some time for you." She offered, wanting them to do something together for once.

Sherlock rolled his eyes, giving John a 'thanks for that' look as his mother made plans already, "Of course... yeah.. that'd be.. nice.. ish." he said, trying really hard to put on a genuine smile.

"Sorry" John mouthed, actually feeling sorry for apparently being responsible for a trip with Mycroft for his birthday. "Great, I'm sure he'd like to do something with you again. Monday wasn't too bad, was it?"

"It was... alright.." Sherlock said and groaned inwardly, "Maybe I can show him the orphanage.. he's high up in the government, I bet he can pull some strings to make things easier for them." he said with a little more eagerness now that he thought of it.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Violet said with a smile, before glancing at her watch. "Oh my, look at the time. We've got to get the girls ready for bed soon." She said with a frown and shook her head when John stood up. "It's alright, I'll just go get them myself. You've packed their bags?" John nodded at that. "Yeah, they're in their closets." Violet nodded and stood up to go upstairs, before David looked at his wife. "I think that's our cue too. I'd say, we say goodbye to Rosie and Charlie and start to go back home."

"Wait bags? What bags?" Sherlock asked and looked back and forth between his mother and his fiancé, absolutely confused.

"Didn't I tell you? I thought it'd be nice for them to have a sleepover somewhere for a change, so they're spending the night at Vanessa and Paul's." John said, biting back a smirk. It was just great to actually surprise Sherlock.

"Right.." Sherlock said and frowned a little, while Emma stood up, chuckling a little at the scene, "Yeah, I think we should go home too." she said and smiled, "Bye you two, we'll go upstairs with Violet to say goodbye to the girls then. It was very good to see the two of you." she said and moved to hug Sherlock, before hugging John.

"Bye Mum, bye Dad. It was nice you were here." John said, before his father hugged him and then Sherlock, before going upstairs with his wife. Only then, did John actually smirk at Sherlock. "Happy Birthday, love"

Sherlock frowned a little, looking at John, "Is that the surprise?" he asked, his lips curling up into a smile. "An actual night together? Like.. just the two of us with no risk of someone knocking at the door and wanting to sleep in our bed?" he asked with a grin.

"Mmh, and as you may remember Mrs. H's at one of her niece's over the weekend, so we won't even have to worry about volume." John said. "Think you can cope with just me around for a night?" He asked with a smirk and put his arms loosely around Sherlock's neck.

"Oh yes." Sherlock said and moved his arms around John's neck, smiling brightly at him, "The real question is, can you cope without sleep tonight?" he asked and smirked at his fiancé.

John began to chuckle, before looking over his shoulder when he heard footsteps coming downstairs. "I've never thought sleep could be such a waste of time." He said and kissed Sherlock quickly, before the others were coming back into the kitchen.

"Bye Papa!" Rosie chirped, chuckling as she walked towards him, "Charlie and I are going to sleep at Violet's house tonight!" she said and smiled, hugging Sherlock as he crouched down to her, "Well, I hope you have a lot of fun! And you have to tell me about it tomorrow, alright?" he asked and Rosie nodded eagerly, "Yeah I will!" she said with a grin.

"Bye Dad, have fun at the cinema." Charlie said with a smile and hugged him, before turning to leave. "Thanks, you too. Amber already said she's looking forward to seeing you again." He told her with a smile. "Bye Paps!" She said with a wide smile. "See you tomorrow."

"Cinema?" Sherlock asked with a smirk once the girls and his mother had left, "Is that what you call it now." he asked and chuckled, moving his arms back around John again.

"Isn't that a euphemism anyway?"John chuckled and leaned in to kiss Sherlock properly. "And I'm sure We'll have a great show tonight, so it's kinda true."

Sherlock grinned at that, "Well then let's get to the bedroom, wouldn't want to be late for the show.." he said and took John's hand, laughing as he pulled him along towards their bedroom.


	76. News In The Family

A week later, when Rosie was already lying in bed, John and Sherlock thought it was the right time to break the news. "So what's on then?" Charlie asked as she sat down on the couch and looked at them curiously, before getting a hunch. "Did you- I mean it was rust- no, one of the girls dared me to" She said quickly, before seeing the look on John's face and figuring that that wasn't it. "Never mind. Pray continue." She said after sitting back and clearing her throat.

"We're gonna talk about whatever you were talking about later." Sherlock said and raised a brow, wondering what she was on about, "But.. well.. I didn't think it would be difficult to tell you, actually." he said and sat down next to her on the sofa. "John and I.. we've been talking and.." he cleared his throat, realising that it was difficult to tell her, because he wasn't 100% sure she'd approve of the idea, not after she'd been let down the first time when she thought they were going to adopt her. "If you'll have us.. we decided we want to adopt you. You and Rosie, that is."

Charlie stared at them for a moment. "You did?" She asked them a bit speechless, before adding a moment later. "What changed your minds?"

"You did." Sherlock said and gave her a smile, "John and I just realised that we couldn't imagine to let you go back to the orphanage anymore.. we've been thinking so basically since you've moved in, but it took us a while to work up the courage to take on that responsibility, to be honest."

"Are you serious?" Was all Charlie could manage in that moment. "Yes, of course we are. We'd never dare to make fun of that. You know, as Sherlock said, we weren't quite sure we could be parents for you, but now we can't stand the thought that this is only temporarily." He said with a warm smile. "As long as you want that too of course." Charlie nodded, her lips curling into a small smile, before she glanced up. "So you'll be our parents forever?"

"Quite literally." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "But yes. We will." he said and gave her a genuine smile.

Charlie grinned at him, before leaning over to hug him tightly. "Thank you!" She whispered, before shifting so they could all hug at the same time.

Sherlock chuckled, "You're very welcome." he said and smiled to himself, glad that she still wanted them to adopt them. Pulling back a little, he looked at her, "Are you going to help us tell Rosie?" he asked and frowned, "Do you think she'll like that? I mean.. after all we let her down before when you both thought we were going to adopt you."

"I don't think she'll be upset or anything. The way I know her she isn't particularly resentful or anything. I think you should be the one to tell her this time though." Charlie said with a bit of a smile.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Sherlock said and smiled a little, "Do you want to keep going to school at the orphanage, though? I mean.. you could technically go to a normal school if you want, well, by normal I mean a private school for highly gifted kids. You'd be around kids that are more like you, you're surrounded by vampires, mostly anyway, so you could learn what you have to learn about vampires from us. I mean, you don't have to change schools, I just wanted you to know you have that option if you stay here for good."

"That sounds pretty cool actually." Charlie said before frowning. "But the others would think I wanted nothing to do with them, wouldn't they? I'll have to think about that before I can give you a definite answer." She said, before clearing her throat and asking. "By the way, are you able to deduce what I was talking about earlier on?"

"You could still go to the orphanage and meet your friends there, maybe you could also do some homework help and tutoring for younger kids at the orphanage too." Sherlock said and smiled a little at Charlie's next question, "Well, I know you've hurt your knee, the way you were trying to cover your limp when we drove home in the afternoon told me something was up, but I couldn't really figure out what. I was trusting you'd tell me if it was something we should know."

Charlie looked down at that and blushed; that trust-thing always got her and Sherlock knew it, didn't he? "Erm, well, it wasn't very dangerous so I don't think you need to know." But it had been pretty awesome, so she almost didn't regret it.

"Do you think John and I never did reckless things your age? And we did those things without super healing powers. So we're not going to freak out over little 'not very dangerous' things, if they have in fact been not very dangerous, but since that does suggest it was a little dangerous, I'd actually rather you tell us." Sherlock said and gave her an encouraging smile.

"Oh, okay. It was actually pretty fun coming to think of it." Charlie said and scratched her head, before telling them the story. "Erm, well, one of the girls dared me to ride a plastic sledge down two flights of stairs. I mean we'd build up a mattress downstairs to crash into, but I sorta fell off the sledge before it came to that."

Sherlock was quiet for a second, "Uhm.. I think we have to talk about the definition of 'not very dangerous'.. that is ridiculously dangerous. Even with super healing, I'm not even sure it'd heal if you break your neck, Charlie. I mean, beheading is one of the ways to kill a vampire and it's very likely it's because the brain is disconnected from the rest of your body, which can happen if you do break your neck as well." he said seriously, "Until we've met a vampire that survived breaking their neck, or who has experienced paraplegia and it healed completely, I'd really like if you wouldn't tempt fate there." he said and wondered if it really was such a good idea not to tell the kids what's going on until a certain age.

"Just for the record, I never thought I was invincible." Charlie mumbled and John stepped in before Sherlock had the chance to tell her that it very much sounded like it. "And we don't think you did. Look, I hope that we can generally agree that anything that would hospitalise a mortal is definitely not something you should be doing either; for your own sake and because the few mortals at the orphanage could mimic you. The point is that it's easy to underestimate risks, especially when you know you're healing is much better than that of mortals. This way or another, you should've stopped for a moment and thought about the risk of breaking your neck doing that. Does that make sense to you?" Charlie nodded. "Yeah, I guess." "And did you actually think about what could happen?" "I mean, the others said-" She began but was cut off by John. "I don't care what they said, Charlie. If they didn't think about it, they're opinion's not worth much either, okay?" Charlie nodded again, looking down. "So next time you'll do what?" "Stop and think about the risks."

Sherlock sighed a little, "All of that is true, but I think John forgot to mention one important factor there, we don't want to spoil your fun, we react like that, because we care about you." he said and rested a hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "We worry about you, that's the deal, you know. You don't get parents without them spoiling your fun now and then because they worry about your health and safety." he said and smiled at her.

"Sounds fair." Charlie nodded with a bit of a smile, having dreaded for a moment there that that might've changed their opinion on the whole adoption thing. "So am I in trouble again?" She asked and John shook his head. "No, you're not. It's the first time we've talked about it, so you get a pass." John offered with a smile. "Though next time you think it might be fun to jump out of a window you will be. Does that sound fair too?" He asked her and she nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, it does"

"Another valuable lesson, if you actually hurt yourself doing something stupid, it's very important to tell people what really happened, because you might think the story you made up is similar enough, but it might not be and some injury is overlooked, which can be at the very least very unpleasant for vampires, but for mortals it's really dangerous." Sherlock explained and pulled her into a hug again, "Also, whatever happens, you don't have to worry about us changing our minds about adopting you, or when we've officially adopted you that we might send you away. You can't do anything that's bad enough to make us do that." he said softly. "We might be mad at you sometimes, but you'll still be our daughter, that's not ever gonna change."

"Promise?" Charlie asked after a moment and hugged him a bit tighter. John laid a hand on her shoulder and stroked it with his thumb. "Of course we promise. We love you no matter what, Charlie. And we'll always want you to stay with us." "Thank you." She mumbled into Sherlock's shoulder.

"You're welcome." Sherlock said and rubbed Charlie's back a little, "Is you knee alright again, though? You didn't limp when you walked into the living room just now, so I take that as a good sign. But you might want to go easy on it for a few hours."

"Yeah, okay." Charlie nodded and drew back. "It doesn't hurt, but I'll go to sleep now anyway, so it can't really get worse." She said, before wondering. "So when will you tell Mrs. Hope?"

"Well.. for now we can't really do anything about it, unless I get Mycroft to wave his bureaucracy wand, but.. if he doesn't help out with this we'll have to wait until John is 21 and well.. I have to wait until I'm officially 21 as well. Adoption laws." Sherlock said and frowned, "So since we can't do much about it, maybe we could tell Mrs Hope in a few months, gives John and me more time to convince her we are good parents and it'll really be helpful to have her backing us on this."

"Oh okay. That makes sense. Then I'll have some more time to think about that school thing too. I think I'll drop every now and then what cool parents you are in the meantime." She said, before yawning, which reminded John to check his watch. "It's getting late now, isn't it?" He said warmly. "How about you get ready for bed and we'll call it a day, hm?"

"Yeah maybe don't overdo it, though." Sherlock said and with a laugh, "Wouldn't want to have her think we're paying you for it." he said and smiled, standing up. "But yeah, John is right, bedtime." he said and smiled.

"Kay, I'll keep that in mind." Charlie said with a chuckle, before walking into into the bathroom to brush her teeth. After she was out of earshot, John huffed dryly. "A sledge.. Jesus, sounds like they could use something proper to do in their free time."

"Yeah, definitely. I don't know, maybe I could convince Jane to do a creative writing club in the orphanage, Lowell could maybe set up a school band, like.. with guitar, drums, a singer.." he said and frowned, "I don't know, with some luck I could maybe even try to have Mycroft do a weekly 'how to fake paperwork' club.. I mean.. they'll have to at some point, so they should know what they're doing."

John had to chuckle a bit. "Definitely a useful thing, but I could really imagine Mycroft having as much fun at that as I have playing rugby." He said before sobering. "But that sounds like a good idea. The kids deserve some better activities there." He said and gave a sigh, before looking over his shoulder. "Speaking of children, I think it's improved a bit over the past weeks but Charlie seems to be quite insecure. Not towards Rosie or other children, mind you, but people who get to know her better, you know?"

"You mean the way she keeps worrying she might scare us away or that we wouldn't want to have her around anymore whenever she does something that's a bit not good?" Sherlock asked, with a sigh, "Do you think she realises how clearly her faces shows it when she worries about this?"

"Even if, I don't think she knows it's quite that obvious." John said and scratched his head. "I mean, I feel like we should do something about it, but apart from reassuring her I can't think of anything."

"Well.. we could ask them if they want to be called Watson-Holmes." Sherlock said and gave a little shrug, "Or is that too.. demanding? I don't want to pressure them into anything.." he said with a frown.

"Hm, I mean we could emphasise that they can always say no." John said, before Charlie looked around the corner with a grin, having overheard the last few sentences. "You want us to have your last names?" She asked them after a moment, before walking into the living room.

"Oh.." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes a bit, but mostly about himself, for still being surprised that they were overheard sometimes, having two little spies living with them. "Well, yeah, we'd like that. If you want it as well, that is. You don't have to feel like you have to agree."

"Are you mad? Of course I do! And I'm pretty sure Rosie will say so too." Charlie beamed. "You really want that too?" She asked, looking back and forth between them.

"Well, we wouldn't have talked about it if didn't." Sherlock said and couldn't help but laugh at the way Charlie's face had lit up.

"Awesome!" Charlie cheered and ran back up to them, jumping onto John's lap and stretching her legs out onto Sherlock's. "Charlie and Rosie Watson-Holmes. That's got a nice ring to it." She smiled; this morning, she genuinely wouldn't have thought this day could still turn out to be a decent one...

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah, it really does sound good." he said and smiled at John, "And next year in February we'll all have the exact same names."

"Can't wait for that." John smiled back at Sherlock and took his hand. "And just for the record, I'd be very happy with Holmes-Watson too." He said and Charlie chuckled. "Nah, sorry, Paps, but now it's already been decided." She teased Sherlock with a smirk.

"Actually.. I like Watson-Holmes better myself." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "I mean.. Holmes-Watson just doesn't sound as good." he said and shrugged, "Anyway... are you really that happy or is that just strategy to stay up just a little longer?”

"Why can't it be both?" Charlie chuckled. "By the way, would suggesting to watch a film to celebrate this be pushing my luck?" She asked with a chuckle and John kissed her head in response. "It would. Now, do you think you can manage the stairs on your own with that knee?" With a bit of a smirk, Charlie considered asking John to carry her up the stairs for a moment now that she was on his lap anyway. "Mmh.. I mean it still hurts a little. Could you maybe..." She said with puppy dog eyes (she'd become good at those). "Course I can." He said with a smile, before standing up holding her bridal style. "If photography doesn't work out you could always become an actress." He teased her with a chuckle.

Sherlock chuckled, watching the two, quite thankful that John had said no, because he had already been about to say that of course they could stay up to watch a film. He really had to practice to say no.


	77. Unexpected Flirting

On the following weekend Sherlock and Mycroft met each other a in front of the orphanage, while the Watson men were out on a fishing trip and the girls having a sleepover. Their mother, of course, had been more than joyful to have the brothers do something together; even though they had already done that this year (and it was /still/ January). Nevertheless Mycroft had to admit, he was a bit curious to see how they organised that many vampire, even if he wasn't exactly fond of young children in general. "Hello, brother mine" He said as Sherlock walked up to him.

Sherlock sighed as he spotted his brother, "Hi." he said and rolled his eyes, which was the natural reaction to seeing his brother. "How necessary to see you."

"Likewise." Mycroft said and curled his lips into a flat smile. "And how have you been planning to use my connections at work this time?"

"I'll make you a list." Sherlock said with a smirk, before he started to walk towards the door, figuring Mycroft would follow and if not.. that wouldn't be too bad either.

"Tell John my utter thanks for making me come here to annoy you." Mycroft said as he followed him along.

"Whatever." Sherlock said and opened the door to the orphanage, chuckling as a few of the first graders called out, "Hi Lock!" before they continued to walk to the lunch room.

Mycroft walked inside and looked at the passing enigmas; he'd never understand children. "Oh, hello." Rachel said as she saw him. "Greg asked me to tell you to come see him because of your new room plan. Apparently Dorothy made some changes for the semester."

"Oh you're still here?" Sherlock asked, giving her a little wave, mainly to make see the ring on his finger, although he had honest to god forgotten Rachel, he hadn't seen her in a while (or perhaps he just hadn't wasted brain cells on her presence, which seemed a bit more likely). "Well, anyway, you want to come with me, or do you want to get acquainted with some of the kids?" he asked, already ignoring Rachel again.

"Lovely." Rachel commented with a huff and Mycroft rolled his eyes at Sherlock; as if he seriously wanted to meet the children. "Did you get that or do I need to pin that memo to your forehead?" She asked impatiently, crossing her arms in front of her chest. No wonder he and Rosie got along so well; she ignored everyone and everything too, but at least she wasn't as rude.

"Yes, Rachel, I got it. It may surprise you, but I do possess the ability to absorb information given to me even if I don't point out that I have." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes. "Speaking of information certain people need to pin to their foreheads, isn't a lovely a ring John's given to me when he official proposed to me on Christmas day." he said with a smirk as he held out his hand for her to see.

"How lovely it is you've decided to pull through with that after taking in children." Rachel said with a tight smile, before turning on her heel to leave. Mycroft watched them with mild interest, looking unimpressed.

Sherlock chuckled a little as Rachel turned around, for a moment feeling very good today, then he turned around and remembered he had to spend the majority of it with Mycroft, "Well then, I suppose we'll go and meet another colleague of mine, aren't you excited about today?" he deadpanned.

"I'm barely able to contain myself." Mycroft said and gave a sigh, his expression remaining unchanged.

Sherlock rolled his eyes and walked towards the stairs to find Greg in the teacher's lounge, well at least he'd have some fun watching Mycroft having to deal with Greg who by all natural laws should be one of the most annoying people his brother could imagine, being sassy and making jokes.

"Ah, hey Sherlock." Greg greeted him with a smile and stood up, abandoning the exams on his desk. "And you must be Mycroft. I can't say I've heard much good about you." He said with a laugh towards Sherlock, before holding out his hand towards Mycroft, who surprisingly enough felt compelled to shake it. "I'm Greg, nice to meet you." "Hello, I'm afraid to say that my brother has left out some crucial details about you though.." Mycroft eyed the new acquaintance with the hint of a smirk and Greg grinned outright at that. "Mmh, maybe we shouldn't rely on Sherlock too much in that regard. It can't be all bad."

"I actually told you about him?" Sherlock said, looking with a frown back and forth between his brother and Greg. Did Mycroft just almost half smile?

"Well, I'm very much a man for reliable sources." Mycroft sound, making several quiet deductions about Greg. "Like first-hand evidence?" Greg chuckled, finding the other bloke intriguing. "Quite so." Mycroft replied and was amazed, because it'd been a literal century since he'd last done something like this. "And you're looking at me funnily because..?" "Gathering evidence." Mycroft replied, which made Greg chuckle on more. "Like what you see?" He asked cheekily and Mycroft actually gave a smirk at that. "Very much." Greg chuckled a bit at that. "I actually feel special now. Doesn't seem like you tell that many people." "I don't." "You're the first person to compliment me with that sentence." Greg said with a laugh. "I suppose that makes me special too. But I could come up with more sentences." "07700 930439" "And what's that for?" "First-hand evidence." Greg said with a grin and Mycroft actually chuckled. "Intriguing."

Sherlock just stupidly blinked in turn at his brother and at his colleague during that exchange. What the hell just happened? Was Greg flirting with Mycroft? And more important, although almost equally unbelievably, was his brother flirting back? "Uh.. room plan." Sherlock said with a dumbfounded expression after a moment, looking at Greg.

"Right." Greg said and turned to Sherlock after a moment, looking at him with his normal expression. "We're teaching the first and second graders in the cafeteria from now on. Apparently, there's a problem with the water pipes in our regular room, but I've been assured a plumber has already been called. How are the girls and John by the way? Speaking of which, am I ever going to see him regularly, actually, or is that a thing of the past?" He asked casually.

"Actually it's very much a possibility he'll start to regularly work here.. since he's decided to join the V club." Sherlock said with a chuckle, having shoved everything that had just happened into the panic room in his mind palace, so he could function normally.

"You don't say!" Greg asked him with a chuckle. "That with your engagement.. Christmas hasn't ended for you, eh Sherlock? Do you already have a date?" He asked and shot Mycroft a smirk for a split-second, before paying full attention to Sherlock again.

Sherlock pointedly ignored the way Greg looked at his brother, "Uh.. February 21st for the wedding, he hasn't decided on a date for the other thing yet. Some time before he goes into service, that's for sure, though."

"I'm glad for you. One thing less to worry about." Greg said with a smile. "We've been talking about Rosie by he way. Rachel says she's making a happier impression these days. She must already be excited to have you in class next year on top of everything."

"Oh that she is." Sherlock said with a laugh, "She's already nagging about school bag shopping since Charlie showed her some on the internet." he said and smiled, "Actually if Charlie starts overselling John and my parental abilities the next few weeks, that's because we've actually decided to adopt the two once we legally can." he said and chuckled, "And she wants to make sure Dorothy will back us on that."

"That's sweet of her." Greg said with a smile, though he really thought it was a good idea for John and Sherlock to have full custody of them; especially because technically they could still be adopted by literally anyone who walked in here and who Dorothy deemed suited. "I'm sure I could put in a good word for you two and make sure some of our colleagues don't get the chance to in the meantime." He offered, though Mycroft jumped in there. "Oh, that's not necessary." Mycroft replied smoothly. "I can get you custody for them by the end of the week; my work brings about some advantages." He said and Greg looked quite surprised. "This week is over in less than two days. What exactly is it that you do again?" He asked and Mycroft smirked slightly "I employ a minor position in the British government."

"He is the British government. When he's not too busy being the British Secret Service or the CIA on a freelance basis." Sherlock said with roll of his eyes, "However, I suppose.. I would be.. quite.. erm.. grateful.. if you could use your connections on that matter." he said and sounded like he was coughing up a hairball, which was his usual tone when he was reluctantly thanking Mycroft.

"You're welcome." Mycroft said and rolled his eyes, which made Greg chuckle. "You two are heart-warming, really."

"I'm not even sure he knows what that means.." Sherlock huffed and rolled his eyes once again.

"And I take it you two are spending the day together because you enjoy each other's company the so much, yeah?" Greg asked, looking amused.

Sherlock sighed, "Our mother forced us to.." he said and rolled his eyes again (at that rate, his eyes would probably actually hurt from all the eye-rolling in the evening). "Anyway, do you know if Dorothy is in her office? I was actually hoping to catch her since my brother here wanted to offer help fund some afternoon activities for the kids and find instructors for them, he even generously offered to hold a regular class on how to deal with paperwork issues and building up a believable background once they have to change identities. Isn't that nice of him?" he asked with a smirk. Even if he was still a bit disturbed by what ever was going on between Mycroft and Greg, he didn't see a reason not to use to further his plans.

Greg smiled at Sherlock's brother once more. "It sure is. So you like working with children as well?" He asked curiously and Mycroft could've strangled Sherlock that moment (though he definitely wouldn't let that show). "I mean I'm slightly out of practice" He began and looked at his brother, which made Greg chuckle a bit "but I'd be more than glad to help out. Especially since it will eventually be important for them." He said, internally on the verge of rolling his eyes.

Sherlock smiled innocently at his brother, "Oh, I'm sure you'll manage." he said and could barely hold back the laughter that wanted to burst out of him at his brother's reaction, "Should we go find her then?" he asked, still smiling.

"I've been to her office two hours ago so she's probably still in there." Greg told him with a smile. "Anyway, it was nice to meet you, but duty calls, I guess." He said before glancing at his exam papers. "Good luck finding Dorothy."

"Thanks." Sherlock said with a smile, still trying very hard not to laugh at his brother, "I'll see you then." he added, before turning to leave.

"See you." Greg said and sat back down and Mycroft walked with him outside. "Do me a favour and kindly shut up." Mycroft said sourly before Sherlock even got a chance to mock him.

"I wasn't go.." Sherlock began, being cut off by a snort he just couldn't suppress, before he cleared his throat, biting his lip hard, "I wasn't going to say.. anything."

"Evidently." Mycroft said with a sigh, before returning to a more conversational tone. "So you're Greg's teacher's aid?" He asked innocently.

"I am..." Sherlock said and feeling a semblance of compassion, he added, "And well, I know him a bit, we talk about this and that... you know small talk like for instance that he's single.... not that you'd be interested in that kind of thing.." he said, trying to keep every hint of mocking out of his voice (because if he was honest, mocking was generally the tone of voice he always used with his brother.)

"Is that so?" Mycroft asked, obviously having memorised that mobile phone number. But it was not like he was seriously interested, merely curious. "And what is he like if you get to know him a bit?" He inquired after clearing his throat.

Sherlock couldn't fight the small smile that was stretching his lips, "Well.. he seems to have a bit of the same ability John has when it comes to enduring a Holmes.. he's told me he's bisexual.." he said, letting it sound like a casual remark, "He's rather smart for an idiot.." he said and shrugged, "Quite a nice guy."

"Interesting." Mycroft remarked almost smiling. Should he look up basic facts about him before calling? ...If he'd worked sloppy Mycroft would be able to trace him back to his actual birth date. "Do you happen to know his birth era." He asked to save himself some work.

"He's actually just a few years older than you.." Sherlock said and couldn't stop smiling, Mycroft could tell himself as much as he wanted that he was just curious (because he was sure that's what he was trying to do), but the way Mycroft had looked at Greg had been disturbingly similar to the way Charlie looked at Lowell.

"Ah, interesting.." Mycroft said, and wondered if they'd already met somewhere down the line. To make it not blatantly obvious he found Sherlock's colleague interesting, he added. "Is that the normal age for the teaching staff? Or what is the general demographic like?"

Sherlock bit back another chuckle, actually in a way quite relieved that Mycroft was acting slightly like a human being with actual emotions. "Oh they are from all over the place. Mrs Hope, the headmistress, she doesn't really talk about it, but rumour has it she's been born in the late middle ages."

"Quite a respectable age." Mycroft commented, even if it was just a rumour. "I have to admit, this is more interesting than I had expected." He said as they came near an office.

"So you'll do it? Help out here with finding people for afternoon classes and more importantly showing the kids how to build a whole new background for themselves? And.. perhaps even spare a moment or two the next years for kids from here approaching you about helping with that? I mean.. it's just a few clicks on a computer for you, but it really helps someone who doesn't know how to work themselves up the command line in every era.." Sherlock said and shrugged a little, "I mean.. I'd genuinely be thankful if you'd do that. I don't know if you can understand that, but this project, all the kids, they've grown on me.. and well you remember how hard it was for us to figure things out, it's a good thing there's a place like this for them."

Mycroft regarded him for exactly two seconds before nodding. "I haven't had a social project in decades and it might keep mummy off my back." He said and gave a sigh. Though really, the fact that they were /children/ played a big role; at least he and Sherlock had been of age and in an era with far less thorough registration systems... he could see how much they'd benefit from his insight. More surprising, however, was Sherlock himself. "When was the last time you've let children grow on you?"

Sherlock rolled his eyes again, but this time with much less annoyance, "I think that was the last time I actually interacted with children, or in other words, never. It actually is kind of gratifying to work with them. They suck up everything you teach them like a sponge. Maybe you'd see it that way, the more better educated kids, the less adult idiots we've got to deal with them though."

"That's actually something to write on a motivational poster in your teachers' lounge." Mycroft commented.

Sherlock huffed a laugh at that, "I knew you'd like that phrasing." he said and for the first time in a while (more than a century in fact) he didn't entirely despise every second of being around his brother.

Mycroft gave a small chuckle, before coming to a halt in front of the office and knocking. "Yes, come in!" Came Mrs. Hope's voice from inside.

When Sherlock returned a week later from dropping the girls off at the orphanage for school and nursery, he had the day off since the first and second graders were on a field trip and for once, there were enough teachers to accompany them, that along with Greg's annoyingly good mood had caused the man to tell Sherlock he could take the day off, which was great.. in a way. Not so great was that he had been sitting through half an hour of his swooning about Mycroft and their date last night. Opening the flat door, he gave John a smile, "And I'm back." he said and chuckled a little, "Turns out they don't need me today." he said as he walked into the living room with a frown, realising that with the kids gone and not having to teach... he actually didn't know what to do with the morning.

"That's a nice change." John said, looking up from his notes. "Any news from the orphanage?" He asked, closing his notebook for now.

"Don't remind me.." Sherlock said and took off his coat, before he walked into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of blood.

John frowned. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Remember when I told you about Mycroft's crush?" Sherlock asked and shuddered a little, "I've just been sitting through a 30 minute speech held by Greg about amazing my brother is and how great their first date was."

John couldn't contain his laugh, though he coughed to cover it up. "Really? Good for them, I guess. Did Greg go very much into detail or why do you you look like you've found a spleen in the microwave?:

"It's just weird.. I didn't even know Mycroft is gay.." Sherlock said and frowned, "Scratch that, I didn't think he was /anything/.. Not even when he looked at Greg like he was the most delicious piece of cake he's ever seen.. I didn't think something would seriously come of it."

"Now I'm curious, has he never gone on dates before?" John asked. "Not that I could imagine that, but you've known him for several lifetimes.

"He absolutely hasn't." Sherlock said and frowned again sitting down next to John, "I guess part of it was that he witnessed how I felt after Victor died. Guess that wasn't exactly encouraging him to go and find someone for himself."

"Maybe the fact it was illegal until a few decades ago played a part too." John commented after a moment. "I mean he's a high-up in the government so maybe that played a role."

"Being a high ruler doesn't mean playing by the rules John." Sherlock said and smirked a little, "Actually.. most high up people have become high ups because they don't play by the rules."

"Don't tell Mycroft or we might get a few other surprises with him." John said with a laugh. "And what did Greg say about him? I can't really imagine him to be a romantic."

"He told me Mycroft brought him Roses.." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, "In his defence, it was Mycroft's very first attempt to be romantic..."

"That's cute though. Speaking of first dates, didn't Mycroft actually end up teaching the children of this official in your place?" He asked with a chuckle, remembering that evening well.

"Oh yeah, his courses start next year." Sherlock said and chuckled as well, "Plus, he's made it known in the orphanage that he'll keep an hour free every Friday afternoon for people who would need help with an alternate identity." he said and smirked. "So that .. whatever it is, is at least good for something.. and I suppose there could be worse potential brothers in law."

"That's true." John chuckled, before asking. "And he's a agreed to help children to impress Greg? That's some commitment right there."

"Partly that, but he's also understood that it's important for them to know what they're doing when it comes to paperwork. Especially these days with technology getting better and faster and IDs getting harder to fake, let alone changing your whole history." Sherlock said and chuckled. "Still I think he did mostly agree because it made him look good in front of Greg."

John chuckled. "Do you think we should maybe invite them to a double date?" He suggest mostly to tease Sherlock.

"Actually that's a great idea." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "It'd piss Mycroft off much worse then it'd annoy me but he wouldn't be able to deny it if I tell Greg first and he asks him about it." he said with a grin.

"Great plan." John said with a chuckle. "Are there many things you don't do to annoy him?"

"Only two or three." Sherlock said and smirked at his fiancé, "Maybe four.." he added with and grinned.

"In that case... Pick a number." John said with a smirk and leaned in to kiss Sherlock.

Sherlock didn't get to reply as he felt John's lips against his own, instantly wiping all thoughts of his brother from his mind as he leant a little more into his fiancé, "You realise we have roughly six hours all to ourselves now?" he murmured against John's lips.

"I do." John whispered and ran his hand through Sherlock's curls. "Christmas came early this year." He commented with a smirk, bridging the gap between their lips before he had a chance to reply.

Sherlock chuckled at that, moving to push John down onto the sofa and placing himself flat on top of him, "Should we lock the door? Just to be safe?" he asked, unable not to think that someone was going to walk in any minute.

"I mean, I can't think of anyone who could come in here besides Mrs. Hudson's and she's got a key anyway" John joked with a chuckle, though he just didn't want Sherlock to get up. "But if you want to be safe, that'd be better."

"Hm no, if someone comes in now I can at least blame you." Sherlock said with a laugh, rolling both of them onto their sides on the sofa, or rather that's what he was trying to do while he rolled them both off the sofa and they fell to the floor.

John fell onto Sherlock with an 'mmpfh', before beginning to chuckle. "Smooth. Though, I guess you're right, no one's gonna spot us under the couch." John joked and turned his head to look under it.

Sherlock laughed, "Well, I knew that plan is genius but thanks for confirming it." he said and leant a bit up to rub the back of his head, feeling a small bump form. "But thinking about it.. the bedroom also seems like a sound plan."

John got to his feet and held a hand out for Sherlock. "Are you don't want to put some ice on that spot first?" He asked, waiting for Sherlock to stand up and leave the living room with him.

"I'm fine, that bump's gonna be gone in about an hour. Best thing about being a vampire, it takes a really very hard blow to do any severe damage to your skull, I can't even remember my last concussion." Sherlock said and chuckled a bit, "I'm not even I've had one since I've been turned, but don't let Charlie know about that."

"You bet I won't." John said with a chuckle, knowing she'd probably put that to the test. That girl definitely close to putting his own adventurousness in the shade; which really was an impressive thing to do. "Bedroom it is then." He smirked, waiting for Sherlock to follow him.

Sherlock smiled at that and took John's hand, before starting to walk to the bedroom with him.

John smiled back and walked with him through the kitchen into their bedroom. "Damn, I can't wait to take your clothes off." He said with a smirk.

"That feeling is very much mutual." Sherlock said and chuckled as they entered the bedroom.


	78. Valentine's Day

A week later it was Valentine's day, which on the one hand meant that they still had to organise Rosie's birthday party in two weeks and obviously that he'd prepared a few things for Sherlock. Nothing big (he already wondered what Sherlock might've come up with), but he'd cancelled his regular late shift at the station and asked Mrs. Hudson to look after the girls so they could go out to eat tonight. And in honour of their first Valentine's day together as a couple he got up an hour earlier than usual to prepare breakfast in bed just for the two of them.

 

When Sherlock woke up to the smell of coffee - let's face it, the smell of coffee in the morning definitely trumped the smell of blood, even for a vampire - he couldn't help but smile, "Morning.." he murmured, looking up at his fiancé.

 

"Morning, love." John said with a smile and set the tray down on the empty side of the bed to lean down to kiss him. "Happy Valentine's day. I thought I'd fix us something before the girls are up."

 

"Hm.. I think we'll be showered in valentine's cards, Janine made some with the kids and Rosie made one for each of us." Sherlock said and sat up a bit, running his hand through his hair to straighten it a bit.

 

John sat down next to his fiancé after placing the tray on Sherlock's lap. "But that sounds sweet of them. Do you know if Charlie made one too?" He asked with a chuckle, wondering if she still had that crush on Lowell.

 

"I actually know she has one for Lowell.." Sherlock said with a little chuckle, "But I'm not sure if she's got the courage to give it to him.."

 

"She's adorable. Way too young for him, but adorable." John said with a chuckle and reached for one of them mugs of coffee.

 

"You know I wonder if Lowell actually remembers their kiss.." Sherlock said with a frown, "I was thinking about asking him, but how would I go about that.. whatever this was, we're not sure if it was .. you know real for all of us.. I mean.. it could still have been just limited to us and Victor and the rest could have been an actual dream.."

 

"I mean, that sounds actually even more confusing, but who knows." John said with a shrug and took a sip. "I guess we could shift the conversation to first kisses the next time we see him. If he says it was next to a fountain and with a guitar then we know it was real." He suggested with a shrug.

 

"Yeah better not have Charlie around then, I'm not sure if she can contain herself when he talks about that." Sherlock said and smirked, "You know.. she might be too young now, but who knows in a few years.. and to be honest, there could be worse sons in law.." he mused with a shrug.

 

"No way. Sherlock, she's twelve and he's twenty times her age, so there's absolutely no way I'm even entertaining that possibility." John said and sighed. "Weren't you the one who almost killed him anyway?"

 

"Well, yes." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "But who knows, maybe she runs into another vampire boy at some point, at least with Lowell we know that he knows that I can actually kill him if he dares to hurt her. Another vampire boy might not know that, since he wouldn't know we're all vampires as well."

 

"I still don't like the idea." John said with a huff, before shaking his head. "Anyway, have you got any classes today?" He asked him, figuring that was a better topic to start the day with.<p/>

Sherlock chuckled a little, "Smooth." he said, commenting John's attempt to change the subject, "Just the first two periods. Greg wants to me to get an idea about how much work exchanging valentine's cards on valentines day with first graders actually is." he said and chuckled again.

 

"I'm sure that's going to be fun." John said and huffed a laugh. "I was actually talking about uni classes. It's hard to keep track of all of those classes we're taking or giving."

 

"Oh, no I don't." Sherlock said, pouring just a little bit of his blood into his coffee cup, stirring the mixture, "Probably they've figured almost no one would come on valentines day anyway.. at least not to uni.." he said with a smirk.

 

John had to chuckle at that. "Smooth." He said and shook his head. "About that; Surprises are great as long as they don't interfere with each other. You haven't asked anyone to look after the girls, have you? I don't want the both of us relying on the other to know where they are, you know."

 

"I haven't actually.." Sherlock said and nipped at his cup, "Have you?"

 

"Well, yeah. Otherwise I wouldn't have pointed that out, would I?" John said and gave him a small frown, before going on. "I thought we could go out and have dinner together."

 

"Sounds nice." Sherlock said and chuckled, "And I'm sure Angelo's is missing us terribly by now."

 

"I'm sure he does." John said with a chuckle. "And I've taken the night off by the way, so there's no rush."

 

"So we've got nearly a full day just to ourselves?" Sherlock asked with a smile, "When has that begun to feel like luxury?" he asked and chuckled.

 

"I think the day we got two daughters might be it." John said with a chuckle. "It's on those days that we can truly appreciate that they are the most interesting thing we can talk about." He said and kissed Sherlock's cheek.

 

"That's true though.." Sherlock said and chuckled, "The worst thing about it is that most of the time we don't even notice we're doing it."

 

"I mean, we've still got incredible sex to fill most of the talking gaps, so it's only half as bad." John said casually.

 

Sherlock chuckled, "Also true." he said with a smile, leaning over to steal himself a kiss.


	79. The Case Of The Mysteriously Disappearing Jumper

A week after that almost surprisingly uneventful Valentine's day (at least by his fiancé's own standards), John got home from an exhausting shift and went straight into their bedroom now that the girls were asleep anyway. At least he didn't have to worry about waking Sherlock up, it was unlikely he had gone to sleep without him. "Hey, love" He said and already pulled his shirt over his head, walking over to the closet. "How was your evening?"

Sherlock smiled, looking up from his book, "Quiet. Charlie and Rosie were busy with that 3D puzzle they got from your mum." he said and chuckled.

"Sounds nice." John said with a smile and yawned as he stepped out of his trousers, before opening the wardrobe. "I'm either very tired or positively going insane. Have you got a batch of dirty laundry hid somewhere?"

"Not that I know of.. you sure your clothes aren't still in the laundry?" Sherlock asked and reached over to grab his phone, setting his alarm, "By the way, do you want to drop the girls off at the orphanage with me tomorrow?" he asked and smiled, "I could drive you to work after that." he said and smiled, "I've persuaded Greg to let me take the first few periods off, so I can go look for a proper car, we can't keep the rental forever." he said with a laugh.

"That's true." John said with a chuckle and got into his pyjamas. "And sure, I'll come with you. My classes don't start until noon." He said and sighed before getting into bed with him.

Sherlock couldn't help but smile, snuggling up to his fiancé, "You look like you could really need a break." he said and chuckled, "Maybe I'll just abduct you tomorrow and take you to Paris for a few days." he said, letting it sound like a joke.

"Buy me a new jumper first. My favourite one has already been abducted." John chuckled and wrapped an arm around Sherlock, before kissing him. "Goodnight, love"

Sherlock chuckled, "Good night." he murmured and smiled, moving closer up against him so he could rest his head on his chest.

John smiled and stroked Sherlock's back lazily until he fell asleep a few minutes later.

"When Sherlock woke up the next morning, he couldn't wipe that stupid smile off his face as he untangled himself from his fiancé to turn off his alarm on his phone. "Do you want to shower first?" he asked, turning around again to look at John.

"Sure." John mumbled and stretched with a groan, before sitting up. "I'll wake up Rosie and Charlie when it's your turn."

Sherlock smiled, "Don't worry, I'll wake them now." he said and walked out of the bedroom, pouring himself a glass of blood (he most likely wouldn't get any on the plane), before he collected John's and his own passport, waiting for him to start showering so he could start moving their suitcases downstairs.

After showering and having breakfast together John and Sherlock set the girls off at the orphanage (God, that sounded wrong) and drove to the car- "I think you've missed an exit. Several times actually."

"I don't think I did." Sherlock said and smiled to himself, fighting to get the smile off his face though, he didn't want to tip John off what was going on too early.

John frowned as he watched Sherlock drive in the complete wrong direction. "Yeah, you have. My sister's a cabbie, I know the streets here." He said, knowing /something/ was up. "You're not actually kidnapping me, are you? I've got two girls and an immortal fiancé at home, just as a warning."

Sherlock chuckled again, "Well.. about the kidnapping.. I might be. Told you so last night, so.." he said with a grin as he turned into the street to the airport.

John had to go through their conversation last night, before realisation dawned on him... though.. no, he wasn't actually, was he? "Hang on a second, you're seriously taking me to Paris?"

"Well this is a once in a lifetime event after all, how often will we get to celebrate our pre-wedding-anniversary?" Sherlock asked with a chuckle, looking at John with a grin after he had parked the car.

John took a few seconds to remember the date for their wedding they had agreed on, before looking at him with a disbelieving smile. "You've got to be kidding me"

Sherlock chuckled, "Well, I'm not. Our little live-in spies packed your suitcase over the week, which is why you couldn't find part of your clothes." he explained with a smirk, "The girls are staying with my mum until Saturday and they'll spend Saturday night with Mrs Hudson, and the three of them will pick us up from the airport on Sunday evening. Oh and I called your work. Jim agreed to take your shifts as a sort of thank you for introducing him to Dennis." he said and chuckled again.

"Seriously? Well, now I definitely owe him..." John said with a chuckle. "Pre-annivesary... only you could come up with something like that."

"It's much more romantic than valentine's day and it felt weird to just let this day pass like any other." Sherlock said and smiled, "I mean.. if you really want to I could still call this all off, just say the word." he teased.

"Oh, yes, I can't stand the thought of a weekend with you in Paris." John said and rolled his eyes, before chuckling, before remembering. "Do you already know where you'll drink though?"

"Oh yeah, I'll meet a .. erm.. I suppose you could call it dealer.." Sherlock said with a frown, "I'll meet them a couple of hours after we arrive, that's all taken care of."

"Oh good. I mean, it does sound kind of shady. Are you sure it'll be safe?" John asked. "Both the blood as well as the meeting, I mean."

"As safe as it can be." Sherlock said and shrugged, "It's just a doctor making some money on the side.. which, yeah it is a bit shady and immoral, but what am I supposed to do."

"Hm, I suppose so." John said with a nod, before glancing down. "Speaking of that by the way. I mean, I've told you that I wanted to turn soon and it has been a few weeks now since then. I just... wanted to let you know that I want to turn on the next good occasion. I'm as sure as I can be and the suspense isn't exactly doing it for me either."

"Right.." Sherlock said and looked over at John, "Well.. I don't want to push you, you know that.. but.. we'll be spending nearly four days all by ourselves in a hotel that's expensive enough to know they'll respect our privacy.. and well, I think there are worse places than a five star room with a clear view on the Eiffel Tower."

John sighed and looked out of the window, thinking... He'd thought about this for months and had seriously considered it for weeks, talked to Harry and Richard... yes, he'd made it choice. "It's a right shame I won't get to enjoy it properly in that case."

"Is that.. a yes?" Sherlock asked, before starting to get out of the car and grabbing their suitcases, they did have a flight to catch after all.

"Yes, that's a yes." John said with a nod and got out of the car as well to help Sherlock with their luggage.

"Right..." Sherlock said and bit his lip, "Just if you're 100% sure though." he said and chuckled nervously, "I'll probably check a few times more on the way, just so you know."

"And I genuinely appreciate that." John said with a smile. "And I'm as sure as I can be, that has to be good enough."

Sherlock nodded, "Well.. we have a flight to catch then.." he said and held John's ticket and passport out to him."

John took both and put it into his coat pocket. "Let's get going then." He said before taking Sherlock's hand with his free one.

\-------------------------------------

Sherlock sighed when they finally had found their places in the first class of their plane (three hours later) and stored away their luggage on the overhead lockers, "God, I had forgotten how much of a struggle commercial flights are.." he said, leaning back in his seat, "I should have asked Mycroft for his jet." he mumbled with a roll of his eyes.

"Wait, Mycroft's got a- you know what, never mind." John said and shook his head, before sitting down. Why was he still surprised by those things? "A forty minute delay isn't the end of the world and now we've got nice seats." He said, before taking out the physiology notes he'd kept in the pocket of his jacket.

"Do you keep that with you wherever you go?" Sherlock asked with a chuckle, "This is supposed to be a holiday, not a study group." he said and rolled his eyes.

"I think I actually do, yeah. At least almost." John said after a moment, before folding them together again and looking up. "I didn't think we'd do much on the flight so I thought I might as well use the time to study. Would you rather like to talk instead?"

Sherlock just smirked at that, "Well.. talking is one option.." he said and chuckled a bit, "Though maybe we should wait with option two until after take off."

John frowned for a moment, before smirking as well when he understood. "I mean, that's.. still physiology in a way."

"And much more fun than studying some notes." Sherlock said and chuckled again, leaning over to peck John's lips, "I'm curious, though... Did you ever do that before?"

John chuckled at that. "Hm, well, what do you think?" He asked, wondering what Sherlock thought of him. "I mean, I'm pretty sure that you- hold on a second, planes hadn't been invented yet at that point, had they?"

Sherlock shook his head, "No." he said and chuckled, "And as for what I think of you.. I think you might have done it.. if you had ever been on holiday with someone you'd do it with." he said and smirked.

"I haven't had the right opportunity yet, but you're right about the second part." John said with a chuckle and leaned in to peck Sherlock's lips.

Sherlock chuckled again, "Well. what a coincidence that both requirements are met today.." he said and kissed John again, before he leant back in his seat.

\--------------------------------------

Still breathing heavily, John kissed Sherlock's neck, before drawing back to look him in the eyes with a grin. Now they only had to get back to their seat without anyone noticing.. "You go first and I wait two minutes?" He suggested after a moment, hoping there wasn't a queue yet outside.

Sherlock chuckled, zipping up his trousers and buttoning it, "Sure. Let me just get dressed properly." he said with a breathless laugh, "I think they might still figure something's going on if I go out like this." he said, starting to button up his shirt. "Do you think they intentionally make those toilet cubicles so small? To avoid.. well this?" he asked with a smirk.

"That'd make sense, wouldn't it?" John chuckled and began to fix his clothes. "Not that I have much against being pressed against you though." He said with a smirk and leaned back against the wall.

"Hm, I can imagine worse scenarios too." Sherlock said and leaned over to kiss John again, before he looked into the small mirror to fix his hair a bit.

"Shame, I love your hair like that." John said with a chuckle, running a hand through his own.

"I do think you like the process of 'styling' my hair like that way better.." Sherlock said and smiled, looking himself over in the mirror, "I still look like I just had sex in an airplane toilet, don't I?" he asked and laughed.

"Yeah, you do. I don't think my two minutes of styling time are going to make that big a difference for me either to be honest." John said with defeated smile, before pulling Sherlock into another kiss.

"The fact that we both haven't been sitting on our seats for half an hour probably is a give-away too." Sherlock murmured against John's lips, before pulling away again and giving his hair one last ruffle, "Alright then, I'll see you in two minutes." he said and pecked John's lips again as he unlocked door and slipped out of the toilet, ignoring the mixture of facial expressions of the other passengers that ranged from smirking to looking downright hostile as he walked along the aisle, back to his seat.

Precisely two minutes later, John sneaked out onto the aisle, avoiding eye contact with a woman that was now standing up and walking to the toilet. "So far I love this holiday" John murmured into Sherlock's ear once he was back on his seat.

Sherlock couldn't help but laugh at that, taking John's hand and lacing their fingers,"So do I.." he said, turning his head to kiss John again.

John chuckled and kissed him back, cupping Sherlock's cheek with his free hand.

\-------------------------------------------

Once they had emerged the plane, met up with the (a little bit more shady) doctor Mycroft had arranged a meeting with to buy some blood, they finally arrived at the hotel, where thankfully the check in only took a few minutes, before they were lead to their hotel room, which was every bit as luxurious as the website had promised, these days that was almost more surprising than having a hotel room not look like the hotel promised.

John stepped inside the room and looked around with wide eyes... That was one hell of a hotel room! "Christ, that's gorgeous. You know, you almost make me feel like a prostitute. An expensive one, mind you." He said with a laugh once the shock had passed. Sherlock couldn't help but laugh at that, "That's because you still consider our money mine." he said and rolled his eyes, "Now, pretty woman, here's the bed, I'll pay you after the weekend." he said teasingly.

John had to laugh outright at that. "It's a good thing you've got so pretty eyes." He said with a smirk and walked up to Sherlock to pull him into a long kiss.

Sherlock hummed against John's lips, moving his arms around his fiancé and pulling him closer, "Do you charge kissing separately?" he teased as they finally broke apart, smirking at John.

"Mmh, you're a surprisingly good kisser so you'll have to find out at the end the weekend." John said and gave Sherlock a chuckle, running his thumb over his fiancé's temple.

Sherlock smiled, leaning his forehead against John's. "I meant it though, our money. You should have noticed by now that you can't stop me spending money for you anyway, so you might as well get used to it." he said and chuckled again.

"Getting used to it is probably a lot easier than it seems right now. Maybe that's exactly why I haven't let myself." John said after a moment. "I suppose it'll come with time."

"Or maybe it's good you're not really used to it yet, that way I've got someone to stop me when I'm getting overboard spoiling the kids." Sherlock said and took John's hand, leading him over to the window, moving his arms around him from behind, "So what do you think of Paris in the twilight?" he asked with a smile.

"Stunning. Absolutely stunning." John said with a smile as he looked out the window and leaned into Sherlock. "I mean, you're not supposed to count your chickens before they're hatched, but this beats my other holidays easily."

Sherlock smiled, leaning down to peck John's cheek, "Are you still sure you want to do this?" he asked, resting his chin on John's shoulder, "We can still just have a normal holiday in Paris, you know."

"Mmh, it's a bit of a shame that I'll be asleep for most of it." John said with a sigh. "But at the same time I don't want to keep putting it off. And, it's not the main reason, but I can tell that it's nerve-racking for you." He said and ran his thumb over Sherlock's hand. "How about we do it tomorrow night? We'd still have a day and a night together and by Sunday I should be able to get on a plane again."

"Hm.. that seems reasonable.." Sherlock said and sighed a little, "But are you really ready for the turning process itself? I mean.. being drained of blood is never a pleasant experience.. do you trust me enough for that? You'll have to lose at least two litres before I can inject you with my blood... by then you'll be too weak to really do something.. but well I did make sure that two of the blood bags I got before are your blood type, so up until I am injecting you, you can still back out, alright?"

"In that case I want you to call an ambulance too, just for the record." John said, before turning his head to look up at him. "And thank you for making sure I've got a choice until then. Seriously, you're great." He said and kissed his cheek before sighing. "I'm still as sure and ready as I can be. But about the blood loss, I'll make sure I'll eat and drink properly, but I might very well pass out. Happened to me once while donating blood in summer.. Happens to the best of us, I guess. But that was less than half a litre. Are you sure you could or wanted to handle that on your own?"

"I can, yeah. I mean obviously there is a risk.. but from what I know it's not higher than the risk any surgery has." Sherlock said and held John a little tighter, "I mean.. I won't enjoy seeing you bleed out, but I can handle it. Turning Richard was much more messy, really.. that abdomen wound.. it wasn't nice. I'll get some medical equipment, tubes and syringes.. maybe some bleach too. I don't want to give that poor housemaid a heart attack when she comes to clean the room after we left." he said with a small chuckle.

"No, I really wouldn't want that." John said with a small huff. "Hey, we've found something even worse for the girls to walk in on." He joked dryly. Though, it was a bonus that he knew they were fine and could definitely not come here.

"Should we let them know, though? I mean, it seems weird to send them a text or something, but I feel like we should prepare them for it, rather than springing it on them when we come back." Sherlock said and looked out of the window again at the Eiffel Tower that was lit up by now.

"I'd rather tell them once I've actually turned, you know?" John said and sighed... if it hadn't been for the ongoing twilight, John would've thought they were standing in front of a painting rather than a window. "We could video chat or something." He suggested.

"Well.. I think you better rest after that rather than video chatting." Sherlock said and pecked John's cheek again, "So what do you want to do tonight?" he asked and smirked, "The Eiffel Tower is opened until 12 tonight, so there's still plenty of time to go see it."

"That sounds great." John said with a smile. "Though, I'd almost say we've got a better view from up here." He chuckled. "Dinner afterwards would be nice too. I can't live off blood and love alone just yet." He joked and turned around in Sherlock's arms. "Speaking of which, I think I've neglected my telling you how much I love you duties today." He said with a bit of a smirk.

Sherlock smiled, "That's alright.." he said and nudged John's nose with his own, "I know." he said and chuckled again, "I mean, I still don't know how I've managed to make you fall for me, but I'm absolutely certain you love me." he said and smiled, "Though that doesn't mean I don't like hearing it." he added with a smirk.

John chuckled a bit at that. "Alright, William Sherlock Scott Holmes, I love you and my life with you much more than I can say." He smiled softly. They were in Paris, on their pre-honeymoon, so he did feel obliged to make him sound proper.

Sherlock smiled at that, "Well John Hamish Watson, I love you too and I would never, never even for a second consider to give my life with you and the girls up." he said and smiled, "You know I used to laugh at people when they said nonsense like that, but.. it feels like we complete each other.. it's strange that personalities can fit together like that."

"That's true. And it's incredible how much I can and do depend on you.." John looked at him with a smile. "On the whole you're the only person next to who I can let my guard down. I feel like we're taking turns at that in a way. I know I don't have to be alert or 'put-on' all the time, because there's you."

Sherlock smiled, "You're the heart and I'm the brain, I guess." he said and chuckled a little, "Well most of the time, when it comes to kids it seems that I'm the heart and you're the brain.. since you actually know how to say no to the girls.." he chuckled.

"I only say no to things because I love them. You know, children actually need set boundaries." John said with a small chuckle.

"And I can't say no to them because I love them. And because of that puppy look." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "I think they're secretly practising it in front of the mirror."

"You know what, I think they actually might." John said with a small laugh, before taking Sherlock's hand. "How about we take a look at the city now?"

Sherlock nodded, "Sounds good, but I should probably have a bit of blood before we go." he said and opened the plastic bag he was carrying, starting to put the blood bags into the mini bar just so they would be cooled.

"That's probably for the better." John nodded and put on his jacket while he waited for Sherlock. It was a strange thought he'd be drinking blood too by the end of tomorrow.

Sherlock smiled at the way John looked at him, "It really does taste good, you know.." he said, emptying his glass and walking over to the bathroom to rinse it. "I mean, look at the girls, they love their tomato juice and kids are generally more picky when it comes to taste."

"In that case my perception of taste will have to change." John commented with a small frown, hm that was going to be interesting. "Do you think my palette is is going to change a lot?" He wondered and walked over to the bathroom.

"Not really." Sherlock said and reached for one of the small bottles of mouthwash from the hotel, quickly rinsing his mouth - now that would make a huge difference if he didn't have to rinse his mouth after every sip of blood. "To me everything else still tastes the same as it had before. Seems to be just the way you taste blood, I didn't notice any differences otherwise."

"Hm, interesting. Hey, but you won't be using litres of mouthwash per month anymore so there's already that." John said with a chuckle as he watched Sherlock.

"I just thought the same thing." Sherlock said and chuckled, turning around to look at John, "Alright, I'm ready." he said and took his coat from the bed.

"Perfect. Let's paint the town red." John said with a laugh and held his hand out for Sherlock to take.

"Fitting phrase..." Sherlock said and chuckled again as he took John's hand.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day (and night) was definitely well spent as they got to see a bit of the city, some nice restaurants and of course the obligatory Eiffel tower. So when evening came John had already googled the most romantic things to do as a couple in Paris ("paris+couple+what+to+do+romatic") and had actually found a nice spot for them to visit, even if it was literally the first thing his search had turned up; after all there had to be a reason for that. So unless Sherlock gad used his phone to google something without telling him, this should be unexpected for Sherlock. He'd already memorised the way on the map and made sure they were staying in relatively criminal-free areas for this. Right now they'd already taken the metro were making their way past the Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration. "Okay, we're almost there."

Sherlock frowned a little, looking around, "Right... are we.. going to the museum? Because if so.. we just walked past it." he said and pointed at the building they had just walked past.

"Yeah, that's not where we're going. It's right over the street, but I'm not saying more." John said with a chuckle, now that the trees around the lake were coming in sight. Checking his watch, he was quite glad they were just early enough to catch the start of sunset in a few minutes.

Sherlock smiled, slowly getting an idea where they would go, "The temple of Love?" he asked with a small chuckle, glancing at his fiancé.

John chuckled. "Mmh, it looked nice on the photos and we're just on time for sunset. You know I don't like the word 'cheesy'. A place like that is just right for our first trip to Paris." He said with a smile. "What do you think?"

"What I'm currently thinking is that I'm contemplating how mad our family would be if I'd get a magistrate and spontaneously marry you over there and if it's worth it." Sherlock said as the temple came into view.

John looked at him and gave a laugh, because of how suddenly that had come. "Quite mad, I should think. And as tempting as it still is, I want those flower girls on our actual wedding."

Sherlock smiled, letting go of John's hand and wrapping his arm around him instead, "That's true.. but Mycroft still has that jet.. they could be here within three hours." he said with a smirk.

John stopped and looked up at Sherlock with a grin. "You, Sherlock, are mad and I love you. Just how serious are you being right now?"

"Mostly serious, although that'd really mess up our other plans for tonight." Sherlock said and leant over to peck John's cheek, "But I'd marry you on the spot any day and everywhere."

"Me to." John said with a smile. "And if it weren't for the fact I like looking forward to celebrating that with the family, I'd almost be surprised we're still not married after almost two whole months." John joked and leaned in to kiss Sherlock.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "Yeah, well given our pace, we should be on honeymoon already at this point." he said and looked at the lake, "So are we going for a boat trip or did you plan on using the bridge?" he asked, looking at John.

"I thought a boat trip might be nice. I mean, it's relatively warm today for February, if that's fine with you." John said as he watched the scenery in front of them with a smile.

"Sounds like a good idea." Sherlock said and looked around for a shop to rent the boats, because presumably they weren't there to use for free.

"I think we can go to that shed over there to rent them." John said after having spotted it.

"Oh, yeah." Sherlock said and walked over to it with John, before he had a quick conversation with the man renting the boats, paying him a little extra so he wouldn't let any other couples row over until they were back.

"Is there any language you don't speak?" John asked him jokingly as he got into the boat and took the oars.

"Hm.. Swedish." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "And Chinese.. not very well anyway." he said with a shrug.

"What about sign language?" John asked after a moment, before beginning to row the boat gently to the other side of the like.

"Obviously." Sherlock signed, without actually saying anything.


	80. Not Looking Back

After an awfully romantic hour at the palace of love and its lake, the couple went for supper and a took a long stroll through the city, before eventually returning to the hotel at around half past nine. Closing the door to their room behind him, John took off his coat to put it on the clothes hanger. This was it then. "I really enjoyed this evening."

"Me too." Sherlock said and put the small bag with medical equipment he had bought on the way back to the hotel on the bed, frowning at it, "Are you still sure?" he asked, taking off his coat and sitting down on the bed.

"Yes, I'm still sure." John said with a nod and let out a sigh. He was nervous, but sure. "I don't think there's much of a point in putting it off now. Let's best get on with it."

"Right.." Sherlock said and pulled a couple of injections and needles out of the bag, "Do you want to take my blood? It's probably easier than doing it one handed." he said and held out the injections for John to take them.

"Sure, sit down. I'll be back in a minute." John said and shortly went into the bathroom to wash his hands. Once he was back, he took some rubber alcohol, before uncuffing and rolling up the left sleeve of Sherlock's shirt. "Okay, clench your fist." He instructed, taking out a tourniquet out of the bag and securing it on Sherlock's upper arm, before looking up at Sherlock again. "Must've been a while since you've been through that routine." He commented.

"I've actually never had the pleasure." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "The injection and it's needle was actually invented shortly before I was born but well it was like it was with every new invention, people needed time to adjust to it and trust it.. I've actually gotten a phlebotomy once when I was little.." he said and rolled his eyes.

"That doesn't sound too pleasant given the time." John said with a small frown, before taking the alcohol swab a disinfecting the area around the crook of Sherlock's elbow. "Venipuncture usually doesn't hurt though. I mean, I'd normally tell a first-timer that you can look away if you can't stomach seeing blood.." He began with a chuckle as he discarded the swab and put the needle onto the syringe.

Sherlock rolled his eyes at that, "Thanks for the warning, but I really can stomach blood.." he said and chuckled a little at his own pun.

John chuckled a bit at that, before sitting down. "Okay, I'll puncture you're skin now, so please stay still." He said, before doing so and watching the blood fill the barrel. "And there we go, well done. You can relax your hand now." John said and began to fill the second barrel once the first was full.

"Didn't you say it doesn't hurt?" Sherlock asked having after all decided to look away, "I just realised that I really don't like needles. Thanks for that." he said and glanced at his arm, before looking away again. Somehow having blood taken like that was really uncomfortable, which felt weird given that he hadn't even blinked when he had cut his hand the night he told John about himself.

"Mmh, it's not exactly enjoyable either, but you're doing really well." John said, before putting the second barrel next to the first on the bed. It was quite an interesting thing Sherlock was squeamish about his own blood (or at least needles) but didn't comment on it while it was still inside him. "Here, I'm already taking the needle out again." He swiftly pulled it out and replaced it with a fresh swab. "And we're done. Just press down right here please." He said and began to put the rest of the utensils back in the bag. "Everything alright?"

"Mhm.. I'm just glad I'll never have to do that again." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, lifting the swab after a couple of seconds as the wound had disappeared again by this point anyway. "Right then.." he said with a sigh, "Guess it's your turn.. how should we do it? Do you want to get undressed and just relax in the whirlpool?" he asked, pulling a measuring cup out of the bag. "Because you could, technically. I'll let the blood pour into this rather than just letting it go down the drain and guessing the right amount..."

"Might be a bit tricky to get me out of there in the unlikely case I do faint." John said with a frown. "I think I'll stay on the bed if you think you can manage not to spill any blood on the floor or the bed covers."

Sherlock frowned, looking at the sheets and the carpet, "I don't know.. perhaps you could lie down in the bathtub, there's more of a chance to remove the stains if something does spill." he said and shrugged, "And later I can carry you over to the bed."

"Okay, that sounds reasonable." John nodded and stood up. "It might take up to forty five minutes with a normal needle." He commented before holding his hand out to help Sherlock stand up. Yeah, he was beginning to feel uneasy about the thought of losing almost two litres of blood, though he did his best not to let it show.

"I'll take care of you, John. I won't let anything happen to you." Sherlock said, he could clearly see that John was nervous. "If I think at any point that something unusual is happening, I'll stop the bloodflow and hook you up to a blood bag.”

John nodded and sighed. "Yeah, I'll try and hang on to that." Obviously he trusted Sherlock, but that didn't mean he was able to be relaxed throughout. But he knew that he'd manage and that there wasn't much to worry about. After taking off his shoes and jumper, he rolled up his sleeve too and walked into the bathroom.

Grabbing the two blood bags and an extra one, along with two glasses and the equipment he needed Sherlock followed John into the bathroom, pushing his own nervousness out of the way as much as he possibly could. "Do you want a pillow or.. a blanket, you might feel rather cold from the blood loss."

"You're right, I'll put a towel inside the bathtub, but I don't want to get blood on the bedding." John said, before grabbing a towel. He could probably use the jumper in his hand as a pillow; he liked that better than the hotel pillows anyway. With a sigh, he sat down inside the bathtub. "It's probably easier if I'm already in here. I'll lie down once my blood flow's steady."

Sherlock nodded, placing the cup on the floor, "Alright then.. I suppose it is a bit like a phlebotomy, actually." he said and chuckled nervously.

"I mean, you're using a sterile needle, so it's not exactly medieval blood letting." John said and gave him a short smile, figuring he had better stay calm so as not to freak Sherlock out. "I don't know when you had your medical training, but drawing blood really isn't an art form. If you've got any questions just ask me, alright?" He said, slipping back into calm paramedic mode so as to sound more reassuring.

Sherlock rolled his eyes, "I've had combat medic training in two world wars and I really think the process of drawing blood and attaching infusions hasn't changed that much. I'm confident in my abilities, I'm just nervous about.. well all of it. I'm nervous about.. this. It's strange, I'm glad you're doing it, no question, I just.. I just hope you're really as sure as you say." he said with a smile as he prepared the equipment.

"I am. Otherwise I genuinely wouldn't be sitting here." He said with a sigh and rested his arm on the edge of the bathtub. If he thought back to his life half a year ago it seemed like that of a different person.. Strange.

Sherlock nodded, "Alright." he said and cleaned the crook of John's arm with rubbing alcohol before he established the vascular access and attaching the tube, taking a deep breath as John's blood started to fill the transparent tube, leading into the measuring cup, where Sherlock had attached it with some adhesive tape. "And there we go..." he said and looked up at John.

John watched Sherlock calmly until his blood began to flow. To speed that up he began to clench and unclench his fist, before carefully lying down on his back. As soon as he'd done that he realised that he absolutely hated the fact he could neither see nor do much from this point onwards. "Yeah, I don't like really being on this side of the catheter either." He joked dryly.

Sherlock smiled a little, before he stood up and climbed into the tub, sitting down on John's feet and taking his free hand, while still having an eye on the measuring cup, "How about talking about something else so you get your mind off the fact that you're practically being drained of blood?" he asked and chuckled a little.

John gave Sherlock's hand a squeeze. "Mmh, sounds good." He said, relaxing a bit now that Sherlock was physically next to him again. "How about Rosie's birthday next week? I mean, we've actually got to start party planning some time."

"Actually, I've already had an idea about that." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I mean.. it'd be her first real birthday party, so we might as well go all the way." he began, smirking a little, "And before you ask, going all the way does include bee costumes for all of us."

John couldn't hold back a laugh, actually distracted there for a moment. "Okay, I so want to see my Dad in a bee costume. Even if you just meant the four of us. And what else does going all the way include in your mind?" He asked.

"A party location decorated like the inside of a bee hive, a honey fountain.. you know that kind of thing." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "And naturally I mean costumes for all of us. For everyone who's coming to her party. Costumes are mandatory." he said with a grin.

"Oh my god.." John said with a chuckle. "I'm definitely in. I mean, I can't wait to see the look on her face. By the way, what should we do if she suddenly decides she doesn't like bees anymore? I think basically everything she owns at this point has bees on it."

"We go shopping, I guess." Sherlock said and laughed, shrugging a little, "I suppose that's the risk we agreed to take when we took them in. And really.. they've been deprived of so much for so long.. they do deserve a good deal of spoiling before we start making sure they won't become too spoiled." he said and smiled.

"Mmh, that's true.. Though your definition of spoilt is probably not the same as mine." John said with a bit of a smile. "What about Charlie's though? We get her gifts and a cake, give her some money to buy decoration and then leave her with the house key?" He joked.

"Hm, I was more thinking about a sort of prom night scenario.." Sherlock said and smiled, "You know, we get suits for her male friends and dresses for her girlfriends, rent a location, get some decoration and a band and by getting a band, I mean we ask Lowell to get some of his musician friends and play on her party." he chuckled.

"I'm sure she'd really like that." John said with a smile and suggested to get her a stereo as they continued to talk. About a good 20 minutes or so later John was really beginning to feel quite light-headed. "... at how much.., erm, blood am I? Kinda.. kinda lost track of time."

"Nearly 1L still a bit to go.." Sherlock said and gave John's hand a little squeeze, "Don't worry I'll have an eye on the cup." he said and smiled at John, "Still sure?" he asked softly.

"Yeah.. still sure. So that's... half now?" John asked frowning a bit. His heart had sped up and he was beginning to feel really cold. He must've slowly been getting pale now. "Can you..erm put my feet on.. your lap or somethin'? 'M not in.. shock yet, but I wanna put it off."

Sherlock nodded, getting out of the tub and taking a few towels and putting them under John's feet, "I'll rather stay mobile so I can act quickly.." he said and looked at the cup, before looking back at John, "Just in case."

"Mmh, makes sense." John said with a bit of a delay and looked back up at him, trying to stay calm even though the thought he was about to lose the same amount of blood all over again was scary.

"Stay calm, alright? I'm here with you, I'm not going anywhere." Sherlock said and grabbed one of the large, soft bathing robes from the hotel, covering John with it and tucking it around John, "Maybe I should get you one of the blankets after all."

" 'm okay. Just.. a bit cold." John said weakly. He knew he wasn't all that bad off in comparison and he really didn't want to give Sherlock a reason to leave the room.

Sherlock nodded, "Just half a litre more to go, you're nearly ready." he said and looked at the cup, technically it was still three fourth, but he figured that since John didn't seem to be able to keep track of time or the amount of blood he had actually lost anyway and he'd probably be calmer knowing the bad part was almost done. He'd feel sick for a while, but certainly not like dying. More like having a bad flu without the sore throat and coughing, but that was still better than the feeling of bleeding out, he really did know what he was talking about there. "Do you want me to fill the tub with warm water?" he asked, gently caressing John's cheek with the back of his hand.

John closed his eyes at the nice feeling that distracted him from the rest. "Mmh.. okay." He mumbled, trying to focus on the fact Sherlock was there rather than the fact he was bleeding out.

Sherlock smiled, leaning over to turn the water on, a wet mattress probably wasn't the worst thing they had to deal with, especially with a whirpool in the middle of the room. Putting in the plug and waiting for the water to fill the tub, "Still sure? You can still change your mind."

"Yeah. I wanna stay.. with you." John said and was able to calm down more when he felt warmer a few minutes later; though his shock symptoms were becoming frightening, as if his body was telling him he was soon going to die. "How much?" He asked about ten minutes later.

"We're nearly there, just a little longer and I'll give you the first injection." Sherlock said and smiled, kissing John's cheek, already getting the injections ready. "Last chance to back out."

John grunted and attempted to shake his head at that, keeping his eyes closed. He wasn't going to back out now as much as he wanted it to stop. "..Sh'ock? C'n.. ye hold.. my hand?" He slurred after several seconds.

"In a moment, love." Sherlock said, stopping the blood flow a bit before they had reached the two litres mark since they did have to count in the blood that was left in the tube. After putting removing the tube and putting the plug into the main outlet, he used the other to inject John with his own blood, before he took John's hand, rubbing it a little since it was ice cold. "It'll get better in a few moments." he murmured.

John didn't react to that, unable to feel much more than the numbing coldness around himself, as if he'd been out lying in the cold. That was at least, until a bit later he felt his veins pumping warmer blood towards his heart; it even felt hot in comparison to a minute ago. He sucked in a sharp breath and stirred, not fully comprehending what was going on.

Just to be safe, Sherlock injected John with the second injection just a few minutes later, before he took his hand again, smiling a little when some colour returned into his cheeks, not much yet, but he definitely didn't look as white as a sheet anymore.


	81. Room Service

A while later John felt.. better. Still like shit, mind you, but not on the brink of death anymore. Slowly, he moved a bit (and quickly stopped since his limbs hurt), before opening his eyes again and looking up. "Hey" He breathed, incredibly comforted to see his fiancé.

Sherlock smiled, "Hey.." he said and gave John a smile, "You were out for a while." he said, tucking the blanket a little tighter around John, "You didn't even notice that I carried you over to the bed and put you into dry clothes." he said and glanced at the glass of blood that was standing ready on the night stand, "Do you.. erm.. want to try it?" he asked, wondering if it was too soon for John. Not physically, but... mentally.

John followed Sherlock's gaze with a frown before seeing the glass. He didn't know how to feel about the fact the sight and memory of its smell made him salivate... Closing his eyes he turned his head away. "Later." He mumbled, unsure how to feel about what this implied.. "It worked then?" He asked and looked back up at Sherlock.

Sherlock nodded, "Yeah.." he said and crawled into the bed next to John, "Any regrets?" he asked quietly, looking at John.

John looked at him for a while before shaking his head. "None." He said, which was weird he'd been so unsure about it. Even now, his feelings were all over the place (mainly fear, confusion, and happiness, which was an odd mix, since he could ve sworn he'd fraught the flu); just regret wasn't one of them. Having said that (or had he?) John gave Sherlock a small smile and reached gingerly out for him.

Sherlock smiled, taking John's hand and lacing their fingers, "I'm glad, to be honest I was a bit worried, you'd wake up thinking you've made a mistake." he said and sighed, "But.. perhaps you should have just a little sip.. it'll really make you feel a lot better.." he said and frowned a little as he had an idea, "It might be stupid, but I could take a sip and kiss you right after.. just so you get a bit of an idea what to expect."

John smiled a bit and nodded. "Yeah, okay. I mean, you've kissed me like this before. I wonder if it's different now." John said a bit more slowly than usual.

Sherlock smiled, reaching over to take the glass and taking a long sip, before he set it down on the night stand again, "Ready?" he asked as he moved lower again to be on eye level with John.

John nodded after a moment, before leaning in to kiss Sherlock, half-expecting to draw back to spit it out again. He didn't though. Sherlock definitely tasted like iron, but it wasn't... bad. Definitely weird, but not at all bad. After a short kiss, he couldn't really muster the strength for a long one, he pulled back, looking confused.

Sherlock smiled at John's face, "It's different, isn't it?" he asked and pressed another gentle kiss to John's lips, "You look like Rosie did when she tried Mrs Hudson's pumpkin soup for the first time after swearing she doesn't like pumpkin soup." he said and chuckled.

John had to chuckle because he could remember that expression quite clearly. "On second thought, could you pass me that glass after all?"

"I'm sure there's some wine in the mini bar, we could mix it if you want to.." Sherlock said as he reached for the glass, before holding it out for John to take it.

"Maybe later. I don't wanna be hung over on top of all of.. this." He said and gestured down himself, since he was still in pain. Closing his eyes, he downed the glass quickly, almost able to forget it was, what it was..

"And now you look like Rosie when she had to take cough syrup." Sherlock said as he took the empty glass from John. "Wasn't so bad though, was it?"

"No, it wasn't." John said and closed his eyes, resting his head back on the bed. "Don't laugh, but I feel like I'm about to panic" He admitted after a while, because (even though it was irrational) he'd just drunk actual blood and had liked it and all of that was terrifying.

"You say that after drinking out of a glass after having it cooled in the mini bar of a five star hotel.. imagine how it felt for Mycroft and me.. At least you didn't see a body lying in a puddle of blood and it started to look really tasty.." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes, "That is a reason to panic." he said and shuffled a little closer up against John, wrapping his arm around him

"Okay, you're right." John said after watched Sherlock and sighed. He knew he was more than fine, no matter how he felt. Pushing those thoughts and feelings away, he already began in drift off again. "Still don't have to roll your eyes at me. 's not very nice." He mumbled with a small frown.

"Oh, no sorry, it's just that rolling my eyes is my body's natural reaction to hearing, thinking or speaking my brother's name." Sherlock said and nudged John's nose with his own, "I wouldn't roll my eyes about you feeling weird about this. I was just saying that it could be worse.." he said and cupped John's cheek with his hand.

John's face smoothed out again and he hummed agreeing at the last part. "Okay. Love you." He mumbled, slowly falling back asleep.

Sherlock smiled, watching John sleep for a moment, before he sat back up and called the room service for a very early breakfast, thinking that it would probably help John if he was just having blood along with regular food for a while, just to get used to drinking it. Half an hour later Sherlock placed a tray on the bed next to John which held the most expensive fried eggs with bacon he had ever had so far and replaced the orange juice in the glasses with blood.

John woke up some time later to the smell of... eggs and bacon? After opening his eyes, he actually saw a tray with breakfast (it was morning already?) right in front of him and slowly sat up. Now that was a nice surprise.

"I don't want to confuse your sense of time more than it already is." Sherlock said and smiled at John as he returned from the bathroom where he had poured the orange juice into the sink and had refilled the glasses with some blood from the mini bar. "It's 2.30, not breakfast time, but you need a bit more... juice." he said, feeling like calling it blood wouldn't exactly distract him from the fact that he was drinking.. well... blood.

"Oh right. Thanks." John said and rubbed at his eyes, before setting the tray on his lap. He was actually quite grateful that he didn't have to drink the blood straight like that already. At least it still felt kind of normal that way. "I didn't know you could get fried eggs at half two in the morning."

Sherlock chuckled, "If you tell them you pay 100 Euros extra, you can." he said and chuckled a little.

"Well, thanks a lot, I might detract it from the bill." John said with a wink, before glancing at the glass Sherlock's hand. "If you handed me that, I'd be willing to share my eggs." He offered after a moment, since he doubted Sherlock had got something for himself; and neither of them actually needed it now.

Sherlock smiled a little, looking at the two glasses in his hand, before walking over to him and sitting down next to him on the bed, handing him one of the glasses, "That's an offer I can't resist.." he said and looked at the plate, giving a fake pout, "Oh, you meant those eggs." he said and smirked.

John snorted at that and nudged Sherlock's shoulder, before leaning tiredly into his side. "We'll have to talk about those others another time." He said and took a bite from the still warm eggs, before washing them down with his drink. "Those are really good. I think I've been spoilt now." He said and put the fork down so Sherlock could try them.

Sherlock smiled, "Well whether they make good scrambled eggs, or maybe that's the.. juice.. told you it goes well with mostly everything." he said and chuckled a little, "Now you know what I mean."

"Yeah, that's true." John said and took another sip, feeling like the blood was helping with his recovery. "You know, it's strange, if I didn't know better, I'd think I'd just came down with a bad flu."

"It does feel like that, yeah." Sherlock said and gave a small shrug, "It'll get a lot better once you've had roughly the amount you lost before." he said and took a bite of the eggs, before he picked another piece up and held the fork out for John, "You know.. what helped me was thinking about it like you think about milk.. it does come from inside a living being too.. so it's .. not that strange."

"Oh yeah, hadn't thought about it that way." John nodded and took the fork to eat some more of the eggs. "I'll think I'll go back to sleep after this and probably stay there for rest of the day. Do you already know what you'll be doing today?"

"Probably staying here and waking you every few hours to give you some blood." Sherlock said and leant over to kiss John's cheek.

"Thank you, love." John said with a small. "I was kind of hoping you'd say that."

"I told you before we even started that I'm not going to go anywhere while we're doing this." Sherlock said and nipped at his own glass, sighing a little, "You know.. it was pretty awful to see you like that.. pale and losing so much blood.. made me think about how Paul and my mum must have felt when they did the same thing with Amy."

"Wasn't she an infant back then? I don't even want to think about having to do that." John said and shook his head, before remembering this network they were after. "Christ, it's beyond me how anyone could do that to a child with no good reason.."

Sherlock sighed, "Yeah.. it's just cruel to do it to anyone and just.. leave them to figure it out themselves as an adult and especially as a child. When you're an adult you at least have a chance to figure out what you need eventually." he said and looked at John's glass, "You should drink some more, it really will get better the more you drink."

John nodded and gulped down what was left in his glass to be done with it for now. He'd get used to blood more quickly than he would've thought. "I think I'm going back to sleep actually."

Sherlock smiled, giving a small nod, "I should probably go and get rid of the two litres of blood in the bathroom though.." he said and chuckled a little, "Bit of a waste, actually." he said with a chuckle.

"Or enjoy." John said and also put the tray on Sherlock's lap so that he could lie back down. He really didn't see the problem with him drinking it (he did feel very weird about drinking it it himself though). "Thinking about it, you could've just drunk part of it straight from my arm." He commented anf lay down on his pillow, having completely forgotten that his saliva was basically a drug. "But that's not very precise. And I couldn't have objected anymore. Okay, I guess I can see you're point." John muttered, pulling a bit at the blanket.

"You know.. I don't know why, but for some reason our own saliva doesn't have any effect on ourselves.. but according to Mrs Hudson and trust me that was a very disturbing conversation, it still feels similar to other vampires.." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I'm actually quite curious how it feels to be on the other side.. I mean.. in case you want to try it sometime."

John snorted at that "I can imagine that being disturbing." He commented, before smirking at the last part. "But yeah, we can definitely do that. See, now I'm almost regretting not already turning yesterday." He said with a chuckle.

"Wanna try out your teeth, though?" Sherlock asked and hitched up his sleeve, before holding his wrist out to John, "Not that I want to know what that stuff in my saliva actually does to people.." he said and chuckled a little.

"Right I- wow, that's weird. How have I not cut my own tongue yet?" John frowned before lifting his head again and taking Sherlock wrist. "Sure." He said, though he really wouldn't have agreed to if he hadn't known how good being bitten felt. And he was curious what it had always felt like for Sherlock. After hesitating at first, he carefully sunk his teeth into his skin and pulled them back out two seconds later.

Sherlock took a deep breath when John's teeth broke through his skin, feeling a sharp sting for just a split second before he felt something that could only be described as bliss, he just felt really, /really/ good. "Oh wow..." he said, still feeling pleasantly dizzy. "I .. I expected it to be nice but.. god, it really is like being high.."

"Yours skin's already healed." John noted surprised, before chuckling at Sherlock's expression. "Yeah, it is. And it's nice I'm able to do that now. But I really didn't expect biting to feel so... gratifying."

"Instinct, I guess." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Yours has too.." he said, still feeling some of the effects of vampire saliva, which made him unable to wipe that smile off his face. "I mean the injection wound. No bruise or mark left, it had healed about half an hour after I've given you the first injection."

"Strange.." John said, before lying back down on his side and smiling at the way his fiancé still looked. "If you think that's good, just wait until I get to bite you during sex." He said with a warm chuckle.

"Yeah, I really do think soundproofing the bedroom would come in handy now." Sherlock said and chuckled a little as he snuggled up against John, "Doesn't feel much different than being a normal human, though, does it?"

"No, and I'm glad it doesn't." John said and wrapped his arm around Sherlock to hold him close; even if he wasn't exactly strong right now. "By the way, you think I could beat you in a race now?"

"Probably." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Well perhaps not right now, but once you've recovered, sure. You've got a stronger built than I have anyway." he said and smirked, "Guess it'll be you who'll carry me over the threshold then." he said.

John chuckled at that. "Guess it's my turn now. By the way, didn't you say something about a tank once?" He asked and traced his fingertips aimlessly across Sherlock's upper back.

"That's still on the list." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "And you forgot about the dress." he said with a smirk.

"Trust you not to forget a thing." John chuckled, not thinking he'd actually do that though, even if it was a fun thought. "Goodnight.." He yawned and closed his eyes.

"Goodnight. See you in a few hours." Sherlock said softly, wrapping his arms a little tighter around John and closing his eyes as well to catch a few hours of sleep.


	82. Alone With Six Women

About half a day and two more glasses of blood later, John was definitely beginning to feel better. The sun looked as if it was about to set soon when John woke up himself this time. When he couldn't spot Sherlock he looked at the ceiling awhile, before he got to his feet to look out of the window while the sun was still shining.

Sherlock smiled as he walked out of the bathroom having a towel wrapped around his hips and rubbing at his hair with another one. "You're up.." he said and walked towards John, standing beside him at the window.

"Mmh, couldn't just let the whole day pass without enjoying the view once." John said with a smile. "Did you have a nice shower?"

"Lonely." Sherlock said and smiled at his fiancé, "Next time you could join me." he added, wrapping his arm around John, "Wanna have a drink?" he asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, that sounds great." John said and leaned a bit into his side. "Speaking of which, what have you done with the two litres in the measuring cup?"

"I erm flushed it down the toilet..." Sherlock said and cleared his throat, "It had clotted on the surface when I woke up and .. I don't know, drinking it didn't seem right anyway." he said, before he walked over to the minibar and reached for one of the blood bags, pouring both of them a glass.

"That's true." John said with a frown, actually glad that that wasn't even an option anymore. "Did you get anything done while I was out?" John asked after sitting back down on the bed.

"Like what?" Sherlock asked as he handed John the glass, before sitting down next to him, "We're on holiday, we don't actually have a check list." he said and chuckled.

"Thanks, love." He said, taking the glass. 'Right, I'm the only one who's brought notes." John said with a chuckle before taking a sip. "And you didn't get bored staring at the ceiling while I was sleeping?"

"I didn't get bored staring at you while you were sleeping." Sherlock said and leaned into John's side, "I told you I'm not leaving your side until we're done with this and I'm sticking to it." he said and shrugged, "And that's definitely not boring."

John laid an arm around Sherlock's waist and kissed his temple. "I love you. But I don't think I could promise I wouldn't have studied or used my phone to play doodle jump, if I had been you."

Sherlock chuckled at that, "Candy crush." he admitted and tilted his head to peck John's lips.

John chuckled at that. "Yeah? You don't seem like a candy crush guy." He said and gave Sherlock an amused smile.

"You don't seem like a doodle jump guy." Sherlock said and chuckled again.

John smiled and emptied his glass. "And here we are, learning new things about each other. That alone already made the trip worth it, don't you think?"

"Oh yes, after all the unimportant things that happened this weekend, this is ground-breaking." Sherlock said and laughed, taking the empty glass from John, "You want another one?" he asked.

"Yes, please. The sooner I've replaced it the better." John said and got back under the covers to rest. Maybe by tomorrow morning his headache would be gone at this pace. "How much blood exactly did you buy?" He asked after a moment.

"Well I got some more, I called up the guy again and had him deliver another few litres this morning. Not that I'm particularly fond of the idea that he knows where we're staying, but... well, we did need it." Sherlock said and shrugged.

"Mmh, fair enough." John said and watched Sherlock from his side. "Do you have any idea how we're going to tell the others. I mean, I'd love to just send a text, but that seems wrong."

Sherlock sighed, "Well... I think we should tell the girls and Mrs Hudson first. And well then Clara and Harry and your parents. Do you want to skype with the girls now? I set it up for Charlie on her laptop before we left."

"Depends, do I look alright? I mean, haven't even washed my face in over a day and I don't want to scare them." John said with a wry smile.

"You look great." Sherlock said and smiled, "And.. well I washed your face." he said and chuckled, "I even brushed your teeth while you were out cold. So if you've dreamed you were eating toothpaste.. now you know why."

"And I was already wondering why I'd imagined that mint taste." John, said with a chuckle. "Well, thanks for that. Out of curiosity, did you do anything else while I was asleep?"

"You mean apart from discreet blood deliveries, pampering you and playing candy crush?" Sherlock asked and laughed, "No, not really. I did find an interesting show on French TV though.. Profilage, it's actually not that bad." he said and smirked.

"Profiling?" John asked and turned to lie on his back, still looking at Sherlock. "Sounds like a crime show. Glad to hear you haven't been bored to bits though."

"Well this trip is all about you." Sherlock said and kissed John's cheek, "Doesn't matter if I'm bored or not."

"You're being so nice to be this weekend. It's a right shame I can't turn again sometime." John joked with a chuckle. "If we still want to call the girls, though, we should do it soon. I want to go back to sleep in half an hour or so."

Sherlock nodded, reaching for the suitcase next to the bed and getting out his laptop, "Alright then, let's go." he said, quickly connecting the computer to the hotel wifi, before he opened skype, "Oh she's online." he said, pointing at his contacts, "Charlie Watson-Holmes... it's not even legal yet, but she's already started telling people that's her name now." he said and smiled.

"She's a sweetheart. I can't wait to have that name either." John said with a smile, before glancing at the minibar. "Could I maybe still have that glass of blood though?" He asked, before a chat bubble popped up.

_Hey paps, just saw you're on again! I'm just getting Rosie. How's the city of love? No details please. ~Charlie Watson-Holmes_

Sherlock chuckled a little _"Don't get Rosie yet."_ he sent back, before handing John a glass of blood while he called Charlie via Skype, waiting for her to accept, "Maybe hide the glass for now though.."

John took a good sip, before holding his hand so that the glass wasn't in the picture. A few seconds later a screen appeared and Charlie smiled at them from Amber's room. "Hi paps! Oh hi dad! How are you doing? It's nice to see you again." She said with a big smile.

"We're doing great, how are you two?" Sherlock asked and smiled, genuinely glad to see her, "Has Rosie had any luck teaching Amy and Ally ballet yet? I know she wanted to try."

Charlie chuckled and someone gave a chuckle in the background at that too. "Err.. she's still trying. Wait, I'll just send you a video via Whatsapp. They're having a lot of fun together though." She said and got out her phone to send it to Sherlock. "I'm glad you're having a nice time too." John said with a smile a Charlie nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty great over here." She said and looked to her side. "What have done today? Visited the Mona Lisa?"

"We've actually been in our hotel room the whole day." Sherlock said and looked at John, "Do you want to tell her?" he asked, figuring they should just get it over with.

Charlie made a face at that and pulled her headphones out of her pocket to plug them in. "Eww. I was serious about the no details thing." She said and Amber snorted in the background, before getting up. "Way to go, John. I'll give you some privacy, Charlie." She teased him and patted her shoulder, figuring that either way they probably wanted to talk to her alone.

Sherlock laughed at that and shook his head, "Trust me that is a detail you might want to know." he said and chuckled again, "But not the kind of detail you think.." he said and rolled his eyes, as if he'd ever discuss his sex life with his daughter.

"Okay, good. What's on then?" Charlie asked once the door closed and John cleared his throat. "Well, you know how I'd been thinking about turning?" He began and Charlie stopped him after a second, realising what he was implying. "/Had been/ thinking? You're not thinking about it anymore? You wouldn't call me to tell me you've decided not to, would you?" She asked immediately and John was a bit taken aback by how quick she was. "Erm, well no, we wouldn't.." He started with a frown, but Charlie was already cheering. "Are you /serious/?? Paps, did he really?"

"Afraid so." Sherlock said and chuckled at her reaction, "We did it last night." he said and smirked, "You can probably raise your hand now, John."

"Right, I've been sipping these all day." John said and held his glass into the camera, which made her grin even more. "Welcome to the club, dad!" She chuckled and John gave her a smile. "Thanks, Charlie." "It's better than cow pee though, isn't it?" She asked with a smirk, which made John frown a bit. "Erm, yeah, sure."

Sherlock chuckled, "I'd say it definitely is a lot better." he said and remembered how he had tried to explain turning to Charlie and used that to compare what drinking blood must seem like to someone who isn't used to it. "Don't tell the others though.. I think John should do it himself."

"Oh, yeah. That makes sense. What about Rosie though?" She asked and John shook his head. "I'll tell her myself too. Though, I don't think that she'll think much of it." He said and Charlie still couldn't wipe that smile off her face. "I'll get her in a minute. Do you already have any plans for your last evening though?"

"John's probably going to sleep and I'll play candy crush." Sherlock said and chuckled, "It takes a while to get back on your feet after turning."

"Oh okay. Are you feeling better, dad?" Charlie asked and John gave her a smile. "I am, thanks for asking." "How does turning someone work, though?" She asked him after a moment and John shook his head. "How about we have that talk when we're back home? We'll answer all of your questions then, okay?" "Erm, yeah okay, if you say so."

Sherlock smiled, "Get your sister now then?" he asked with a smile, "Although I still don't know what we'll tell her.."

"Yup, see you in a minute. I think she's outside." Charlie said before putting her laptop on the bed and walking out on the hallway. "Roosie? ...Rooosie? Paul, do you know..." You could hear muffled voices talk for a while until small footsteps approached the laptop again. "Loock?" Came a small voice. "Pssst! Ally on the bed!"

Sherlock laughed as Amy's and Ally's faces appeared on the screen, "Have you been hiding there the whole time?" he asked and Ally chuckled, "Yeah we were under the bed!" she snickered, starting to tap on the keys. "What do all those buttons do?" she asked, continuing to try them out one after another.

Amy had to giggle and began to join her sister pressing the buttons on the keyboard. "No Ally, sto-" He began but was quickly cut off. "I feel like I should've seen that coming." He said after a moment and gave Sherlock a chuckle.

"Yeah that wasn't entirely unexpected." Sherlock said and chuckled as well, "Charlie will call back in a moment, I'm sure." he said and snorted another laugh, "I'm kind of sorry for the twins, though, they're probably really disappointed that we suddenly disappeared."

"True, but they'll have us live and in colour tomorrow when we pick up our daughters." John said with a smile and emptied that glass. "Paul and Vanessa have five girls in the house now, don't they?"

"To be honest, I'm actually mostly sorry for Paul in that case." Sherlock said with a laugh, "Alone with six women..."

"Yeah, I'm not exactly jealous either.." John said with a chuckle when Charlie called them again, which he accepted. "Hi there we are again. The connection must've broken off." She said now with Rosie sitting next to her on Amber's bed.

"Uh.. no, but maybe when you're living with two year old and very clever twins, you should lock the screen before leaving your computer alone." Sherlock said with a chuckle, before looking at Rosie, "Hi papa and hi daddy is Paris fun?" she asked and Sherlock smiled, "It is. Next time we'll take you two with us, okay?" he asked and Rosie nodded happily.

Charlie grinned at the prospect. "Awesome!" She said with a smile, before looking at Rosie. "Do you wanna tell them what we've been doing?"

"Yeah, I taught Amy and Ally some dance moves!" Rosie said and smiled, "And Violet baked cookies with us and I made cookie bees! And Charlie showed Amber pictures of Lowell and they talked about how pretty he is and..."

"Then we helped Paul in the kitchen." Charlie jumped in, before Rosie had the chance to get into detail. "We made pasta again, didn't we?" She said, hoping to get Rosie to talk about something else. Meanwhile John had to bite his lip so as not to start chuckling.

"Yeah! With sauce made of cheese!" Rosie said and Sherlock smiled, "Well that sounds tasty." he said and Rosie nodded, "Uh huh, it was and then Charlie and Amber watched videos of Lowell and his band online! And they called him and hung up again when he picked up the phone, but I don't know why.."

Charlie was as red as a tomato when she stepped in again. "Speaking of music, Amber showed you how to play chopsticks on the piano, didn't she?" She asked, though she hoped Rosie would just start talking about that now. She couldn't really look at her fathers right now.

"Did she?" Sherlock asked and just to relieve Charlie a little he changed the subject completely, "Now Rosie, you know what John and I have seen a doctor and John's tomato juice allergy is gone!" he said and Rosie looked at John, "Really? Did the doctor give you medicine?" she asked with a smile.

"Mmh, I got two small injections in my arm and now it's gone for good." He told her with a smile, figuring that this way the only thing she really associated with shots was John getting better; that'd probably help with vaccines furthers down the line.

"Cool! Now you don't have to your own pot with tomato sauce anymore!" Rosie said and smiled, "I don't like talking to you like this.." she said after a moment, frowning a little, "I can't hug you!" she said and Sherlock smiled, "Well.. you could hug Charlie now instead of us and when we come back home, we'll both give you a tight hug, alright?" Sherlock asked and Rosie nodded, holding her arms out for her sister.

Charlie smiled and gave her sister a snug hug and pressed a kiss on her cheek in an exaggerated way to make her giggle. Seeing that John gave Sherlock a smile.

Sherlock returned the smile and chuckled as he held his arms out the same way Rosie just did, "Do I get a hug too?" he asked, smirking at his fiancé.

John couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Sure. Come here, love." He said and wrapped his arms around him, though more carefully than Charlie had.

"What about a kiss?" Sherlock asked, smiling at John as he pulled back a a little to look at him.

Since they were still skyping with the girls (and John was too tired for a proper kiss anyway) he planted a big squishy kiss on Sherlock's cheek, chuckling when he drew back.

Sherlock chuckled, wiping his cheek, "Yeah, thanks for that." he said and rolled his eyes. "Anyway John and I had a really long day, so we'll go to bed now, we'll see you tomorrow." he said and Rosie chuckled, "But it's not even my bedtime!" she said and Sherlock chuckled.

"The trip has just made us veery tired." John said with a smile. "Erm paps, one last question. Did you think we were going to pack your shirts too?" She asked him after a moment since that he wasn't wearing one even though John was; and she could kinda see him actually forgetting half his suitcase.

Sherlock chuckled, "No, I actually did bring clothes, thank you very much." he said and smiled, "I've just been showering right before we called you." he said and smiled.

"Oh, okay. Just checking. Sleep tight then." Charlie said and gave them a smile. "Thanks, Charlie. Sleep well too in a few hours. We love you a lot." John told them with a smile.

"We love you too!" Rosie said, waving at the screen and smiling brightly, "Good night." Sherlock said smiling and waving back at her.

"See you tomorrow!" Charlie said and gave them a wave too before disconnecting (they were their dads; it want as if they were gonna do it first) "How about we look for Amy and Ally now? I bet they're still hid somewhere inside the room." She said in a stage whisper and could actually hear some giggling coming from beneath the bed. John watched them hang up and let out a sigh, sagging a bit into his pillow. "We could try that kiss again but I should warn you: I might start snoring into your mouth if it's a long one." He said with a chuckle.

"I'll take that risk." Sherlock said and smiled at John as the screen went black, shutting the laptop and putting it back into his suitcase, before leaning over to John again.


	83. Picking Up The Bee Troup

"I can't wait to see them again." John with a smile as Sherlock pulled over in front of Vanessa and Paul's house. And it was true, this had been the longest they'd been separated since they'd taken them in.

"Me neither, really." Sherlock said and smiled, "It feels so weird not to be around them." he said and frowned, "It's strange how you can get used to being a parent that quickly."

"That's true. And I think that they'd agree with that." John said and looked out of the window, before unbuckling his seatbelt. "Let's get them home then."

Sherlock nodded, "Yeah, let's get our girls." he said and got out of the car, looking towards the house where he spotted three little noses pressed flat against the living room window.

John chuckled when he followed Sherlock's gaze a few seconds later and waved to them, before knocking on the door.

Hearing little footsteps, Sherlock wasn't entirely surprised when the door opened and Rosie stood there with the twins in tow, "Hi Papa, hi daddy!" she chirped and held the little ones' hands, making sure they won't run out on the street, which made Sherlock strangely proud.

"Hello sweetheart" John smiled and crouched down to them. "And hello Amy and Ally" He said before pulling them all into a big hug. "I've missed you a lot." He said and let go of them a few seconds later so Sherlock could say hi to them too. And it didn't take long for Charlie to notice something was going on at the door. "Hello? Is someone there?" She called from the hallway.

"It's just us!" Sherlock called back and chuckled a little as he crouched down to the little ones, "There's my bee troop." he said and hugged the girls as well.

"OH! Coming!" Charlie called and ran to the front door, a big smile on her face when she saw them. "Hi dad, hi paps!" She said flung herself into John's arms while Sherlock was busy with the little ones. "Hi there. I'm so happy to see you again" John said and wrapped his arms around her, having to step against the wall because of her impact.

Sherlock chuckled, looking up at Charlie and John, "Hey easy there, he's still a little weak from uh.. his allergy shot." he said and smiled, standing up, "Throw yourself against me, I can take it." he said and laughed, holding his arms out for a hug.

Charlie grinned and let go off John 'run' the three steps towards Sherlock. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled herself up into his arms with a smile. "Hi" Meanwhile John had an eye on Rosie, Ally and Amy so that none of them would run outside.

Sherlock chuckled, "See told you I can take it." he said and laughed as he picked her up bridal style, "Need a ride?" he asked with a chuckle, "Or.. a.. carry?" he added.

"Nah, it's alright, I'm fine with a lift." Charlie said and smirked up at him, chuckling at their bad puns. "So you've had fun I've heard?" John asked the three girls and slowly crouched down to them again.

"Yeah, we hid under Ambers bed and Amber and Charlie talked about the boy Charlie likes!" Ally chirped and snickered.

Amy nodded excitedly and went on. "And they were talking about which numbers boys in Ambers newspaper had!" She said and Charlie hid her face in Sherlock's neck with a pained groan. John had to hold back a chuckle at how blunt they were being, though he did feel sorry for Charlie. "You two are going to become two sneaky spies, I can tell." He chuckled, before asking. "Could you maybe get your mummy here? We'd like to say hi to her too."

"Yeah, come Amy, let's find mummy, it's another mission!" Ally chirped and tugged Amy along, who in turn tugged Rosie after her, while Sherlock set Charlie down again, "You know.. having a little sister can be a little annoying sometimes. But that's part of the deal, you don't get the good sides without accepting there'll be moments like this." he chuckled.

"Mmh, Amber mentioned that too." Charlie said and scratches her head. "As much as I love them, how she deals with two literal spies in the household on a daily basis remains a mystery to me." She commented and John shot Sherlock a small amused glance, remembering for example how two live-in spies had stolen his clothes just three days ago.

"Yeah.. I'm sure no one in Baker Street knows that feeling." Sherlock said with a laugh, ruffling Charlie's hair.

A few moments later, the girls came back, tugging Violet along. "Ah, there you are. We've already been waiting for you. How was your trip?" She asked and kissed Sherlock's cheek.

"Well.. it was different than we had expected.. not that John expected it in the first place, but you know what I mean." Sherlock chuckled.

Violet gave John a smile. "I do. Must've been quite a surprise." She said with a chuckle, before asking. "And different in what way?" She asked and Charlie jumped in. "We didn't say anything about the shots by the way."

"Well until now you didn't." Sherlock said and looked at John with a smile, "You might as well let her know now." he said and gave a small shrug.

"Right. As you know, I'd been thinking about, uh, getting rid of my tomato juice allergy and while we were in France Sherlock helped me get those.. allergy shots." He said and Vanessa looked quite stunned for a moment. "Well, congratulations you two. I'm happy you have. Does the rest of the family already know?" She asked and John shook his head. "No, you're the first one to know after the girls. I wanted to tell them in person." She nodded. "That's best. Are you alright though? You should take it easy the first few days and make sure to drink lots of tomato juice."

"Don't worry, I've got this. I've been feeding it to him nonstop before got onto the plane.. it's just so hard to get erm.. tomato juice through the security checks." Sherlock said and chuckled a little. "But once we're at home at he'll get another one right away.

"Yeah, he's been taking good care of me the past few days." John said with a nod which made Vanessa smile. "I believe that. Now, how about the Watson-Holmes get their bags and the Berkeleys help?" She asked their girls.

"Yeah, I can help Rosie with her bag!" Ally said and smiled happily and Sherlock chuckled, "Meanwhile.. maybe you've got some juice for John?" he asked, figuring it wouldn't hurt if John got another glass of blood right away since the girls still had to pack their bags. "Where's Paul by the way?"

"Me too!" Amy said and smiled at Charlie before they both ran back to Amber's room. "Oh, he and Amber are visiting his mother for her 82nd birthday." Vanessa told them and led them inside, though that was a piece of information that made him cringe. "Remind me to call her, will you?" He whispered as Vanessa disappeared into the kitchen to get some blood.

"Oh right that's your grandmother, isn't it?" Sherlock asked, sometimes forgetting that this had been John's first.

"Yeah, my mum's mum." John said, before frowning. "Oh, you haven't met my other grandmother yet, have you?" He asked as he followed Vanessa into the kitchen.

"No, actually.. is she okay with homosexual relationships though? I wouldn't want to give her a heart attack." Sherlock said and frowned a little.

"Oh no, she's cool with that, I know that for a fact." John said with a chuckle. "I think it's safe to say she's the most progressive person in the family in terms if relationships." He said with a bit of a snort. "Seriously though, you'll like her."

"Okay.." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Well, she sounds great." he said and smiled, "Does she know about the whole tomato juice thing?" he asked, using their codeword still, just in case one of the spies was around.

"Harry or mum might've told her now that she drinks it, but I'm not sure. I mean, chances are one of her husbands was one, but I've no idea really." John said and thanked Vanessa when she gave him that glass of blood, only now realising how thirsty he'd been.

Sherlock smiled, "Glad we didn't travel to America." he said and chuckled as John gulped down the blood, "Don't think you'd have made it through a six hour flight without tomato juice just yet. That's difficult even for the best of us." he said and shrugged.

"That's true. I remember an instance where I had to make it through almost three days.." Vanessa said and shook her head. "Ghastly business." She said and took the glass back. "Would you like another?" She asked him with a smile. "I think I'll be fine until we get back home, but thanks." He said with a smile.

Sherlock sighed, "Try two and a half.." he murmured and frowned, "Wasn't exactly easy to get juice in a mental clinic in the fifties.." he said shook his head, "I definitely do not recommend that." he said and chuckled a little.

"Heavens, three weeks?" Violet asked him, looking with shocked, before going to the reasons why he could've ended up there; he'd either told someone about vampirism or his homosexuality... Heavens, she had a good idea what a sanatorium looked like like back then.. "How did you get out of there again?"

"Well.. there was that guy.. he was convinced vampires exist and I told him that I am one.. he let me drink every now and then.. obviously I couldn't take much from him." Sherlock said and shrugged, "One night one of the nurses or a doctor didn't lock a door properly and I took the chance when it came.."

"Dear god... that's horrific, darling, nonetheless. I had no idea you even went through something like that." She said, looking quite shaken. Three weeks without a steady blood supply would've been painful enough to drive anyone insane.

"Well that happened back then when the wrong people found out that you're not very interested in women as a man, at least I wasn't executed.." Sherlock said and shook his head, "However, how come you didn't have blood for three days then?"

"One of my husbands, a politician, had several disputes with.. colleagues of his. After one in particular I got denounced for a minor offence to put pressure onto him. It was power play, really and nothing came of it in the end, but one's options are limited in pretrial detention." She said with a sigh.

Sherlock couldn't help but laugh at that, "Sorry, it's just.. it's not funny that you went through that, I just finally know where Mycroft got it from." he said and smirked.

"What exactly do you mean?" Violet asked him with a frown. Had Mycroft been in a relationship after all?

"The power play." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Anyway, speaking of husbands, you might get another son in law at some point.." he said and smirked, "I don't think Mycroft told you about it yet?"

"Oh no, he hasn't. What are you talking about?" Violet asked with a frown.

"He's dating Greg." Sherlock said and bit his lip, trying not to laugh, he really was happy-ish for his brother, but it was just still so ... strange, to think about his brother as someone who was dating.

"/Our/ Greg?" Vanessa asked and her face lit up. "Now that's some good news. Unexpected, but good. They're even the same age, aren't they?"

"Roughly, yeah." Sherlock said and smiled, "Should have seen them when they first met, I swear Mycroft looked exactly like Charlie when she met Lowell for the first time." he said and shook his head.

Violet chuckled at that. "I have a hard time imagining that to be honest." She chuckled. "I think I'll give him a call when you leave." She said with a smile.

"You mean you're going to give him the birds and bees talk? Because if so, I'd really like to see that." he said and smirked.

Violet shook her head a bit at that, but gave a small chuckle. "As far as I'm aware we had that particular talk with neither of you, but if you insist on the complete mother-son experience in the modern sense..." She began and rolled her eyes.

"Eh.. no. I'd pay almost any price to see Mycroft suffer through it, but not that one." Sherlock said and chuckled, standing up, "You think the girls are ready?" he asked, smirking a little as he shook his dozing boyfriend, "Hey, sleeping beauty, come on, we've got a bed at home that's likely much more comfortable than mum's kitchen table." he said and smiled at his mother, "No offence, it's a really pretty table." he said and frowned, "Actually.. did you paint that? It looks like your style."

"Hm, that old thing? Yeah, I did actually. I could never shake the habit if I'm being honest." She said with a chuckle and went over to the hallway to call the girls. Meanwhile John's head shot up. "Hm? What? I'm awake."

Sherlock couldn't help but smile at that, "Of course you are." he said and chuckled again, leaning down to peck John's cheek, "Come on, let's go." he said and held out his hand for John.

John gave him a smile and took his and before standing up and paying attention to not falling over his own feet. "Okay we've got our stuff ready. Can we leave now?" Charlie asked them with a smile, standing next to the other girls by the door.

"Yeah, let's go." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "Not that John is tired or anything, but we should really head home." he said with a chuckle.

John rolled his eyes in good humour and Violet chuckled. "Yes, you should. Say goodbye, girls." "Bye Rosie, bye Charlie by Lock, bye John!!" Amy called happily and John and Rosie went out of the door, John having taking her lighter bag. "Goodbye!"

"Bye! Come back soon!" Ally chirped, watching the four of them while Sherlock lifted Rosie up on his arm, "John can Amber and Paul have those allergy shots too?" she asked with a smile.

"Mmh, Paul could technically do that, but Amber would still be too young for that. You know, those specific ones are only supposed to be for adults." John said, trying to make it just vague enough but not wrong. "And not everybody wants to deal with the side effects, like being very tired for a while. But it's not like that for other kinds of shots. Flu shots for example don't have any side effects for most people. Ever had one of those before?"

"Yeah Molly gave them to all of us!" Rosie said and scrunched up her nose, "But I don't like them, because to get they have to prick your arm with a really big needle!" she said and Sherlock chuckled, "Well, I don't like needles either... apparently.." he said and glanced at John with a smirk, "But flu shots and shots to protect you from other illnesses are really important, you know, in the past, when people didn't have vaccinations people got very often very ill and sometimes a whole lot of people got ill at the same time and died too, with vaccinations people have made the worst illnesses disappear, but if we stop getting them, those illnesses can come back."

"Molly said they're also supposed to protect the little and sick ones in our community that can't get vaccines themselves." Charlie said with a smile. "That's exactly right. They don't only protect us, but also everyone around us. If many people can't pass on illnesses we're much safer." John explained, before setting the bag down once they were at the car.

"Oh." Rosie said and thought for a moment, "Okay, then I won't complain anymore about them. I didn't know they were so important. I don't want other people to get sick because of me." she said and Sherlock smiled, pressing a kiss into her hair, "I'm very proud of you for being so responsible, bee." he said and Rosie smiled happily at the praise.

"Mmh, so am I." John told her with a smile and leaned against the car door. "Yeah, even some adults could learn something from you." Charlie said with a smirk, before frowning a little. "Erm, paps, can you open the car please? I think dad's about to fall asleep."

Sherlock snorted at that and pulled his keys out of his pocket, before unlocking the car, "Hm, you're right about that." he said and chuckled again.

"I was blinking, okay?" John said a bit defensively and Charlie chuckled. "Yeah, of course you were." She teased him with a serious nod, before taking her bags and carrying them to the back of the car before John could respond. "Cheeky one, your sister. Come on, let's get your car seat, Rosie."

"Okay!" Rosie said as Sherlock set her down on the ground, before she took John's hand, "I'll make sure you don't run on the street, because you're so tired." he said, firmly holding John's hand, which made Sherlock laugh again, "That is also very responsible, bee." he said with smirk.

"Thank you sweetheart, I appreciate it." John said and had to chuckle himself at that. "I think Vanessa put it next to her own car. Can you already spot it?" He asked her with a smile.

"Yeah it's over there!" Rosie said and tugged John along the pavement towards Violet's car. Smiling, Sherlock turned to Charlie, "So you and Amber talked a lot about Lowell then?" he asked casually, not wanting to make her uncomfortable, "Do you think he remembers you.. I mean.. your kiss in particular.. I can't help wondering about that dream, you know.. I haven't talked to Jane about it yet.. kind of hard to bring up something like that, especially when you don't know if the other person actually does know about it." he said and shrugged.

Charlie gave him a small grin. "Amber did me a bit of a solid yesterday.. Or well, we played truth or dare and I dared her to call Lowell for real and ask him about his first kiss. But she like actually did it, even though I didn't expect her too, but you know I was really curious... Anyway, she pretended to conduct a survey - I think she's done that as a summer job before because she sounded very professional and all - and then she ended up asking him about his first kiss. And now guess what he said!" Charlie said, practically beaming; if she'd been any less enthusiastic about the whole thing she'd have probably been too embarrassed to have told him.

"I suppose it was a mysterious girl he met on a 'party'?" Sherlock asked and chuckled a little, "I mean.. at least going by your expression that's what I'd guess," he said and smiled at her.

"Yeah, he said she wore a pretty dress, took his guitar and they sat in front of a fountain." Charlie grinned at him. "He hasn't forgotten me in *two* centuries! And you're the first one to know that by the way. I didn't want Amber to think I'm crazy."

"Yeah, I can sort of see people thinking that if we'd tell them." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "But I'm happy for you that he hasn't forgotten you.. and.. don't tell John, he'd wring my neck, but I think he'd actually be a good choice for you, in seven or eight years, that is. Definitely not before you're eighteen. If you still like him then and he likes you, I'm the last person to be in your way." he said and gave her a smile.

"Really??" Charlie asked him with a grin, before wrapping her arms around him once more. "You think he'll be interested in me by then?"

"I didn't say that, but he might, I don't know." Sherlock said and gave a small shrug, "I'm just saying that if you should be still interested in him at that point, I won't be in the way.. I know he's a good guy. So.. I'd rather it's him than someone we don't know at all." he said and chuckled, "Also you know the saying, 'know thy enemy'?'" he asked with a smirk.

Charlie rolled her eyes at that. "At least you didn't go through with killing him." She said and gave him a look when Rosie and John returned. "What's going on here" he asked with s chuckle. "If I didn't know better I'd say you promise to get her a car. Hang on, you didn't, did you?"

"Something like that." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Speaking of cars, we should get into ours now. You look like you could fall asleep standing." he said and leant over to give him a brief kiss.

"I could almost." John said with a tired smile, before putting Rosie's car seat inside. "Could you secure that today?" He asked Sherlock, not wanting to take any chances today. "Oh, it's alright, I can do that." Charlie said with a smile and quickly began to work on it.

Sherlock smiled "You know, if Charlie could drive, they probably wouldn't need us at all anymore." he said and chuckled, holding the door open for John.

"I have a feeling you're right about that." John said with a chuckle and got inside the car. "Nah, just because we could, that still doesn't mean we actually want to do everything ourselves." The response came from the back, just before Charlie buckled Rosie up. "And there we go."

Sherlock laughed at that, "So basically we're you're butlers? Is that it?" he asked with a smirk as he got into the car himself, waiting for Charlie to buckle up herself.

"Butlers that earn the money." Charlie said with a chuckle and buckled up. "But you get to ground us, so it all evens out in the end I guess."

"Still doesn't feel quite fair." Sherlock joked as he started the engine, "Maybe we should let you earn the money." he said jokingly, glancing at John who looked like he was about to doze off again.

"Hm? 'm not taking on another job." John muttered, before blinking a bit disoriented and lifting his chin off his chest.

"I was talking to Charlie and Rosie, love." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I can't work, I'm little!" Rosie complained and Sherlock bit back a chuckle, it was quite funny how she was a big girl when it was about things she wanted to do and little when it was about things she did not want to do. "I know, honeybee, I was just joking."

"I mean, I could start doing newspaper rounds." Charlie suggested sheepishly, though she knew fully well that her fathers had already once had a debate about her getting something from Speedy's on her own a while ago; without Mrs Hudson there, but still.

"I really was just kidding." Sherlock said and smiled a little, "And it's nice of you to suggest it, but it's really not necessary and I wouldn't expect that of you either. Especially not with the.. erm.. situation.." he said and sighed a little, "But really, we do have enough money and you're too young to even work anyway, you've got to be 13 at least."

"I get to enjoy five more months of puppy license then. Nice." Charlie joked with a chuckle. Meanwhile John had gone back to sleep and was in the process of drooling a bit on his shirt.

Sherlock chuckled, "If you really want to, we can work this out after we've dealt with the other thing, okay?" he asked as he turned into Baker Street, smiling a little, "Home sweet home.." he said with a smile, spotting their house.

"I've really missed Baker Street." Charlie smiled as she looked out of the window. "What's the first thing you're gonna do, Speedy?"

"I want to lie on my bed and look at my kinder egg bees!" Rosie said and smiled, "I've missed them, next time I'll take them with me when we're not at home." she stated and Sherlock chuckled, pulling up in front of the house.

"They're really cute." Charlie said with a chuckle and unbuckled her seatbelt again once Sherlock cut off the engine. "I still remember when you gave me one of those kindereggs. That was really nice of you." She said with a smile as she helped Rosie out of her seat.

Rosie smiled, "I asked Lock to get to your room first back then!" Rosie said with a smile, "That's true," Sherlock agreed and turned around to look at them, "She said you should get the first because you're the coolest." he said and Rosie nodded, "Uh huh, Charlie is much cooler than anyone else at the orphanage." she said with a nod, "And now she's my big sister and that is even cooler!" she said and smiled brightly.

Great, and now she felt like crying. Why did Rosie have to be so sweet? "Thanks, champ. And you're right, being your sister really is the coolest thing ever." She told her with a warm smile.

Sherlock smiled at the two of them, quite sad that John had been asleep through all of this, "Anyway, everyone called Holmes and/or Watson will go inside now." he said and chuckled, nudging John a little, "That includes you too." he said and chuckled, looking at his fiancé.

John blinked his eyes open at that and looked around for a second. "What? I'm- Oh, we're back. Right, thanks." John mumbled and cleared his throat, before giving him a smile and getting out of the car (quite conveniently on the side of the pavement.) Meanwhile Charlie had made sure Rosie hadn't got out on Sherlock's side of the car and already opened the boot of the car to get their bags out.

Sherlock smiled getting the heaviest bags out of the car and slinging them over his shoulder, before getting their suitcases as well, "By the way, we did bring both of you souvenirs, if you can guess what we brought whom, you can stay up an hour later on a day of your choice." he said and smirked.

"Mmh, has it got something to do with art?" Charlie asked, thinking of the Louvre. Since there were only two bags left now, John and Charlie each took one and walked up to the front door. "Not a bad guess actually." John said and unlocked the front door. "You didn't get a painting though, did you?"

"No, we did leave the Mona Lisa where it is." Sherlock said and laughed, "I'm only spoiling you with expensive things you actually want to have." he said and smiled

"Okay... what about posters? Oh! A calendar with photographs of art! That's it, isn't it?" Charlie said with a smirk, before following John inside. Those were common enough souvenirs.

"Close, but not quite. One last try." Sherlock said with a smirk, "I want a hint for mine too!" Rosie said and looked up at Sherlock. "Hm, it's got something to do with reading." he said and chuckled.

"Hm... I've told you I like photography and it's almost like a calendar.. So it's either a postcard, a poster or a photography book. At least those are the most easily available options..." Charlie said mostly to herself, before settling on the more expensive (and more exciting) one. "Okay, my guess is you've got me a photography book."

"Ding ding ding." Sherlock said with a laugh as he unlocked the door, "Someone's just won a stay up longer joker." he said with a laugh and walked into the house.

"Yass!" Charlie said with a chuckle and John turned to Rosie with a smile. "Have you already got an idea what we might've got for you?"

"A book! Maybe a book to learn French!" Rosie said and smiled, "Because I told Papa I want to learn to speak French!" she said and Sherlock chuckled, "Am I that predictable?" he asked and chuckled, entering the flat.

"Well, that already makes two of us. But very well done guessing!" John said with a chuckle and walked up the stairs, one hand on the railing; usually Sherlock was the one him predictable. "Do you want an honest answer to that?" Charlie asked Sherlock with a smirk.

Rolling his eyes, Sherlock chuckled, "No." he said and smirked, setting the bags and suitcases own, "So, Rosie can stay up an hour longer on a day of her choice as well." he said and Rosie grinned, "Cool!"

"Yeah, that's gonna be wild." Charlie said and with a smile and nudged Rosie's shoulder as John walked inside the flat too, putting down the bag in the living room. "Do our birthdays count for that?" She asked them after a moment.

"Hm... no, because your birthday is special already and your bedtimes are a more like guidelines on your birthdays, so you don't need it for those days." he said and chuckled, remembering their talk about Rosie's party. They really needed to start working on that.

"Smashing. We've already got three late bedtimes!" Charlie said and gave Rosie a grin. It wasn't like she was usually sticking to those (Because really, who needed 8 whole hours of sleep, like?) but she liked the living room much better than her own. And so staying with Sherlock and John there was nicer than having to wait until they'd gone to bed until she could sneak downstairs to read Sherlock's books. And she felt kinda clever about the fact they hadn't noticed yet that she was doing that. "What kind of day should we pick though? A school day or Friday/Saturday?" She asked Rosie with a smirk.

"A day on the weekend, because we are allowed to stay up longer on the weekend anyway and that way we can stay up even longer!" Rosie said and Sherlock smiled.

"I like the way you're thinking." Charlie said with a smirk. "Weekend it is then." She said and, after listening to the girls, John gave Sherlock a smile and kissed his cheek. It was a shame he was that tired; he was really missing out.

"So.. how about we all have some tomato juice, before we let daddy go to bed?" Sherlock asked, smiling at John, it was still hard to get used to the fact that John had really done it. It had felt like such a big step, the fact that it had only taken a few hours to do it was a little weird.

"Sounds great." Charlie smiled before taking Rosie's hand. "Come on, let's get some glasses. Afterwards we can say hi to your bees."

"Okay!" Rosie chirped and smiled as she followed Charlie into the kitchen.


	84. Revelations Take Two

The next day John and Sherlock went to his parents while Rosie stayed with Mrs Hudson, thinking they were taking her to the doctor's office for a check-up. In actuality they wanted to tell David and Emma about John's turning and start party planning for Rosie; and obviously Charlie had to be there for that. "Hi Emma!" Charlie said with a smile "Hey mum, great to see you again."

Emma smiled, wrapping her arms around her granddaughter (now that felt a little weird to think, truth to be told she felt a little too young to be a grandmother, but he still loved the girls like one already), "Hello dear," she said and looked up at John, before she hugged him as well, just before hugging Sherlock, "And hello you two." she said, looking around, "Oh, where's our little detective?" she asked, a little disappointed she didn't get to see both girls.

"Rosie's staying with Mrs. Hudson, our landlady; She's basically their second grandmother. It's nothing bad, we just wanted to talk to you and dad about a few things that we can't tell her yet." John told her with a smile. "Could we maybe come inside for that?"

"Oh of course." Emma said and gave them a smile, "David's actually cooking for us." she said and chuckled, "Maybe you want to help him with that, Charlie? He's actually trying to make that pesto for you, but I think he's a little lost." she chuckled.

"Yeah, definitely" Charlie said with a big smile and went inside to find David ...Just where was the kitchen? Oh, trial and error, it couldn't be too far from the living room. A few moments later she was gone. "So how have you been?" John asked his mother and walked inside too.

"Oh we've been good, really good actually. Richard's been over a few times, I think they're really warming up to each other." Emma said as she led Sherlock and John into the living room, "That's great. I'm glad they're trying to work things out." Sherlock said and smiled at John. "I'm especially glad that fishing trip I came up with didn't make things worse."

"No, I mean, I've already told you, but it was great to see how they changed in that short period of time. Though, truth be told I think the fact that they literally couldn't talk most of the time took away some of the edge at first." John said with a chuckle, glad when he could finally sit down again (though he really wasn't as tired anymore today).

"Well sometimes sitting together without talking helps too." Sherlock said and Emma chuckled, "That's how David and I solve most of our fights." she said and smirked, "Anyway, how has your trip to Paris been?" she asked and Sherlock chuckled, answering John's question before he could ask it, "Yes, they knew." he said and smirked.

"Of course they did." John said and gave him a bit of a look before chuckling. "It was great, really." He said after looking back at his mother. "We went on some sightseeing, had amazing food." He said and bit back a comment on how they'd spent the last two days of the trip in bed. Though, he didn't want to tell his mother before his dad so he didn't comment on that. "All in all it was probably my favourite surprise." He said and gave Sherlock a smile.

"Hm, if I'd have to pick my favourite surprise of the last three months, it'd probably be hearing that you took two little girls in." Emma said and looked at John, "Although I still haven't completely forgiven you for not telling us about it." she said, but then smiled again, "How's being dads going for you anyway? Any regrets already?" she asked.

"I'm still sorry about that. I promise you we won't keep big things like that from you again. And no, nothing like that. They're both amazing and I'm grateful I get to be their dad. Of course, some more time just for the two of us on a regular basis would be nice, but that's something we can manage." John said and looked at Sherlock. "Or what do you think?"

"I wholeheartedly agree with all of that. I have nothing to add." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "It's a bit stressful sometimes, but it's completely worth it." he said and Emma smiled at that, "Spoken like true parents." she chuckled.

John smiled at that and opened his mouth again when Charlie appeared in the living room. "Okay, the chicken nuggets are in the oven and David and I are making fresh ketchup fresh for you and us." She updated them. "Do you need to have something healthy on the table? Otherwise we'll just stick to that."

"What happened to the pesto? It was looking bad, but I was hoping it was salvageable." Emma laughed and rolled her eyes, "You think I've learned my lesson in all my time with him, but I still leave him alone in the kitchen sometimes." she joked.

"Yeah, I sorta came too late." Charlie said with a laugh. "By the way, we just got some to- I mean blood out of the freezer. Do you want a glass?" She asked Sherlock and walked over to him with a slightly larger than regular one, figuring Emma didn't know about John's turning yet. But she'd try to get Emma into the kitchen for a minute if they didn't tell her soon.

"Thanks." Sherlock said and glanced at John, "By the way, Emma, John's been telling me about some embarrassing family videos of him when he was little.. and he totally agreed that you show them to me." he said and smirked. "Emma couldn't help but laugh at that, "That'd surprise me, but I'm just going to selfishly believe you, because I think it'd be a wonderful idea to watch some of them." she said and smiled, "I'm just going to get them from upstairs." she said and was off before her son could protest, because she knew he would.

Charlie grinned at that for more than one reason; it was a shame Rosie wouldn't get to see that, though Emma didn't seem as if she wasn't going to show them to them again. "Quick thinking." She commented with a smirk and John took the glass. "Thanks, even though I don't love the cover story." He said, before gulping down about two thirds of what was inside.

"Well actually I've just been waiting for a good reason to bring that up." Sherlock said with a laugh, leaning over to kiss John's cheek, "And by good reason, I mean something John can't do anything about." he said with grin, looking at his glass with a raised brow, "It's about time you get your own glass though..." he said and nipped at the glass.

"Yeah, I wanted to tell them together. It felt wrong to just tell mum." John commented and Charlie came over to them again. "Want me to fill that up again while Emma's still upstairs?"

"Yeah, I especially love that I finally get to see those videos." Sherlock said with a grin and handed Charlie the glass with a smile, "Thank you." he said and smiled, "You're a great accomplice, you know that?" he asked with a laugh.

"I should hope so." She told him with a smirk. "But if I'd known about those video's I'd have come earlier." She teased him with a giggle which made John roll his eyes. "You two are just lovely, you know that?" John told them and Charlie walked back into the kitchen with a laugh.

"We do know, actually. Thanks for mentioning it." Sherlock said with a grin, wrapping his arm around John's waist to pull him a little closer, "And those videos can't be that bad."

John leaned a bit into him. "If we're talking early childhood, most of those will feature me either naked or in Harry's dresses." He said with a sigh, though he wasn't going to complain more about them. Sherlock and Charlie reminded him that he was fortunate to even have those. Though he still didn't know why Harry had /had/ to dress him up like a doll.

Sherlock chuckled, "I'm sure you looked adorable in those dresses." he said and pecked John's cheek again, "And after all, you did see me in a dress too, so.. it's only fair."

John gave him a look before snorting a laugh. "I suppose so. But if mum takes much longer, I might have fallen asleep by the time she gets downstairs, so there's always that." He joked when Charlie returned. "Here, number two coming right up. The ketchup has got 'toasting flavour' by the way, so we're in for a treat." She commented with a snicker.

"Here we go!" Emma called from the stairs, before walking into the living room with a big box labelled 'Harry & John 2000-2010', "We've got loads more, but there are some of my favourites in here." she said with a bright smile.

"Ey, that's a ton of footage" Charlie chuckled and took the box, putting it on the empty coffee table to have a look. "Which ones are the best then?" She asked Emma after giving John a cheeky smirk.

"My favourite is and will always be Harry's 10th birthday, she and her friends dressed John up and married him off over and over again to various dolls." Emma said and chuckled, "It was their condition to let him play with them, he was sweet though, they put him in a white T-shirt and put one of David's ties around his neck." she said and Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah, can we start with that one please?" Sherlock asked with a giggle.

"Yeah, please!!" Charlie grinned and sat down next to John, who wrapped an arm around and gave a sigh of feigned annoyance. "Didn't you want to help dad in the kitchen?" He asked her. "Nah, we're eating charcoal anyway."

"Let's wait for David. though." Sherlock said and gave John a smile, figuring it'd be better to tell them about it before doing anything else, just to get that over with.

"Yeah, Sherlock's right." John said with a nod and Charlie frowned a bit before understanding. "You know what, I think I'll check on him, actually. Why didn't you ever tell us how quirky your dad is by the way?" She asked John with a chuckle, before going back into the kitchen.

"I'm not sure 'quirky' is exactly the word I'd use." Emma chuckled and Sherlock smiled, "Hey, Emma.. I could help you find a place to get all those family videos on a computer, or DVD at least.. those old cassettes are rather sensitive." Sherlock said and Emma looked over the tapes in the box, "Yeah, we've been thinking about it too, but all the places we've been to wanted a fortune to do it." she said and Sherlock shrugged, "Don't you worry about that, I mean.. you're my family too now so.. least I can do is help preserve family history."

“Okay, here I am." David said and walked back into the living room. "What's so- Oh you've got out the old tapes?" He asked Emma with a fond chuckle as he read the title of it. "Actually John and Sherlock wanted to talk to you and Emma." She told him sheepishly and pulled him towards one of the chairs opposite of her fathers and looked at Emma to sit down to. Though Charlie still liked teasing her dad, this was probably something they should get out of the way first.

"Okay, what's so important?" Emma asked and Sherlock glanced at John, since it was really up to him to tell them, though he would if John would give him a sort of signal that he'd rather not do it himself.

Charlie moved to sit back down next to John, who glanced down at his lap before sighing and looking at his parents again. "I'll get straight to it. I've been thinking a lot about the fact that a lot of people closest to me are vampires. My prospective husband, our daughters, my sister and her wife, just to name the most important.." He began and swallowed, before his father cut in. "So you want to take our opinion on turning into account then, is that it?" "I mean, I did talk to you about it on the fishing trip." John said said before just getting it out. "As a matter of fact I already made the decision to turn after thinking a lot about it. Sherlock helped me do it last Friday night."

"You already did it?" Emma asked surprised and looked at her son with a frown, though she wasn't mad, just very surprised, she hadn't thought he'd do it so soon, then again.. it was doing a lot of good for his health, so really, even if it was a big step, it did take a weight off her mind, especially with him wanting to join the military.

John nodded at that. "Yes, I did. I'm already as good as back on my feet again too." He said and looked over to his father. "I'd have thought you'd take more time with a decision like that." David said after a moment. "I really haven't made it lightly. There were some.. things that happened to me that really forced me to figure out where I stand on this."

"Hm.. well.. I mean, it's more or less a good thing, isn't it?" Emma asked and gave a small smile, "At least I will get some sleep once you're going into war after all..." she said and sighed, "Though I still don't like the idea."

"You mean the fact I joined the military?" John asked after a moment, just making sure she wasn't talking about vampirism there.

""Of course I mean the fact that you joined the military." Emma said and rolled her eyes, "Now my biggest worry isn't that you'll get shot and die.. it's that you get shot and don't die, but end up as a lab rat when they find out you're healing too fast. But at least then you're still alive, so.. fear B definitely trumps fear A."

"I agree with your mother almost completely, but you know I will support you with that choice. And I'd already thought you'd join your sister, so the vampire thing is something I understand." David said seriously. John then laid an arm around Charlie who'd stiffened up at the last part of what Emma had said; he could tell she was downplaying it, but then again he knew her. "I'm sorry I'm the reason for that fear. For all of you." He said and glanced at Sherlock too. Though obviously the things Emma had talked about were something he was terrified of too.

"How did you handle that, Sherlock?" Emma asked and looked at Sherlock, who gave a small shrug, "Well, I went on the courses for field medics too and made that known, with all the chaos when we got attacked no one really bothered to look at me too much when I told them I'm alright and could patch myself up. But I really do hope things won't be as bad as the world wars where John's going." he said and sighed, "But John will be there as a medic too and I can teach him some tricks, it's actually all about controlling your features when you're in pain and always having an emergency supply of blood at hand. If you don't look like you're in pain, people will believe you're not and just consider you very lucky."

"You better hang on to what Sherlock is saying. He's got some experience." "Yeah, I'll make sure I will." John said after a moment; though, of course he was going to talk to Sherlock about this more.

"Actually, Charlie.. we could make that a sort of weekly lesson for the both of you, I mean, I do hope you won't be in a war zone in the next.. oh, let's say never. Never is good. Anyway, it's useful when you have an accident too." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "And don't look so worried, Ms Marple, playing people is easy and if you play them well you can make them believe they didn't actually see what they thought they saw. Plus, it's a human instinct to just ignore what they can't explain and shrug it off."

Charlie nodded at that but held on to John's hand; she'd known it from the start, but the closer John became to her the more she hated his decision. And she'd already overheard Sherlock's saying that he did so too, so there wasn't anything he could say about that. "Yeah-" Suddenly an alarm went off and David jumped to his feet and walked quickly into the kitchen; damn, he'd almost forgotten about those.

"Darling, should I call the fire brigade or the pizza service?" Emma called after him and frowned, "Or both?" she asked and couldn't help but laugh, shaking her head.

"Everything under control!" David called after a moment and Charlie snorted. A minute later the kitchen window was open and the oven turned off as David came back. "I think pizza sounds good."

Sherlock had to bite his lip very hard to not start laughing, he didn't really want to risk their fragile relationship just yet - perhaps he could start laughing at David's cooking skills in a year or so.

John on the other hand gave couldn't help chuckling at that and gave his mum a look. "I'll have the usual, dad." "Can I have one with mushrooms extra cheese?" Charlie asked with a giggle.

"Tuna for me." Sherlock said and smiled at John, leaning over to peck his cheek, "For me as well!" Emma added and Sherlock smiled at her, "Did you ever actually have to call the fire brigade?" he asked with a small laugh and Emma grinned, "Just twice." she said and smirked, "Not that he would admit it."

David rolled his eyes at that. "You're one for exaggerations, darling." He commented, before taking the wireless landline and walking into the kitchen. John watched him with a smile, just bloody relieved this had gone so well. And the fact the kitchen hadn't burnt down yet was nice too.

"Yeah, yeah.." Emma called after him and chuckled, looking at the three of them,"One burnt smoke hood and a burnt kitchen table tell a different story, though.." she whispered and gave them a wink. "I'm just saying that if he ever wants to flambée anything, run for your life and call the fire brigade." she snickered.

"I'll hang on to that." Charlie said with a giggle and leaned into John, before looking over his chest at Sherlock. "Oh, by the way: Didn't we want to tell them about the bee party?" She asked him after a moment; after all this was the main reason Rosie had stayed at home.

"Bee party?" Emma asked and Sherlock smiled, "Oh right, yeah, Rosie's birthday is soon and well, we were thinking about making it a bee party, I'll book a location, that'll be decorated like the inside of a bee hive, we'll have a honey fountain and things like that." he said, making Emma smile, "Oh that is so sweet." she said and chuckled, "As crazy as she is about bees, she's going to absolutely love it."

"Food will be here in half an hour." David said and said back soon next to his wife. "What did I miss?" He asked after a moment, seeing Emma's face. "Oh we were talking about Rosie's bee-themed birthday party this Thursday." John said with a smile. "That sounds like something she'd like." David said with a nod.

"Yes, well as I said, we'll decorate the location like a bee hive, we'll have a honey fountain, everyone will be wearing full body bee costumes, she'll be thrilled." Sherlock said and chuckled along with Emma, "Costumes?" she asked and smiled, "That sounds like a sweet idea, so all the kids will be dressed like little bees?" she asked and Sherlock smirked a little, "Almost right.." he said and cleared his throat, "We'll all be dressed like little bees and Rosie will be the bee queen."

"Wait what?" David asked looking at them quite surprised. "You're expecting us to wear costumes?" "Bee costumes" Charlie corrected with a smile. "We either need your clothes size or you can get yours yourself."

"Preferably we'd like to have everyone in the same kind of costume, so they all look the same." Sherlock said and had to bite his lip again at the expression on David's face. "Well, I'm in, I'll write up David's and my clothes size for you later." Emma said with a grin.

"Emma!" David said with a frown, feeling a bit taken by surprise by that new development. "Awesome." Charlie said said and gave Emma a grin. "You can give it to me. I get to be in charge of the costumes and make-up." "Emma!"

"Oh don't be such a baby, love." Emma said and Sherlock couldn't hold back a chuckle now. "It's for Rosie. Can you imagine how disappointed she'd be if everyone's there in costume and only one party pooper isn't.." she said and looked at her husband.

David still didn't look too happy, but relented with a sigh. "Okay, fine. But only because it's her birthday." He said and John smiled. "She'll be really happy." "Yean, she will." Charlie agreed before smirking. "You know, coming to think of birthday parties, can I have a mermaid themed one?"

"You only want to see us all in the costume." Sherlock said and laughed, shaking his head, "I'd like that. Though it might be difficult to dance in a fin tail." Emma said with a laugh.

"We'll talk about that at home." John said with a laugh and Charlie nodded with a chuckle, not having meant that seriously anyway.

"Well anyway, how about we watch some of the videos now while we're waiting for the pizza?" Emma suggested, looking through the box for the tape she had mentioned before. "That sounds like a great idea." he said, grinning at John.

\------------------------------------------

On Tuesday, they went to the location and overlooked the renovation, Charlie John that was. "So how's it going so far?" He asked Richard, the the guy they'd hired. He looked nice enough and it was beginning to look reminiscent of the a bee hive in here, so that was good. "Oh, it is going well, I think. It's for your daughter's birthday, isn't it?" He said with a shy smile. "Yeah, Rosie's turning five in two days." Charlie said and glanced up at John with a smile. "I'll do my best to make this room memorable then." He assured them and fidgeted a bit with his jacket's sleeve. "Actually, I've got two suggestions you might want to have a look at. It's basically either very sparkly and flashy or earthy with more tulle." He said and got out two drawings before he held them out to them. "I think sparkly's the right one but I'll ask Sherlock for a third opinion." Charlie said with a chuckle and got out her phone. "Yeah, I agree, that's probably more her style." John said with a chuckle which made Richard chuckle too, before his expression got a bit uncomfortable. "Oh, please no photos of me." He said when he spotted Charlie's phone. "Oh right. I'll just have a bit of your hands on there." She said, before lowering the camera and snapping the picture. "Alright, and.. off to paps."

{Image attached} Which one's better? -CWH

"Sorry, I just really don't like being on those." He said and ran a hand through his hair, putting the drawings away. "Used to wish I was a vampire." He commented with a faint chuckle and Charlie looked at John alarmed, who himself needed a second to get that one. "Well, this way you don't nick yourself during a shave, so there's that." John offered with a warm chuckle when Richard turned around again. "True that." He said with a small smirk, almost looking as if he was embarrassed by the fact he found that joke funny. "My partner's usually very quick to reply, so we won't bother you for too long." "Oh, not at all. It's nice not to have to talk to a wall all day." Richard joked and picked up another part of the decoration to put it on said wall.

The sparkly one, definitely. SH

"Okay, paps says definitely sparkly. That could've well been a personal choice though." Charlie said with a snicker and put her phone away again. "I'd usually say to respect your father, but you're not entirely wrong." John said with a small smirk. "Okay, but that's decided then. Thanks Richard, I think we'll be off then." John said and Richard looked back, giving him a hesitant smile. "You're welcome. If you need anything again, feel free to call." "We'll definitely keep that in mind. Bye" John said with a smile and took Charlie's hand to leave again. "See you" Richard said before turning back to his work.


	85. Happy Bee-Day, Rosie!

Rosie could barely hold herself in her car seat and not only because her fluffy costume barely fit in it, she was SO excited, so really very totally excited because it was her birthday and Charlie and daddy and papa and herself were all wearing bee costumes and now they were driving somewhere which was a surprise, ONLY for her. She really wanted to know where they were going, but at the same time she didn't because loved surprises and if she knew it wouldn't be a surprise anymore. But then, she'd also be surprised about the surprise if they told her now, so... "Can I pretty please have a hint? Just one! Pleaaaaase." she chirped excitedly, holding her plush sting in her hands which was so funny because it would be attached to her bum with a belt when they arrived at the surprise, she had to take it off because she didn't fit into her seat at all with it on.

"Okay, you get one hint from me, but nothing after that." Charlie said with a chuckle. "Think well about what we are. Now, where do you think we would be going?" Either beehive or flower field, but she couldn't take away all of the surprise.

"Are we going to go buy honey?" Rosie asked and Sherlock chuckled, "Well, while that would be a reasonable thing to do as bees who can't make honey themselves.." he said and bit his lip to bite back more laughter, because the idea was hilarious and now he actually did consider a trip to the supermarket after the party to buy a wagon load of honey, just for the fun of it. "No. Buying honey isn't your surprise, but it's certainly on the list of things I want to do in this costume." he chuckled.

"I mean, it's still got something to do with honey." Charlie told Rosie with a smile. "Pshh, don't give everything away." John said with a smirk. "Any other ideas, Rosie?"

"WOAH are we going to MAKE honey?!" Rosie asked with wide eyes, because that would be really cool.

"Err no, but that's a really cool guess. Though I don't know if and how that would work." John said with a chuckle. "But there will be something with honey, even if it's not the main thing."

"Hm..." Rosie hummed, frowning deeply in thought, "Are we going to eat toast with honey?" she asked, a little frustrated about the fact that she just couldn't guess the surprise. "Oh, or are we going to watch the beehive at the orphanage again?" she asked with a grin, "They're awake now, right? Because it's spring! I've seen some bees, so ours are probably awake too!"

John smiled a bit, looking forward to her reaction when she got to the party (which was only two streets away now anyway) if she only expected to eat honey on toast or visit her bees again. "You're not entirely wrong, but we're not going to the orphanage. But we could definitely visit it afterwards if you'd like to."

"Hm..." Rosie hummed once more, "I need another hint." she stated, poking her plush sting against the back of the front seats, "Or two hints, because it's my birthday." she said with a smile.

"Fine, but I'll give you one big hint." Charlie said with a smile. "We're actually going to a special kind of beehive."

"Are we going to see a very special kind of bee?" Rosie asked and Sherlock chuckled, "Sort of. A very special kind of bee." he said and smirked, pulling up in front of the party location which was a very ordinary looking house on the outside.

Charlie was quick to get unbuckle both her own as well as Rosie's seatbelt as soon as Sherlock had pulled up. On the street, John opened the car door to lift Rosie out, spinning her around twice before setting her down again. "Okay, birthday girl. Moment of truth. Now you only need your stinger."

"What kind of bee is it? Not the bad ones, right? Because I don't like the bad ones, like hornets they aren't good for anything, they only sting!" Rosie said and scrunched up her nose as Sherlock helped her with the sting. "No hornets, those bees are very friendly, don't worry." he said and smiled to himself.

"Come on then Rosie." Charlie smiled and her by the hand. "The nice bees are already very eager to say hello to you." She said and lead her to the front door with a smile.

"I want to meet them too!" Rosie said and hopped a little on her feet, "Can we go in now?" she asked and Sherlock chuckled, nodding as he knocked three times at the door and waited another minute, which was a signal they had agreed on to let everyone know Rosie was about to come in and get into position. When that minute was over and Rosie looked about ready to burst from excitement, Sherlock opened the door, where all her family (even Mycroft which was a very special treat for Sherlock) waited for her in bee costumes and called, "Happy Birthday!" when Rosie walked in, her eyes wide as saucers. "Woah... We're IN a BEEHIVE!" she called and looked around excitedly.

"And one, two, three..." Amber began from somewhere in the crowd and everyone began to sing the happy birthday song, even if a little out of tune and sync (with the obligatory clapping in the end of course) Afterwards Charlie gave her a grin. "What do you think?"

"We're IN a BEEHIVE!" Rosie said and laughed, starting to run around the room, looking at everything and inspecting it. "And it's so sparkly!" she chirped with a chuckle.

"I think she likes it." John said with chuckle as he watched her with a big smile. All of the prepping had been so worth it. Charlie of course ran straight after her to point out some of the details. "Here, right in there's a honey fountain." She said after she'd caught up with her.

"Woah!" Rosie said and smiled, "It's so slow!" she chuckled and looked at David who was standing close, "You look so funny! You're a bee!" she said and looked at Emma right next to him, "And you too. And me. We all look like bees!" she chuckled.

"We do." David said and actually couldn't help chuckling. "Happy birthday, Rosie! He said with a smile.

Rosie smiled happily, "Thank you." she chirped and looked at Charlie, "Are we the nice special kind of bee papa talked about?" she asked happily.

"Yeah, exactly. All of your friends wanted to make you happy today. That's why we've all dressed up." Charlie said with a smile.

"Thank you!" Rosie chirped and looked around again, grinning widely, before bursting out laughing, "Mycroft why are you the only bumblebee?" she asked and Sherlock snorted a laugh, "Er.. there must have been some.. mistake when we ordered the costumes.." he said and tried to look innocent, but spectacularly failing.

Mycroft gave Sherlock a thin-lipped smile. "Come on, Myc. I still think you you make a smashing bumblebee." Greg said with a chuckle and pat him on his shoulder. "I mean, who doesn't like bumblebees?"

"Mycroft doesn't like bumblebees." Sherlock said and chuckled again, taking John's hand, "Now, who wants to see Rosie's birthday cake?" he asked and Rosie hopped up and down again, "Me! I want to see it!" she said and Sherlock smiled, "Well then, John and I better go and get it." he said and nodded at the door to the back room.

John chuckled and followed Sherlock into the back room. "Have you seen how happy she looks? I'm already looking forward to her expression when she sees that cake." John said with a chuckle and took it.

"Me too. I'm glad she likes it so much and I have no regrets about the bumblebee costume." Sherlock said and laughed again, "He looks hilarious." he said and took a deep breath to calm himself down a bit. "I need to take photos of that."

"You do that, but it looked like your mum and Greg have already taken." John said with a chuckle before lighting the candles and picking it up. "Okay, now make sure you take photos of Rosie when she blows out the candles."

"On it." Sherlock said and pulled out his phone. "You know, we should get Charlie that camera soon, we'd have our own personal photographer. Actually, if she's good, we could let her take our wedding photos. At least the ones where only we are on. We could ask the photographer if she can be their assistant for the day." he said with a smile.

"I bet she'd love that." John said with a smile. "We should definitely get her a camera for her birthday then." He said, before turning around with the cake in his hands. "Okay, here we go."

Sherlock smiled, simply activating recording the whole scene as a video, rather than a photo, they could still take stills of it and that way he wouldn't miss the right moment. Following John outside, he kept the camera focused on Rosie's reaction, who looked once again overly excited as she spotted the cake. "Whoa! That is a big cake!" she said and ran up to John, looking up at it. "Is it all for me?" she asked and Sherlock chuckled, "Technically yes," he said and smiled, still filming her, "But it'd very nice if you'd share it with the rest of your bees." he said and Rosie nodded, "Okay!" she said and grinned#.

John carefully put the cake down on one of the tables and stepped back a bit. "But first the most important part: You've got to blow out the candles and make a wish, alright?"

"Okay." Rosie said and lifted her arms, waiting for someone to pick her up like a little princess expecting her staff to help without being asked. Yeah maybe they needed to limit the spoiling a little, but so what it was her birthday so today they could probably let that slide.

John couldn't help chuckling at that; and she was supposed to feel like a princess so he didn't think to much of it. With a smile, he lifted her up and walked behind the table so that Sherlock could film the moment. "Ready?"

"Wait I have to think of a wish." Rosie said and frowned for a moment, before smiling, she would wish that she can stay with Lock and John and Charlie forever. That was a good wish. "I've got something!" she said and smiled, leaning over to the candles a little and starting to blow them out, but it really took a lot of blowing, but then all the candles were out and she grinned happily.

"Well done!" John chuckled and set her down again, while the other people around them began to clap. Meanwhile Charlie shot Amber a glance and if on cue they called "And one, two three..." and the people began to sing for her again.


	86. Story Time

On the following weekend Charlie was helping John with the laundry. Not that he'd asked her to - he'd just been ironing along in their bedroom - but it was nice to spend one on one time with him. Plus, he needed to practice ironing stuff properly anyway and it just felt like a really nice and domestic thing to do. "Dad?" She asked him after a while, folding a pair of Rosie's trousers. "What's it?" "What's the weirdest thing you've found in our flat so far?" John snorted a bit. "Why are you asking?" "I just found an ancient looking button in one of Sherlock's trousers and Rosie seems to have forgotten this in hers." She said with a chuckle and showed him a green painted key with yellow speckles. "Hmm... might be something they could've done at preschool." He suggested with a shrug. "Yeah, but like, what kind of stuff did you find around here before we moved in? Sherlock still doesn't want me to go up to the attic." She said with a sigh. "With good reason." John couldn't help adding. "Well... what kind of stuff has been lying around then? I'm just curious, you know I can't help it." She said sheepishly. "Fine... I found a small bowl of chicken eyeballs once. That was properly weird. But don't tell Rosie, please, would you?" Charlie nodded seriously, before frowning. "Why eyeballs though?" John gave her a shrug. "No idea, ask your father. I really just threw them away." He said, before looking up at the sound of the door to find Charlie'd just left. "Paps?" Charlie asked as she walked into the living room. Rosie should still be with Mrs. Hudson because of some old detective soap opera they were watching.. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, shoot." Sherlock said and shut his laptop on which he had just been looking up cameras, before putting it on the table and sitting up.

"Dad just said that the weirdest thing he's found in the flat was a bowl of eyeballs. What did you need those for?" She asked and sat down next to him, pulling her feet up.

Sherlock snorted a laugh, "I'd say that's the childproof version of the 'weirdest thing he ever found'." he said and smiled at her, "But erm.. did he specify that? I mean.. species-wise.. what kind of eyeballs.." he asked, because actually that could have been various bowls of eyeballs from various living creatures.

"Hm?" Charlie asked. Now her interest was perked. "Well what's actually the weirdest thing you've had lying around here? Come on, please, I can handle it and I live here too now." She asked him, trying to sound convincing with her puppy dog eyes.

"The puppy eyes are unfair and you know it." Sherlock said and crossed his legs on the sofa and turning to look at her properly "But.. well.. they work, though I'd have probably told you anyway, I know you can handle it. It.. well it was a brain. More or less.. it actually was a brain smoothie.. sort of. I've had it in a plastic bag and forgot about it for 70 something years.. and well it would have simply rotted but since it was in an airtight bag.. it uh...kind of turned into a gooey, paint-like brown mess."

"A human brain? That actually sounds kinda cool." Charlie said and shuffled a bit too to see him better. "But where'd you get that brain from in the first place? Was that legal back then?"

"Oh no, I think having body parts at home was always frowned upon," Sherlock chuckled, "I erm.. have you ever heard about mental hospitals in the 50's? What they were like?" he asked, getting a little more serious.

"Didn't they use to just lock people away?" Charlie asked, though she didn't really know much about that. "Why, did you know someone working there?"

"Well, no they didn't just do that, it was the time they actually started to try therapies and things like that, for instance a very common therapy method was lobotomy. It actually means taking a long needle, lifting the eyelid a little and inserting just above the eyeball into the brain, don't ask me why people initially thought that's a good idea, because I don't have an answer for that. But often it .. well it made people calmer, because it destroyed part of the brain, so what people thought was a successful therapy, basically damaged the brain so much that they simply lost the ability to be not calm. It sounds mean but they were walking vegetables most of the time after a procedure like that." he said and sighed, "Anyway.. I didn't know someone working there.. I er.. I was a patient there for a while. Being gay was considered a mental illness back then, which was still better than a crime, but still .. not very good either." Sherlock said and shrugged a little.

"Oh." Charlie said after listening. "And did they try out therapy on you too?" She asked carefully, unsure if that was something she shouldn't ask.

Sherlock sighed, "Well.. they did.. it's called pavlovian conditioning, it's when they try train you to react negatively to certain things. In my case naked men.. they showed me photos of it while they caused me pain in various ways, hoping I'd start to connect those feelings to what the images showed." he said and shook his head, "They didn't get to try out much more than that on me, since I've used the first opportunity to make a run for it."

"They hurt you and called that therapy?" Charlie asked looking quite horrified, realising he probably didn't have the chance to drink blood there. "And how long did you have to stay there?"

"Two and a half weeks," Sherlock said and sighed again, clearing his throat.

Charlie's eyes widened at that. He must've been going insane for real after so long... "Shit. You didn't get any blood during that time?"

"Well not nearly as much as I'd have needed, but I did get some.. there was that guy.. he was obsessed with becoming a vampire and desperate as I was, I used that, I promised him to turn him if he let me drink every few days, just a little bit but it kept me from going completely crackers." Sherlock said with a little chuckle. "I couldn't keep that promise though.. I've just dashed when the opportunity came and I didn't really look back. I could hardly go there as a visitor anyway, they'd have just locked me up again."

"And why did you take that brain with you?" Charlie asked after a moment, not having forgotten about that part of the story.

"Well I've made my exit through the basement labs and ... it just lay around there in a jar..." Sherlock said and couldn't fight a smirk, "Kind of hard to get by things like that so I took it with me to experiment on it." Sherlock said and sighed, "Unfortunately then I got distracted with another new identity, moving, keeping a low profile and yeah.. somehow that happened and I didn't think about the brain anymore until I found it when I was renovating your room.

"Probably a good thing Rosie didn't discover it before you." Charlie said and huffed a laugh. "Just one thing, what am I supposed to learn from that story? Don't trust the system? Refrigerate your brains?"

"Oh definitely refrigerate your brains, that's a good one, you should write that down." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Maybe a good thing to learn from that story is that.. well that you should always make sure to keep in touch with the people you care about. None of that would have happened if Mycroft and I would have been in touch more and he would have been informed, since then he's made sure I'm on multiple list so he'll definitely get informed if I'm in a hospital or get arrested, stuff like that."

"Mmh... but I think that'll be an easy one for me." Charlie said and gave him a short smile. "But real talk: what where you doing with a bowl of chicken eyes?"

"Mainly ruining my microwave.." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "No for real, do not put multiple chicken eyes in an alcohol solution into the microwave." he said and smirked.

"See, that's a useful life lesson." Charlie chuckled, before leaning with her side against the couch and letting out a sigh. "Why are adults so cruel though? It's infuriating. I mean... I know for a fact that most children don't have any sense of empathy... but at least they don't pretend they do."

Sherlock sighed, giving her a smile, "Well... it's not cruelty, I think.. back then they really thought it'd help people. They weren't thinking, how can I torture my patients today when they woke up in the mornings, most of the doctors really did want to help and they used methods they were taught in universities.." he said and shrugged.

"But like, even that lobotomy thing... You can't tell me anyone would ever think that poking about in someone's brain might be a good idea." Charlie said, not happy with that explanation. She couldn't see how that was anything but cruel. "Hell, I'd beat anyone up who'd do that to a mouse just to see what happens."

"Well they just didn't know what we know today." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "But yeah, I kind of get what you mean.. it seems like a rather sick idea, especially since they were poking it into the skull through the eye.." he shook his head, "But it did make people calmer, they didn't know they were doing more damage than helping their patients. They only saw that their patients seemed calmer, less aggressive, less terrified, they thought they were doing good."

Charlie frowned a bit but nodded. "Then we must be doing some things too that people in the future will find horrific." She commented. "It's a strange thought."

"Probably yes. Every era makes their mistakes and if things go well, people will learn from it. And if things don't really go well, you get people like those dumbasses that still thing Hitler was right about what he did." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes.

"I like the fact that you don't curse, but you make an exception for neo Nazis." Charlie said with a bit of a smirk.

"Well they deserve more than curses." Sherlock said and shook his head again, "You forget that I've seen it, I've seen what they did. That. That was cruel and sick, yes."

"And why did they do it?" Charlie asked quietly and wrapped her arms around her legs, the smirk wiped from her face.

"Some of them, mainly the ones in higher positions were just evil. They were cruel and sick bastards who got the chance to act properly on it because of their majorly sick leader and others.. well I think most of them just feared if they don't obey, they'd be facing the same evils.." Sherlock said and sighed once again, "Fear can make people do horrible things. And that's not even a character flaw, many of those people had families they wanted to protect by playing along. Of course if everyone who wasn't okay with it would have stood up against it, they could have changed things, but that was prevented by never knowing who's on your side. That Hitler bastard had his spies everywhere one wrong word to the wrong person and you would have been in major trouble."

"But a lot of people must've agreed or at least been okay with all of that. Arthur said that he published a book in which he laid his whole plan out and most households owned that. The Germans voted that guy into parliament... not everyone, but a lot must've liked feeling like a superior community." Charlie said after a moment with a frown.

"Well there's a similar situation like the one we have these days. Those people just have been through a world war, so fear was still in them, no one goes out of a situation like that without being scarred. They also have been feeling oppressed by rules they've gotten by the rest of the world after losing the war. And yes, they did know what Hitler was planning to do to certain groups of people, but that also means they knew what he was capable of doing to people he didn't want to have around. Places where they did horrible things to people were horrible in itself, but they also worked as a warning what you can expect when you get on his bad side. So many people made sure to avoid that. And you can't condemn them for that. They are guilty of looking away and letting these things happen, but.. truth to be told, if we'd be living in a situation like that.. I'd probably look away a lot myself if that meant keeping you and Rosie safe." Sherlock admitted and gave her a little smile, "You know... before we took you two in... I kind of thought the same thing you did, that they should have done something, should have stood up against it.. but having kids.. you see a lot of things from a different perspective." he said with a frown, "And these days instead of those fears, we have terrorism and refugee waves and there are already people who are using the fears that come with that to manipulate the public (*cough*trump*cough*). It's the same system. Using already there fears and hyping them up to further your own plans. And unfortunately it's working rather well."

"Don't know how I feel about the fact we've changed your mind about that." Charlie said and let go of her legs to crawl over onto Sherlock's lap. "But can we please stop talking about history and dictators now?" She asked and looked up at him.

"It's not so much changing my mind, as realising that in a situation like that.. I'd be more focused on protecting my loved ones than trying to change the world. It's instinct." Sherlock said softly and wrapped his arms around her. "But yeah, let's go back to the cheery topic of weird things in the flat." he said and gave her a smirk. "You know, John and I once had a fight because he threw away some mouldy thumbs I had in a drawer." he said with a chuckle.

"Really?" Charlie asked with a chuckle. "Did you let them rot on purpose or did you just not want to lose your face in front of him?"

"The latter." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "But don't tell him, he still thinks it was intentional." he said with a grin. "Oh by the way, not that you already know what we're giving you for your birthday or something... but.. what word do you think sounds better... Canon or Nikon?" he asked with a laugh.

"Mmh, I think Canon has a nice ring to it." Chat said with a grin. "I've already been practising my surprised face so don't you worry." She chuckled, leaning into him. "By the way, speaking of my birthday.. or Christmas, I don't know. I was actually thinking about spending my money on something, so I was wondering if you could put in a word for me with dad, because he might not allow it.. It's not dangerous though."

"You might want to elaborate before I say yes or no." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Not gonna blindly promise.

"Ugh, bore." Charlie chuckled and rolled her eyes teasingly. "I've wanted to dye my hair for a while now.. and since I don't really spend my pocket money on much, I'd already have enough to go to the haidresser's... or I could buy hair dye at Boots, I really don't care." She said and looked up at him.

"Oh no you're not doing it yourself." Sherlock said with a laugh, "If you really want to try that out, we'll go to a proper hairdresser and ask them about it and we'll also ask about what chemicals they use and if it's appropriate for your age." he said and figured John wouldn't be against it as long as it wouldn't be affecting her health. "If they say the colours they use are okay for kids your age, then we'll do it. If they say you have to wait to use certain colours, then you'll do that. Plus, we won't go and get you another colour if you decide the next morning you don't like it, so think carefully about this. If you can accept all of that, then I will talk John into it."

"I was thinking either a few red and/or black streaks or a dark purple ombre look.." Charlie said. "You think that'd look alright?"

"Hm.. probably." Sherlock said and frowned, "You know, I think I've seen some sort of hair graffiti spray lately, so colour you can spray on your hair and wash it out in the evening. Maybe we could get that first and try some looks with that, before you actually make something permanent. I'm sure we can work that out and it really doesn't have to perfect when you can just wash it away later on, it'll do to see if you like it or not."

"That'd be really cool." Charlie said with a grin. "A bit of a waste, but cool. Thanks, paps."

"You're welcome. And it's just your hair. Not like you've asked for a tattoo or piercing, which is a no for both. Not going to happen. It's gonna last forever and unlike other people, you can actually take that literally. There's no way you won't eventually get sick of it. Tattoos definitely are only for people with just one lifetime ahead." he said and chuckled.

"What about earrings though?" Charlie couldn't help asking. "How do piercings work for us anyway, do those wounds just close again?" She said with a frown.

"They don't actually, it works like it does for humans, the wound heals around the metal. Just for us, it works faster." Sherlock said and frowned, "And.. I guess we can talk about earrings in a year. I mean.. literally every girl gets them at some point and maybe meanwhile we can look for clips that don't look like clips." he said with a smile.

"Hold on a second, so if I accidentally bang a nail into my finger I have to pull it out right away or I've just got a holey finger for all of eternity??" Charlie asked with a deep frown. "I feel like someone should've told me that."

Sherlock laughed, "Not like that. A wound like that won't completely heal within a few seconds. So even if you pull the nail out after an hour, it'll rip open the wound again." he said and frowned, "Why wouldn't you pull it out right away though?" he asked and chuckled again, "I mean... I personally don't see any point of keeping it in your finger.. but everyone's got their own style. I'm not judging." he said teasingly.

"Ugh, paps, you know what I mean!" Charlie said exasperated, though she couldn't help smirking a bit. "And at least most definitely the mortals at the orphanage have to let a doctor - or Molly - pull whatever it is out. Something to do with blood loss and infections, I think."

"Well for vampires it's not standard to have a doctor at hand and yeah, I'd suggest that if you've got one to go to, go to them. Infections are still a threat for vampires. They don't kill us, but they can get really uncomfortable, because we still get the same symptoms." Sherlock said and smiled, "Luckily we do have Molly, Paul and John now." he said and smiled, "We're well on our way to start up our own little vampire community, with all the vampires we know telling vampires they know about these things. And maybe there will also be some other lucky kids to get genuinely adopted, now that more vampires will know about the orphanage."

"Mmm, do you think Harry and Clara maybe want to adopt?" She asked after a moment, since she couldn't think of that many vampire couples. If she and Lowell got together, they'd definitely adopt a child from the orphanage... Oh, think of something different, before it's obvious who you're thinking about! Had Sherlock said something? Damn, just pay attention now.

"Hm.. they might." Sherlock said and smiled, "They'd make great parents, that's for sure, though." he said and chuckled, "Though I assume they take some more time with that than John and I did, but we didn't go there with the intention to adopt.. our whole relationship and the whole adoption matter.. it was more like puzzle pieces clicking into place, really. It sounds absolutely cheesy, but sometimes I think it was destiny."

Charlie smiled happily into Sherlock's shirt at that. Good thing she'd paid attention to that. "Nah, I like that. Nice to think we were wanted after all."

"Well I suppose that's an advantage adopted kids have to blood related kids. They know for a fact that they parents really did want to have them in their lives." Sherlock said and suddenly thought of something he hadn't thought about before. "Do you know where your parents are buried?" he asked after a moment of silence, "We could go visit them, if you like. I'm sure even if you don't know where their graves are, I could find out. I'm sorry if I'm ruining the mood a little, I just realised that you've got the opportunity to do that now. I don't think that was doable in the orphanage, after all, they haven't enough staff as it is, having someone to accompany each kid to the graves of their parents on a regular basis doesn't seem like it'd work out. But you actually get to do that now if you want, I just wanted you to know that you can. You don't have to forget about them just because you have a new family." he said softly.

Charlie shrugged, though she'd clung onto the photograph. "I was two, there isn't all that much to forget. They lived in the suburbs, so I figure that that's where they're lying. ...But if I don't gave relatives though, who'd be paying for a grave in the first place?"

"Well it's only been ten years. They could still be there.. and if they're still there, we could pay for them to be kept." Sherlock said and smiled a little, "We could also try to find out what they were like.. we could find out who they were working with, their friends, we could try to puzzle their life stories and characters together. We could make a little book out of it, like a memory book. Maybe there are friends of them who still have photos, or funny stories.. you could get to know them in a way after all." he said and smiled a little. "And whenever you're noticing something in your character and you wonder where you got it from, you could look into the book and check if it's maybe a quirk you've got from one of them."

Charlie smiled a bit at that. "That'd be nice. You know.. before I found out they were killed I thought they just didn't like me very much or got into trouble or prison or something. I mean, I knew I came age 2, but that's already it. Not my place to say it, but it made me angry. ...erm Sherlock?"

"Yeah?" Sherlock asked, looking curiously at her.

"Is it awful that I might still want them back regardless of... anything?" Charlie admitted after a moment and looked down. "Don't be mad, I mean, I love you and John and Rosie, but... I don't know. Is it stupid?"

"It's not bad, Miss Marple." Sherlock said softly and held her a little tighter, "If I'd have the chance to bring them back for you, I would. I'd do everything in my power and beyond that if there was the faintest chance. They were your parents, it's not stupid. But at the same time I'm very glad you two are with us. It's very much okay to feel both happy to be with us and sad that you can't be with your biological parents. You don't have to feel bad about feeling that way." he said quietly.

"Okay. Good." Charlie said and tried to sniff quietly. "Don't tell Rosie though, I think she'd get that wrong."

"Maybe we could make that for her too. I mean, we won't take them with us for that, but perhaps we could find out things about her parents as well and make a book for her, you know with stories about them and all, we should use the fact that it's only been three years since it happened." Sherlock said and smiled at his daughter, "I definitely need your help with that though. You're much better at designing things than I am."

Charlie smiled a bit at the compliment. "Yeah, of course I'll help you. With the other things for her too, if you can need it. I've already got a few bee-inspired design ideas. Do you think she still remembers them though? We don't really talk about that, but I mean, its only been 2 1/2 years. That's just a bit younger than Amy and Ally."

"I don't know.. I don't think she does actually. I mean, with how much she babbles sometimes, you'd think it'd have come up and I think even toddlers don't remember their time as a baby." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "But we could ask her some time if she does remember what it's like to be a baby." he said and shrugged, "If she's got bad memories about that, we'd notice." he said and smiled, "She's really lucky to have you, you know. Not everyone has that caring older siblings."

"You think?" Charlie asked with a smile. "I mean, I 'm trying to look out for her.. It's quite an honour to be chosen like that after all." She said with a bit of a smirk.

"Hm, I still think there wasn't much actual choosing involved, you remember what I've just said a few minutes ago? Puzzle pieces." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "Oh and Charlie.. it's okay that you were angry. At your parents I mean. You didn't know the full truth back then and even if you had, being angry would have been still alright. Even if they couldn't help it, it's normal to feel abandoned and be mad they left you alone. That's nothing you have to feel bad about."

"Have you been angry at Violet for leaving; when you found out I mean" Charlie asked him after a moment. Of course their situations were different in a lot of crucial ways, but they did boil down to a parent leaving.. "And I'm still angry that they're not here. I just don't blame them anymore."

"I don't think I was, but that was a different situation, for a start, I was an adult when she left. I was very sad, yes. But.. not really angry, I mean after all that's the way it goes normally. Your parents die at some point, but it isn't supposed to happen when you're that young. Just like a parent shouldn't have to bury their own child. But sometimes it does happen and then it's absolutely alright to be angry." Sherlock said and sighed. "But even though we can't bring them back, we can still try to get to know them. Make some memories, who knows, maybe someone even has videos of them.. don't get your hopes up there, but maybe you could even get to hear their voices." he said and smiled a little at her.

"I'd like that" Charlie said and gave him a smile. "I just wish, I'd known them well enough to really miss them." She said with a sigh. "My first memories involve being on Janine's hip.. oh and stealing a pen from Greg's pocket." She said with a smirk; funnily enough, she could remember that relatively vividly. "It's weird you don't really know her."

"Well as I've said, we'll find you some memories. Maybe they're second hand and not as good as making them yourself, but better to have those than not having any." Sherlock said and smiled, "And who knows, you've been two, maybe hearing about them will bring up some memories buried inside of you. I could also ask my mother if she knows about hypnosis, maybe that'd also help to lure some memories out of your subconscious."

"Yeah, that'd be awesome. Either, I mean, just getting a second picture would be rad." Charlie said and smiled. "Thanks for taking the time to talk by the way."

"Always." Sherlock said and ruffled her hair, "That's what I'm here for, you know. Well that and cooking, driving you around and pocket money, obviously." he joked.

"Obviously. And hugging a lot, obviously." Charlie said with a small chuckle and wrapped her arms around him too. "You're almost as bad as dad in that regard." She said and chuckled.

"Hey you cuddled up to me first, I only responded in kind." Sherlock said and chuckled a little as well.

"Yeah, fine. But that still doesn't refute my point." Charlie chuckled, before sitting up a bit. "Speaking of, I sorta abandoned him for a good story."

"That's rude." Sherlock said and smirked a little, "And flattering." he said and laughed a little, "Okay, go dash, I've got to .. erm.. look some totally unrelated to your birthday stuff up anyway." he said with a grin.

"I just I cannon-t wait for my birthday." Charlie said with a giggle before getting to her feet and going back to John.


	87. Treasure Boxes

A few days later, Sherlock had just dropped Charlie and Rosie off at their respective classrooms, before he made his way to Dorothy's office, knocking lightly, before he poked his head through the door, "Do you have a moment to talk?" he asked.

"Oh, good morning, Sherlock." Mrs. Hope said and took her glasses off to give him a smile. "Of course, I do. Please come in."

Sherlock smiled a little as he walked in, closing the door behind him, before he sat down, "It's about Charlie and Rosie.. I've had a talk with Charlie on the weekend about her parents and well, I really want to help her to make some memories and find out what they were like, long story short, we've decided to make a sort of memory book for both of them, her and Rosie and I was hoping you might have some informations about them, mainly addresses, their full names, in the best case also information about where they've been buried, I mean there's got to be something in their files."

"That sounds like a lovely idea." Dorothy said before turning around to get those files out. "Hm?" Dorothy frowned as she looked inside Charlie's and then Rosie's files. "I don't know how that happened, but both of their family pictures are missing." She commented as she went through those files. "Speaking of, didn't you find anything important in the storehouse?" She asked as she went over the list of Rosie's things that they kept in there for her.

"Hang on, what storehouse?" Sherlock asked, his interest perking up immediately, deciding to just let the comment about the family photos slide, because he very much knew where they were and he wasn't going to tell on his girls.

"You know the- oh dear, I must've completely forgotten to tell you.." She said with a frown. "We keep the personal belongings the parents leave behind in a storehouse; it's a former home of one of our colleagues. I'm sorry, we don't get many foster parents, but the way we handle this is that we continue to keep those things until they turn eighteen and move out or get adopted. Of course you have access to the girls' things as their foster parents."

"That's.. wow.. I mean, that's pretty much a jackpot." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "You said you have a list what things there are?" he asked and bit his lip, "Can I have a copy of that list?" he asked and suddenly realised something else, "Oh.. we didn't tell you about it yet.. Erm.. we've actually decided to adopt them for real, my brother is going to help us with the custody, but even though we'll give them the chance to go other schools if they want, we'll all still be regulars here. Charlie's even thinking about tutoring some of the younger kids and homework help." he said, wondering if Dorothy would think it was a terrible idea for them to keep the girls or if she thought it was good.

"Oh, is that so? The way the two girls have been behaving, I can hardly say it's a surprise." Dorothy said with a small smile and made a note. "Usually I'd say John's a bit young, but we've actually had some good experiences with very young parents here. And the girls seem to be quite fond of you, especially in Rosie there's a noticeable change. However, should you ever need help, do ask."

Sherlock frowned a little at the statement about good experiences with young parents, realising that on a closer look those experience probably were everything but, though he wasn't going to mention that now. "We will and truth to be told, John is actually the more responsible one, he's the one that actually manages to say no to stuff." he admitted with a chuckle.

"Really?" Dorothy asked with a chuckle. "The children seem to agree that you've made a good start as parents. Charlie's apparently been dropping comments about you and Rosie wrote a formal letter addressed to me talking about how great her new family is." Mrs Hope said and got a letter written in crayons out of her drawer. "She even attached several pictures. Now, I have to ask you: Did you ask them to put in a good word for you or anything like that?"

"I've actually told them not to do that when they suggested it, because I expected what that would look like." Sherlock said and curiously leant over a little to look at the letter with a visibly proud smile, it was scattered with spelling mistakes, some words spelled exactly the way they sounded like, some you had to guess, but for most of it she had actually written an excellent letter. Especially for someone who's only been learning for two months.

"In that case they've already made up their minds." Dorothy said with a smile. "It's impressive how good her writing is at her age. I'm very glad to see that you get along so nicely."

"I'm actually much more glad that they get along so well." Sherlock said and smiled, "I don't know if you've noticed it, but they're thick as thieves. Didn't take a month and they were determined to be sisters forever." he said with a smile, "And Charlie's really good at looking out for her too. I think a lot of their development so far comes from their relationship."

"A good a thing they've found each other then." Dorothy smiled, before putting her glasses back on. "You can pick those copies up later today. Greg is the one in charge of the warehouse so you'll have to ask him to visit it."

"Yeah I will be seeing him soon enough." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Can you copy the letter too? I'd really like to show it to John and Charlie, if that's okay. It's just really sweet."

"That it surely is." Dorothy said with a glance at the letter. "And yes, I'll make a copy for you. You know, you can be proud of her and yourselves."

"We are." Sherlock said with a smile, "God, I really can't wait to tell Charlie about that storehouse, her highest hope about all of this was maybe to get a second.. er, a second to talk to some co-worker or friend of them who could tell her what they were like, or something like that." he said, quickly covering up his slip, he had nearly said a second photo. "But some of their stuff to rummage around in and inspect to get an idea of what they were like herself, touching things they touched, I think that'll do a lot of good for her, and for Rosie too. I'm just not sure if she's old enough to understand what that all means yet.. I should probably talk about it to my mum first, you know as a therapist she might have an idea or two how to talk to Rosie about her parents."

"That's a definitely a sensible thing to do." Dorothy said. "We, well especially Janine, doesn't keep those things secret from the young children, so you might want to have a word with her too. It's her job after all."

"That sounds good, I didn't really have a chance to talk to her yet, since we basically have the same schedule, most I see of her is when I drop Rosie off and pick her up. But yeah, I'll definitely talk to her about it."

"She'll have some good advice, I'm certain." Dorothy said and gave him a smile. "Well, I'm glad you came to talk. Is there something else you wanted to discuss?"

"No, that's about it." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Greg is probably wondering where I am too. I didn't think this conversation would stretch out like that." he said and stood up.

"Neither did I." Dorothy said with a chuckle. "See you this afternoon then."

Sherlock smiled, giving a nod, before he walked out of the room to head to his classroom.

\--------------------------------------------

Staring holes into the ceiling, Charlie waited next to the front door for Sherlock to come and take them home... Man, seriously he was late this time. Maybe one of the first graders had thrown up or something?

Smiling as he held the copies in his hands, Sherlock walked to the front door where he he usually met with Charlie, after leaving Rosie with Greg for a moment so he could talk to Charlie alone. "Honestly from your face, you'd think I'd left you waiting in the rain for five hours." he joked as he reached her, chuckling a little, "It's barely been 20 minutes."

"Well, time is money." Charlie joked with a smirk. "Seriously though, you needed twenty minutes to copy... are those work sheets?" Charlie asked with a frown, spotting a letter on top that looked like one of his students had made it. "And where have you left my favourite sister?"

Sherlock smiled, "She's with Greg, I've been talking to Dorothy this morning." he said and handed her the top sheet of his stack of papers, "Rosie wrote her a letter, apparently." he said with a chuckle.

Charlie took the letter and skimmed it quickly, a proud smile creeping onto her face. "Yeah, that's my girl. She's become really good, hasn't she?" She asked him with a chuckle. "What's all this of this stuff though? Did she use up all of the crayons here or what?"

"It is really good, but perhaps we should slowly start to introduce the concept of punctuation to her." Sherlock laughed, "Anyway, no. The rest.. that's actually amazing." he said with a wide smile, "I've asked Dorothy for information about your and Rosie's parents we could use to start our investigations on and then she suddenly mentioned a storehouse. Apparently they're keeping a lot of personal things of the parents of the kids here, they're also paying the graves, which explains why they've been struggling so much with the money before some anonymous person donated a rather high sum." he said and coughed a little, before chuckling. "Anyway, here's a list of things they have of your parents in that storehouse."

"What?" Charlie asked, dumbfounded, and took read through that list. Clothes, some jewellery, twelve books, a video recorder, a photo album... damn. And the graves were still there too? Properly speechless she looked up at Sherlock, her mouth half open.

"I know." Sherlock said with a grin, "That's more than I expected too." he said and smiled, "Oh and I think that might be one of the best things on that list." he said and pointed at one point on the list, reading 'Personal Diaries'. "I've asked Dorothy about it and she remembered the day they packed up all of it. Your mother has been keeping a diary since she's been 13, actually and she's kept all of them." he said and smiled.

"Oh my god..." Charlie murmured and stared for a good while at Sherlock, before swallowing hard shooting forward to hug him. She'd be able to get to know her mum! What she'd been like, how she met her father, what she thought of her daughter... Oh god. Completely stunned, she mumbled something unintelligible into Sherlock's shirt.

Sherlock smiled, wrapping his arms around her and holding her for a moment, "Well, I think we need to get you a little chest or something, something fire and waterproof where you can keep the most important things in, like the diaries, just in case something happens, we live longer than normal people, that does raise the chances of experiencing a fire or a flood." he said as he pulled back a little to look at her, "You're ready to go pick up Rosie with me, or do you need a minute on your own?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, I'll just wait for you here." Charlie said and ran a hand through her hair, before giving him a short smile. She'd have learned that list by heart when he came back with Rosie.

Sherlock nodded and quickly made his way back over to Greg to pick up Rosie, doing some small talk he'd usually have avoided at all costs because it might contain details about Mycroft he didn't want to hear, but that'd be worth it to give Charlie some time to gather herself together. About fifteen minutes later he returned to her with an excitedly babbling Rosie on his arm, who was chattering on about how Greg (after Sherlock had told him about the letter previously) had given her some writing worksheets for first graders and she had mastered those with only one mistake, because she had written the E's the wrong way around.

Grateful Sherlock had given her some time, Charlie'd been able to collect herself and cleared her throat when she heard them coming. "Hey, champ. You're career as a writer is going well then?" She asked her with a chuckle, having listened in on what Rosie'd been saying.

Rosie nodded excitedly, "Uh huh," she said and smiled, "But I'm confused about the E! I thought I wrote it the right way around, but Greg said it wasn't." she said and frowned, "Can you show me at home how to write it?" she asked, looking at her big sister.

"Yeah, sure thing." Charlie said and gave her a smile. "Do you write your 3's and E's facing the same way then?" She asked her as they began to walk outside.

"Yeah." Rosie said and nodded, "I they look almost the same! I thought both have to be the same way around." she said and frowned, finding that to be the only logical concept.

"Actually the 3 and E are sisters. One's just a bit rounder than the other so you can tell them apart, but they have to be able to face each other. Otherwise they couldn't talk, you know?" Charlie explained to her. "Does that make sense to you?"

"Yeah!" Rosie said and smiled widely, "They're sisters like us! Because they're from different families, because one's a number and one is a letter, but they're one family in writing! Like us! We're also from different families, but with Papa and Daddy we're also one family!" she chirped and now it really did seem to make sense, because she'd find it annoying to stand back to back with Charlie all the time and not being able to talk to her.

"Yeah, exactly." Charlie said with a grin. "Good observation." She said and looked down for a moment. "You know, I'm really happy were family, Rosie.”

"Me too!" Rosie said while Sherlock smiled down at his girls, before opening the car door and setting Rosie down on the floor so she could get inside, trusting that Charlie would help her with her car seat as they usually did as he walked around the car to get in as well.

Charlie watched out for cars before getting inside they're own. "Hold on, I'll just help you." She smiled as she strapped Rosie in, before buckling up herself.

Looking back briefly to check that they were both buckled up and ready to go, Sherlock started the car, "Rosie, how would you like to spend the afternoon with Mrs Hudson watching Scooby Doo, while Charlie and I do some boring grocery shopping?" he asked since he had already talked to Greg about visiting the store house and he had told him he had time tonight. "Yeah! It's been so long since I've watched Scooby Doo!" she chirped and Sherlock smiled a little to himself at that, "Well then it's about time."

Charlie smiled a bit at that and looked back at Rosie. "You'll have to tell me what happened, alright?" Charlie asked her with a chuckle.

"I will!" Rosie said and grinned happily, leaning back in her seat, "Papa when is Daddy getting home from work today? I really want to tell him about what I learned about E's and 3's today!" she said and Sherlock chuckled at that, "He'll be back before dinner, don't you worry and I'm sure he'll be very eager to hear all about your day and what you learned."

"Is he still gonna start this rugby team at the orphanage by the way?" Charlie asked him after a moment. She really wanted to talk about the warehouse right now (since that was probably where they were going) but she couldn't talk about that in front of Rosie yet, so this topic would have to make do.

"He's going to start it up along with the start of the next school year." Sherlock said as he turned into Baker Street.

"Ah, alright. You can stay in the car by the way. Rosie and I can manage that short a walk." Charlie said and helped her sister out of her car seat once Sherlock had stopped the car. "Can I have keys? I'll be back in a minute."

Sherlock quickly glanced around the street, which was pretty quiet, except for some stray school kids on their way home, so he pulled his keys out and handed them to Charlie, "See you in a minute then." he said with a smiled and looked at Rosie, "And I'll see you later, honeybee. Have fun with Mrs Hudson." he said with a smile.

Charlie grinned a bit, since it was quite special to be allowed on the streets alone (even if Sherlock was keeping an eye on them). Especially since she was responsible for Rosie now. "Come on then." She smiled and helped Rosie out of the car and brought her to Mrs. Hudson. Four minutes later she got back into the car, though she got into the passenger seat this time. "There you go." She smiled and handed him the keys.

Sherlock smiled, taking the keys from Charlie, "Thanks." he said and smiled, "So.. from your expression before, I take it you already know where we're actually going?" he asked as he started the engine again.

"I'm guessing the warehouse?" Charlie asked and buckled up. "Man, I shouldn't have just skimmed my file that night.."

"Probably better you just skimmed it." Sherlock said and smiled at her as they stopped at a red light, "I'm not sure you could have held yourself back asking about it and that way you'd have exposed your little break in adventure." he said with a chuckle.

"Mmh, okay true." Charlie said with a chuckle. "Still, if I ever have the chance again, I'll read it properly and not just the part about my parents. That's one of the very few downsides of not living there anymore. Those break-in and -outs would be much more difficult now from across the city." She said with a chuckle.

"I could simply ask Dorothy if I can have a look into your files and make copies for you while I'm at it." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes, "You don't have to break in somewhere for every single information you need." he chuckled.

"You teachers are allowed to look into our files just like that?" Charlie asked with a frown. "Come on, I don't want Sally knowing what my parents have left me or if I've got my Hepatitis shots. That's ridiculous. Kind of sensible, but ridiculous."

"Teachers that are also adopting you, yes, they can look into your files." Sherlock said and smiled, "Which is mainly because of the adoption part."

"Oh.. right. Yeah, okay I'm fine with that." She said and blushed a bit. "Anyway, where exactly is that warehouse?"

"About half an hour away from London." Sherlock said and glanced at her, "Greg told me he'd bring lunch for us." he said and smiled at his daughter.

"Awesome, I haven't seen him in ages." Charlie smiled. "Why didn't he give you the keys for that storage unit himself though?"

"It's some stuff about privacy laws." Sherlock said and shrugged, "He trusts us enough, but he still has to take care of some paperwork and all since there aren't only your things over there." he said and smiled, "Well at least that's useful since he's bringing blood as well." he said with a grin.

"Right, that's good." Charlie said and chuckled. "What did he say about Rosie's writing by the way? Is she allowed to skip a grade?"

"I'm not even sure that'd be a good idea. It'd be just as good if she'd skip some grades later on, but I don't really want to take that whole experience away from her, you know. Starting school is also kind of a big step in life. And maybe we should let her have that in a normal school, have her make some friends that'd really appreciate her intelligence because at that age learning and being smart is still cool." Sherlock said and chuckled.

"Yeah, that's kinda true." Charlie said before remembering something. "Oh, speaking of: I got an A in Geography and Rachel said my German improved um einiges. " She said with a grin.

Sherlock smiled, "Well, besser ist das." he chuckled, before remembering something he had thought of a while ago, "By the way, I've been thinking how to further improve your safety." he said and knew John's first reaction to this would be wringing his neck, "And I've been thinking we could teach you to drive, on private property, obviously, but if you ever have to escape somewhere, you should be able to safely use any tool that might help you with that escape and cars are a tool like that. You just have to promise that if we do teach you, you will not unless it's a life or death emergency drive before you have an actual licence."

"Scouts honour" Charlie said immediately and lifted two fingers as if to swear an oath. It was a scary thought that Sherlock thought it necessary for her to know that, but that feeling was overpowered by her glowing anticipation. "Do we already start today?"

"You really want to risk John murdering me?" Sherlock said and chuckled, "I need at least a week to talk him into it and then obviously we need to stick to the rules he'll give us as a condition for agreeing to this." he said and smiled, "Glad you're excited, though. And don't worry, nothing's really changed about the situation, I just want to know that if you get abducted or maybe even just chased and you have the opportunity to get away in a car, even if you're stealing one, you'll be able to do that. We'll deal with the fallout of that when you're home and safe." he said and shrugged.

"Shame I'm already ten. Stealing a car could literally get me into prison these days. But I guess Dad could join me there after murdering you, so there's that at least." Charlie joked with a laugh.

"Mycroft has an 'immediately notify government' tag on your files just as he has on mine. You'd be out of prison in ten minutes." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "On a busy day." he added and chuckled again.

"Oh, that's really reassuring actually." Charlie said with a smile. No steady blood supply was an unnerving thought. "Then I guess Rosie and I can visit Dad together."

"That sounds reasonable." Sherlock laughed as they eventually left London, "But in general, try not to commit crimes?" he asked with a smirk, "I mean, yes, eventually you'll have a new identity and it'll all be wiped out, but still, it's never good to attract too much attention to yourself, which makes it difficult to think about what to do exactly if we find out who's behind all of this.. we can't exactly call the police. But we also can't just mass execute them, we're not savage. Mycroft said he'll think about a solution, but so far even he hasn't come up with one yet."

"Alright, I'll make sure not to get caught." Charlie promised before suggesting. "Do you think therapy might help them?" She didn't really have many other sensible ideas for that problem, but that one was better than mass murder.

"Well.. maybe therapy would be helpful. But I'm still not confident about letting them walk free either way." Sherlock said and sighed, "I keep thinking that a secret vampire society would be incredibly useful. If we'd have an own legal system in place, it would make things easier. But the logistics of a secret vampire prison would be incredibly difficult to work out, especially since prisoners could just call the actual police given the chance and tell them they've been abducted.”

"Yeah... And it kinda sounds like that network already is a big society of its own..." Charlie said and glanced out of the window. "Have you come across any new information by the way?"

"Not really.." Sherlock said with a sigh, "Most of the leads we had were dead ends." he said and sighed, "I guess all we can do at this point is wait and see if something new comes up."

"That's... underwhelming news to be honest." Charlie said and looked over at Sherlock. "But I'm getting driving lessons out of it, so I'm not complaining."

Sherlock chuckled at that, "Well, it really will be good for you to know how to get away fast when you have to." he said and bit his lip, "And.. just in case I will try to convince John to give you a spare car key. For emergencies. And only that. You can be sure you won't get away with just being grounded if you break that rule. Because you can A get into serious trouble. And B it's still dangerous for you to drive on the street without previous lessons where you actually drive on the street. It's safer if you know how to drive a car properly, but driving on private property won't get you the experience on driving in actual traffic. There's a reason there are age limitations for that. So if we give you a key, that's a big show of trust."

"...Are you being serious right now?" Charlie asked him wide-eyed... Sherlock definitely didn't have to tell her that that was a big responsibility, she was pretty aware of that. Though she did want to know what his and John's conversation tonight would look light. "You really trust me that much?"

"We're family, of course I trust you." Sherlock said, stopping at another red light and turning to look at her with a smile, "So yeah, I'm serious. I'm also serious about showing you how to get into a locked car and starting without a key or specific tools or something someone who'd abduct you would take off of you..." he said and cleared his throat, "You know in case of a situation like the one I've mentioned before.. just.. maybe we feed all of that to John in bits. First the lessons then later on I will admit to him that I taught you how to steal cars.." he chuckle.

Charlie snickered a bit at that. "I thought you were going to discuss those things with him first?" She teased him before asking. "Could you teach me Judo though? I mean, I've seen that certificate over your bed, so that might actually be a bit more useful than ballet. Or picking locks would definitely come in handy."

Sherlock chuckled, "No, we'll make plans and wait with acting on them until I've talked John into it." he said and chuckled, "It's all rather reasonable and it's just preparing you for emergencies." he said and gave a little shrug, "Oh and sure I can teach you judo."

"Cool, thanks." Charlie said with a grin. She was already looking forward to learning all that from Sherlock. "And yeah, it's all reasonable, but that doesn't mean I can't be excited about it. I mean, I just /hate/ being bored. That's probably the main thing I've got in common with my friends."

Sherlock chuckled again, "I hate that too." he said and raised his eyebrows as he suddenly had another idea that'd make Charlie safer, but that one would need so much convincing with John and would make Charlie so giddy that he figured it might be better to keep it to himself for now.

Charlie frowned when she saw Sherlock's expression. "What is it? You've got that look on your face again."

"Well.. don't get too excited.." Sherlock began and chuckled, "But.. well chances are low that someone would take a belly ring off of you and it'd be incredibly easy to put a diamond to cut glass along with a tracking chip into one of those."

"You already had me at belly button ring." Charlie said with a grin. She wasn't too fond of the idea of being tracked, but then again, right now her parents knew her location at all times anyway given her situation; plus she could take it off again once things were safe. And a piercing though! She could probably also use a hairpiece as a tool, but that was A) a tiny bit more obvious and B) not a piercing. "You think John's gonna allow it? Oh, I hope he will... Man, you're really more fun than him."

"Interestingly, he's the younger one, which doesn't cast such a great light on me." Sherlock chuckled, pulling up in front of an old Victorian style manor, which he assumed was the store house. Quite a fancy store house, but it sure had enough space.

"Pish-posh, growing up should be optional anyway." Charlie joked, before looking outside with wide eyes. "Now, that's one fancy storage unit. Seriously though, who did this belong to before the orphanage?"

"Mum." Sherlock said and still looked at the house, "That's where she's lived until around the 1890's.." he said and smiled.

"Wow, Violet used to be rich." Charlie said, before unbuckling. "Maybe you'll recognise some of her old things too." She told him with a smile before spotting someone outside and opening the door. "Hi Greg!"

Sherlock smiled, "Which is quite impressive given that she didn't take any money with her when she left.. I mean.. she was supposed to be dead, the dead don't need money so our family fortune back then was simply Mycroft's and my money then. Man she didn't stay down long. Told her she's a lot like Mycroft."

"She's a bit better with a people though." Charlie commented. "But yeah, she definitely has this whole starting a new life business down." She commented, watching Greg come to their car. "Hey, you two." Greg said with a smile and lowered his head to look into the car through Charlie's door. "Glad you've found this place. Shall we go inside then?" He asked and Charlie got out of the car right away. "That's the spirit!" He chuckled. "Already excited then?" Charlie nodded. "You've no idea."

"She's not the only one who's excited." Sherlock said and looked up the house again, "Mycroft and my mother should be giving money management classes." he said and chuckled, shaking his head.

"And after all that time we're both making our living as teachers, eh?" Greg joked with a laugh, before beginning to walk towards the house where Charlie was already waiting for them. "I haven't been here in ages." He commented and looked up at the building too.

"You know what's ridiculous, the house is only half an hour from our former cottage away by car. I mean, yeah, back then with most traffic being carriages and pedestrians, that was quite a distance, but it's irritating how close she's been living for so long. If Mycroft and I hadn't travelled so much we might have met her again earlier." Sherlock said, following Greg up to the house.

"Hm, but at least the first few decades she must've made sure that wasn't going to happen." Greg commented and pulled out his keys as well as a draft of the house. "Okay, Charlie. Your box is on the second floor in this room. It's got your initials and birth year on the front, alright?" Greg showed her after letting them inside. "Understood well and clearly. I'm waiting for you there." She said with a nod, before running off again with a chuckle. She wanted at least a few seconds to herself when she looked at her biological parents' stuff... plus, she couldn't wait any longer.

Sherlock smiled, looking after her as she dashed off, "Let's give her ten minutes on her own, alright?" he asked and smiled at Greg.

"Sounds like a plan." Greg said with a smile. "Do you want to look around this place a bit in the meantime?"

"Sure. How much stuff do you keep here anyway?" Sherlock said and looked around, there were boxes everywhere.

"Well, pretty much every child has at least one, sometimes even three boxes. We've currently got children from around... I think 64 families. So all of their boxes plus the ones of the children that never picked theirs up when they left. But those are usually only the ones that got adopted; well, except for Rosie and Charlie soon." Greg said

"Hang on a moment, the adopted kids just... declined to know about their biological parents?" Sherlock asked with a frown, that would make sense if it'd only happen once or twice for kids that want to have clear cut and don't linger on the past, but it was very strange that none of the adopted kids wanted to at least have a look into their parents stuff.

"Yes, basically. The adoptive parents have always been very clear about them wanting to move on." Greg said with a frown. "It's strange, I knew all of those children and I wouldn't have thought any of them thought that way."

"Right..." Sherlock said and frowned, remembering something he had picked up in a conversation with his brother in one of the moments he had actually been listening, "Is it true that you were a police man in Victorian times?" he asked with a frown, actually considering to let Greg in on all of this. Even if his experiences was centuries old, most likely that also went for the people they were dealing with here.

"Oh, yeah, I was actually. Long before my teaching career..." Greg remembered with a chuckle. "I was there right in the beginning; one of the first police officers of the Met once the police force was a bit more organised. I'd like to think I was young back then, but I guess I'm just very old right now." Greg said with a laugh. "Did Myc tell you that?"

"Yeah.. actually.. can we talk about something?" Sherlock asked, having decided to use the time Charlie was busy with her boxes to talk to Greg. It would be good to have someone with a bit of experience and he was 100% sure Mycroft had run every background check imaginable on either of Greg's alter egos throughout time, so he was safe.

Greg listened with growing abhorrence to what Sherlock was telling him about this network theory... He could still remember almost every single child that had got adopted the past few decades... Obviously he was going to help them if his experience could come in handy. Soon afterwards they went upstairs, since Charlie had already had over fifteen minutes to herself at this point. Though in her mind barely three had passed. She was sitting on the floor, surrounded by dusty clothes and books, currently reading the end of her mum's first diary.

"Found anything interesting?" Sherlock asked softly, crouching down next to Charlie, making sure not to step on any of the things on the floor.

Charlie looked up a bit startled when she heard Sherlock. "What? Oh yes, loads." She said before nodding towards the now closed book in her lap. "This is my mother's first."

"What do you think of her so far then?" Sherlock asked and smiled at Charlie, "Think you two would have become friends if you'd met her 13 year old self?"

"Yeah, maybe, she seems pretty cool.. She wrote that she wants to dye her hair red when she turns sixteen, you know." Charlie said with a grin. "And she even used a code for this."

Sherlock chuckled a little at that, "That sounds like a request I've heard before." he said with a smirk and ruffled Charlie's hair. "You want to pack up though? You can look through the rest of their things at home, where we also have a VHS player." he said, glancing at an opened shoebox that contained video tapes, which were most likely family videos.

"Yeah, okay." Charlie smiled and got to her feet, putting the next diary into the pocket of her jacket to read on the way home. "What about Rosie's things though? We could keep them in the attic. I'd even volunteer to bring her stuff up there." She said as she packed up her box.

"And you have absolutely no ulterior motive for wanting to get her stuff onto the attic." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes, but couldn't help chuckling. "We'll take her things with us as well, makes it easier to access them whenever she seems ready."

"Rosie's boxes are in an adjacent room." Greg said and went to get them, figuring Sherlock would follow. "It was worth a try." Charlie shrugged and hid her smirk, before lifting her box with a small grunt. Awesome, there was so much in there.

"I'll take the rest then, if it's okay." Sherlock said, glancing at the two other boxes, though he didn't want to just touch any of the stuff without Charlie's permission.

"Yeah, thanks." Charlie said before giving him a smile. "This is so much better than a second photo."

Sherlock chuckled at that, before lifting up both boxes stacked on top of each other, "Do you want to watch the videos alone, or would you rather have John and me around while you do?" he asked, guessing he could probably get Charlie an off day tomorrow so she could look through all the things without stressing about going to bed early, so they, or she on her own could stay up late and watch most of the videos.

"I'd rather watch them alone actually." Charlie said and walked out of the room. She couldn't wait to unpack all of this and read through everything... That was gonna be a long night.

"Alright." Sherlock said and smiled, "You can have the big TV in the living room, John and I will make it an early night then, but we'll be with you in a second if you want us to. And I'll make sure you can get tomorrow off, so don't get used to it, but you may stay up tonight as long as you can keep your eyes open and you may camp on the sofa."

"Thanks, paps!" Charlie said with a grin as they made their way downstairs, which made Greg behind them chuckle to himself a bit.

"I'm sure your uncle here," Sherlock said, giving Greg a look, he really was very sure it wouldn't take long after John's and his own wedding until Greg and Mycroft would follow suit (because as much as the idea of his brother having anything like a romantic relationship disturbed him, it was still clear as day that Mycroft and Greg fit together just as well as John and himself did). So he might as well title Greg as the girls uncle already. "Will gladly put in a good word for us with Dorothy too so she will agree to let you stay home tomorrow."

Greg smiled a bit. "I'll see what I can do, but it looks good." He said. "It would be nice if you could ask me those things before making promises though." He commented, which made Charlie chuckle, having to think of John there. "Paps, will you go to work though tomorrow?"

"Nah, that's not my style, most of the time you receive the best results if you promise before asking." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Well, obviously I'll have to stay home since I can't leave you home alone, I'm sure your uncle doesn't mind." he said and smirked at Greg. "See what I mean?" he asked and chuckled again.

Greg snorted at that. "You're lucky I like you." He said and shook his head. "Dad almost says the same thing to him." Charlie said with laugh, though she was glad she didn't have to stay in the flat alone (they hadn't left her for over forty minutes at a time yet and she'd been awake those times).

Sherlock laughed again, "Yeah, thanks, Miss Marple." he said and chuckled again as they arrived at the car, "Hey, Greg.. is this whole plot of land attached to the house? I mean.. it looks like there'd be enough space for car lessons, honestly." he said and let it sound like a joking metaphor, while in fact, this would be a very good place to teach Charlie to drive.

"Yeah, all of it. It really is quite big." Greg said with a chuckle and put Rosie's boxes into the boot. "Anyway, see you in two days. Say hi to John from me."

"We will." Sherlock said and cleared his throat, "Wait, you're probably staying over at Mycroft's tonight, aren't you?" he asked, while he was mostly ignoring the fact that happened, he did know it happened on a regular basis, "You would have to drive past our street to get to the orphanage.. so would you mind picking Rosie up in the morning? Charlie and I can go pick her up in the afternoon."

"Oh, sure thing. Just have her and her car seat by the door at 7:30; I've got late breakfast duty." Greg said with a smile, before unlocking his car.

"Thanks." Sherlock said and smiled, "And tell my brother...hi as well.. that roughly translates to 'today is one of those I do not despise him as much as usual because apparently he at least has good taste when it comes to men'." he said and frowned.

"Heart-warming. But yeah, I'll let him know." Greg said before getting into his car and giving them a wave before driving off. "Paps?" Charlie asked after a moment and got into the car.

"Yeah?" Sherlock asked as he shuffled the boxes a bit around and eventually resolving to fold the back seats down so everything would fit into the car.

"How do you hate your brother?" Charlie asked him with a frown, because she genuinely didn't understand, especially since Sherlock seemed like a family person to her; at least small families.

Sherlock frowned, "I.. I wouldn't say I hate him.. I just.. well, in a way I.. appreciate I have him and.. may or may not love him.. a bit. But our personalities clash. We don't work as well together as you and Rosie do." he said as he was finally able to shut the boot, before he got into the car.

"Hm.. seems fair, I guess. Just the way you talk to and about him seem like you do." She commented. "What do you think he thinks of your family?"

"He's just as in love with you and Rosie as everyone else is." Sherlock said and smiled, "He's just struggling a little to show it. His way of showing it is things like making quick work of the name change, the custody arrangements, setting up bank accounts for you and Rosie.. that kind of things. That's his way of hugging."

"Okay, now I think I get this appreciation thing you were talking about earlier on." Charlie said after a moment; she'd have to figure out to read Mycroft better in the future.

"For what it's worth, I think Greg is good for him." Sherlock said and smirked, "Around him, the iceman melts." he said with a smile.

"Yeah, Greg's good with pretty much everyone." Charlie said with a chuckle. "So about those driving lessons on here...?"

Sherlock smiled at that, "Yeah.. I was kind of checking out if the whole ground is private property. Legally the house still belongs to my mother, so...." he chuckled.

"So I'm obviously on the wrong side of the car. Danger is imminent as you know." Charlie said sheepishly.

"Until I've talked to John, you're on the right side of the cat." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Nice try though." he said, turning the engine on.

"Imma keep trying." Charlie said with a grin and looked outside, before pulling her mother's diary out of her jacket to continue reading.

"Well he does have a point most of the time." Sherlock said and smiled, "It's good that we have him, you know. He keeps us in line and well and healthy." he said and smiled, "And happy." he added, his smile turning just a little dreamy.


	88. No Mummy For Charlie

The next morning Charlie woke up to the feeling of a blender in her abdomen and groaned as she curled up on herself. Shit (sorry dad)... this was serious. After crawling out of bed she got a mini heart attack when she saw her pyjama bottom. It took her a good three seconds to figure out that no she was neither incontinent nor dying. And there was literally no one in the house she could talk to... Ugh. She really really wanted to have her mummy... But no, she'd have to sit this one out then - after bleaching her bottoms. Shit. But if this was the universe's price for those boxes hat still seemed fair. Maybe if she was quick no one would spot her cherry-red face. And she could get some toilet paper until she could walk out of the house again. Damn... correction: it felt like the blender was on fire. About ten minutes later she was wearing a new set of clothes, her pyjama in a plastic bag, and walking carefully down the stairs. Truth be told, she kinda hated the universe right now.

Sherlock was already up (since he had had to get Rosie ready a little earlier than usual and wait with her at the door for Greg), so he was just making breakfast as she spotted Charlie creeping through the living room holding a plastic bag and.. was she wearing a new pyjama? He was pretty sure when they had left her alone in the living room last night she had had her light blue one on, now she was wearing a purple one. Weird. And she did look like she was sick too. All red faced and sweaty. "Are you alright?" he asked, walking over to her and immediately feeling her forehead to check if she had fever, which she luckily hadn't, but she sure looked like she was developing one. "Is that your other pyjama in that bag? Did you get sick tonight and had to change?" he asked, reaching out for the bag, "Let me get that, I'll just put it into the laundry and you go back to bed." he said with a frown, perhaps he should call John, she really didn't look good.

Screw you, universe. Charlie had another mini heart attack and was about to develop a headache when Sherlock was holding her bloody pyjamas. Keep it cool, girl. He has no idea, just play it right. "It's fine, just... Erm, it's kinda embarrassing. Can you please not look inside and let me wash it later today?" She asked him weakly, glad she had a cover story for the fact she was holding her stomach.

"Sure..." Sherlock said with a frown and gave her a smile, "Do you need a bucket upstairs?" he asked and tilted his head as he looked at her, "Maybe I should make you some tea too." he said, looking genuinely worried.

"Tea sounds good." Charlie said, really just wanting to get out of this conversation and into the bathroom. "It's fine, I'll just go to the bathroom when I get sick. Don't want it sitting in my room." She said, before going towards the bathroom.

"Okay." Sherlock said and sighed a little, "If you need me I'll be right here. If you get a sore throat or anything and don't want to call, then text me or ring my phone and I'll be there in a second."

"Yeah, thanks paps." Charlie said before closing the door behind herself and curling up on the floor for a minute. Damn, she hated womanhood.. She'd never make fun of Rachel ever again.

A few minutes later after Charlie was back upstairs, Sherlock immediately pulled out his phone and called his fiancé, Charlie was in obviously in pain and he really want to check back with John about this.

"Hey, love. Everything alright? I'm in an auditorium right now." John said quietly, wondering what was wrong; Sherlock usually never called him at uni.

"Charlie is sick." Sherlock said, sounding just a little panicky, he knew that there really wasn't an illness that could permanently harm her, but still he really didn't want her to be in pain. "When she came downstairs this morning she had her pyjama in a plastic bag and was wearing a fresh one because she's been sick tonight, her face was glowing red, she was sweating and she didn't say so, but obviously her stomach was aching."

"What? Calm down, I'm going outside for a moment." John said, before trying to make his way relatively subtly out of his row. "Okay, I'm back. Do you know for a fact she's been sick?" He asked after a moment, having a hunch what their twelve year old might have.

"Well.. I suppose so.. I mean why else would she have changed? And she seemed rather embarrassed about me washing her pyjamas for her so..." Sherlock said and frowned, not sure what John was going on about.

"It kind of sounds like she's having her probably first period." John said and scratched his head. "They must be ridiculously painful from all I can tell. Could you just check if there's blood on her pyjamas?"

Sherlock just stood there for a moment, blinking in surprise as he went for a quick run through his mind palace as the word period sort of rang a bell, but he had stored that far away as useless information which he would without regrets delete if he needed the space for something relevant. Now though.. it didn't seem so useless anymore. "You.. think so?" he asked after roughly a minute, before he made his way into the bathroom, "I'll go and check.." he mumbled.

"Err.. Sherlock this was bound to happen eventually. You do know what periods are, right?" John asked, ignoring the weird looks he was getting.

"Yes, of course I know what they are." Sherlock said and let out a 'huh' as he pulled the pyjama out of the bag and spotted the blood. "Guess you could be onto something there..." he said and put the pyjama back into the bag. "I'll tell Mr Chatterjee to watch the door and call the police if a stranger tries to get in and hop over to boots to .. get something for her.. I should probably call mum."

"Yeah, she's probably a bigger help than me. I'll come home early today." John said; his study session wasn't that important today.

Sherlock nodded, not really realising that John couldn't see that since his mind was already busy making a shopping list (including books on puberty and periods) as he hung up, before calling his mother.

"Good morning, darling. Is everything alright?" Violet asked after a few seconds.

"What do you know about periods?" Sherlock asked, while he already opened his laptop, comparing information on various tampon brands.

"Charlie's on her first period then?" Violet asked, before taking a second to imagine what else had happened at Baker Street this morning that had lead up to Sherlock's question. "They're only half as bad. Do you want a list what to do and get for her?"

"Yes please." Sherlock said and sounded a little helpless, how the hell were there so many types and brands of tampons and pads? He did understand that every woman was different but in the end they couldn't all be /that/ different. Certainly not different enough to justify the existence of so many brands, sizes, shapes, materials and even scents, what the..

"Okay, first take a deep breath and close your laptop." Violet told him over the phone. "You want to brew her some hot tea, bring her a hot water bottle and some crackers and then go to the drug store and get her some maxi pads. It doesn't matter which brand, they're exactly the same, love. Is she in pain too?"

"Looks that way. She's probably embarrassed to actually say something." Sherlock said and didn't close his laptop, instead he just hit the keys a little softer so his mother couldn't hear that he was still googling.

"Okay, then you want to get her a muscle relaxant too. Buscopan for example. If she can still walk she probably doesn't need painkillers." Violet told him with a sigh. "And she's probably been googling what's going on and what to do herself right now."

"Uh huh..." Sherlock said and started to write down a pro and con's list on a spreadsheet, comparing advantages and disadvantages of the various hygiene products, "What about an appointment with a gynaecologist? I mean.. wouldn't it make sense to get her to go to one? I seem to remember that I've heard with the first period girls shouldn't wait that long to make their first appointment there."

"Where have you heard that?" Violet asked, before saying. "Anyway, yes she should do that some time in the future. There's really no rush unless she's got unusual symptoms. How about I text you the gynaecologists in the area I can recommend?"

"I don't know where I've heard that, I was about to delete that information completely before John reminded me that it actually is important right now." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I mean, really, before all of this I had absolutely no reason to look into the matter."

"That's why I was wondering." Violet said with a chuckle, before going on. "You can do this. Just stick to the list and be there for her, that's more than enough. Have you got any other questions?"

"No, that's all." Sherlock said and frowned, "Well except for one thing, can I tell her that if she has questions she'd rather ask a woman, that she can call you? Or come around?"

"Of course she can. I'm not sure, if I can come around straight away, but I'll do my best if she'd like me to." Violet said.

"Yes, of course she can, that's no problem." Violet told him warmly. "Good luck with your daughter."

"Thanks." Sherlock said and felt a little calmer now, knowing that he had his mother, so someone who had first hand experience with this to back them up here. Hanging up, Sherlock sent Charlie a quick text that he would be out for twenty minutes and would just have to grab a few things from the supermarket and that Mr Chatterjee would watch the door and that she could go to him if she got scared, before he grabbed his wallet and headed out the door.

Charlie read her text, before burying her head in her pillow. This was a nightmare... Ouch! And she would've honestly felt a bit more comforted if Sherlock hadn't forgotten her tea, but at least no one was asking her embarrassing questions or anything. Oh, she could text Amber, couldn't she? ...Yeah, she'd do that.

Within 15 minutes Sherlock was on his way back home (thanks to a queue of solely older ladies who he had asked if they could let him go first since he had a teenage puberty emergency at him and who had given him some giggles and also some proud looks and comments about how nice he was to be doing this for his younger sister - he could hardly tell them he had a 13 year old daughter, looking barely 20 himself). Entering 221B with three large shopping bags containing various brands and sizes and types (even some of the scented ones) of pads and tampons, he did think that the smallest tampons made sense for a girl her age, but he really hadn't been sure so he had simply bought all sizes, he had various variations of teas that had been recommended in many posts on the internet, along with one that was especially for women which according to the description would regulate the hormonal balance naturally and help with cramps and such, he had cookies and chocolate ice cream, books on puberty and a comprehensive brochure about the first period they had given him at boots when he had explained the situation and asked for suitable painkillers, he also had some films he knew Charlie liked on DVD, an electrical heating pad, a hot water bottle and a grain pillow (so she could choose whatever she found helped the most). In short, with all the stuff in his bags he barely fit through the doorways as he made his way into the house and up the stairs to Charlie's room, knocking lightly.

..Couldn't the world just let her be miserable? "Yeah?" Charlie asked and pushed herself up into a sitting position with a groan.

Sherlock opened the door in a ballet worthy move with his foot, before he pushed it open the rest of the way with his shoulder as he squeezed himself through the door with all the bags, before he set the bags down on at Charlie's feet on the bed, before he sat down on the edge himself, "Alright, I'll make this as quick and less embarrassing as I can." he said as he started to unpack everything. "You don't have to talk to me about it if you don't want to, but you can, because I've made spreadsheets and read myself into the matter. And mum said you can call her or go over if you have questions you're uncomfortable asking me or John about." he said, finishing unpacking the first bag which had contained tampons and pads and was now starting on the second which held teas, icecream and DVDs.

Charlie watched him with wide eyes as he unpacked... literally the whole drug store? "Spreadsheets?" Charlie asked dryly, unable to get a grasp on what Sherlock had done for her.

"Well, yeah, on quality, durability and comfort according to customer reviews online." Sherlock said and smiled at her, before he continued unpacking, "I didn't have time to do the same for the pain-relieving effect of the teas but that's the next thing on the list."

"What?" Charlie asked, forgetting momentarily about her pain as she watched Sherlock perform a magic trick of pulling an endless amount of stuff out of those bags. "Wait, that's why you've gone out?"

"Of course. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable since you've been clearly embarrassed about it, so I didn't tell you beforehand." Sherlock said and shrugged a little, "Oh and I'm pretty experienced on getting bloodstains out of nearly everything for obvious reason, so just leave that to me, your pyjama will be as good as new by tomorrow."

Charlie's face became red again at the thought of Sherlock having seen that... "Yeah, I can still do that later tonight though." She said and cleared her throat, a bit amazed by the fact there were fifteen brands of tampons currently her bed, just as ice cream and... "So you figured it out and bought... like everything related to periods?"

"Uh.. basically, yeah." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, scratching the back of his neck, "You won't believe it, but I'm about as inexperienced with that kind of thing as you are. In fact, you already have more experience with it." he said and smiled at her, "And you stay in bed, I really can handle that, you don't have to be embarrassed about me washing your clothes. I don't mind. First of all, you're my daughter, I'd wash much worse things out of your clothes. Second, I really do have experience with bloodstains, even more advanced experience since I've been washing Rosie's clothes as well, which is expert level since nearly all she owns is light yellow, white, or pink. So you don't worry about that."

"Right, I- wow, thanks." Charlie said and looked at him for a moment before lying back down with a chuckle. "This is so sweet and so awkward, I can't even."

"Pro tip, if something is sweet and awkward at the same time, focus on the sweet side of it." Sherlock said and chuckled along with her, "And even if it'll be a little awkward talking about it, you can talk about it with me and with John." he said and continued with the third bag, which held the painkillers, warm water bottle, heating pad and all of that, "You don't have to try to work everything out yourself, that's one of the plus sides of having a family."

"Oh that looks interesting." Charlie commented as Sherlock unpacked the third bag, when suddenly there was a second knock on the door. "Yeah?" Charlie asked, literally no idea who that could be. "Hello sweetheart." John said with a smile as he got inside, carrying a shopping bag of his own filled with Charlie's favourite snacks and painkillers (he'd figured Sherlock had bought several female hygene products by now; and Jesus, that he had). John's smile froze a bit when he saw the load of stuff Sherlock had already bought, but he quickly recovered and brought his bag to the side of Charlie's bed. "Sherlock said you weren't feeling too well, so I got home a bit earlier to get some things to cheer you up."

"Case in point." Sherlock said with a chuckle relating to his comment about the plus sides of having a family. "Wanna sit down with us, we were just having a sweet and awkward conversation." he said with a smirk.

"I'll gladly join in." John said with a chuckle. "And I thought I'd gone a bit overboard." He commented as he pushed a few chocolate bars away to sit down, which made Charlie giggle. "I think paps has copyright that word. Just out of curiosity who else have you consulted about my period?"

"Just my mum." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I needed a bit of female advice on the matter. And I to be honest, John figured it out, you had me with convinced that you had thrown up on your pyjama."

"I almost did when you took that bag." Charlie said with a snort and covered her eyes at the thought. "You gave me a heart attack with that."

Sherlock chuckled again, "Sorry about that, I was just worried." he said and smiled at her, "You want some painkillers now though? Or do you want to try it with teas, warmth and chocolate ice cream?" he asked with a smile.

"Mmh, that sounds good." Charlie said with a smile. "I've also brought gummy bears and some other treats." John told her before asking. "Have you drunk any blood yet today?" Charlie thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Oh, I must've forgot." "How about we get you some warm blood and tea then?" He suggested. "Thanks, Dad." She said with a smile, glad he'd come home.

"Hm, I'm gonna help you with that." Sherlock said and stood up, "And that's absolutely not an excuse because saying that we'll give you some privacy so you can figure all of that out," he said, looking on the pile of tampons and pads on the bed, "Would be a little awkward, but still you can shoot a text once that's done." he said with a smirk, waiting for John to follow.

John stood up as if on queue and followed Sherlock outside. "That could've gone much worse." John said once they were downstairs. Meanwhile Charlie let out a relieved sigh once they'd left her alone again, before looking at all of the stuff they'd got in under an hour. Damn, they really cared, didn't they?

Sherlock smiled, "Definitely." he said and chuckled a little, putting the ice cream in the freezer, "I'm still glad that when the time comes for Rosie, she'll have Charlie to consult."

"Yes, so am I." John said with a small laugh. "It's almost sad she didn't want to tell us she's in pain." He commented; it wouldn't have killed her, but he didn't like the thought of her suffering without his knowledge.

"Well, I suppose next time she'll come to us, now that she knows it's not that awkward to talk about these things with us." Sherlock said and chuckled a little. "And it is kind of understandable she was unsure about talking about this. It's pretty personal."

"No, that's definitely true." John said and sighed. "This could've really gone worse. "Anyway, has she already asked you about dying her hair? She seemed pretty excited about it when she broached the subject to me."

"Yeah, we've talked about that.. it's actually a long list of things we've talked about." Sherlock said and poured himself and John a glass of blood first, figuring Charlie would need a few moments for herself anyway.

"It is?" John asked with a raised eyebrow and took the glass. "Oh thanks. Okay just to be clear, if she's already got a full back tattoo, you're dead."

"No, no tattoos aren't on the list, don't worry." Sherlock said and nipped on his glass, trying to look innocent.

"Did you agree to get her piercing then?" John asked, looking right through Sherlock's expression.

"I didn't exactly agree.. in fact when she first asked, I said no.. but then I suggested it again and told her I'd talk to you about it." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "But it would actually be for a good reason. It would be incredibly easy to put a tracking chip into it, maybe even a diamond to cut glass and no kidnapper would check for piercings while making sure to take everything off of her that could be used as a weapon or tool to escape."

"Sherlock, she's /twelve/ and that hole's going to be there forever." John said and gave him a look. "At least hair grows out. We could put a tracking chip into her bloody shoes for that matter, which is something I'm still not thrilled by."

"She's nearly thirteen and with a belly button ring that whole will be tiny and most of the time covered by clothes anyway. Plus as I said, a tracking chip and something to cut glass would be very useful if she's trying to escape through a window and doesn't want to make noise or cut herself smashing it." Sherlock said, still thinking that'd be a very reasonable idea.

"There are other places to wear diamonds! I'm pretty sure she's aware of that too and just wants a navel piercing." John said with a huff, finding Sherlock's idea still borderline ridiculous.

"But not so many places a kidnapper wouldn't think of to check! Plus if she's just wearing diamond ear-rings, don't you think some kidnapper would take them to sell them and make quick money? On her navel however they likely wouldn't find it." Sherlock said and sighed, "Man if you already have problems with this, you won't like the rest of the list." he said, knowing that obviously John wouldn't like the rest of the list, but he would like car lessons more than a piercing, so he was hoping after the piercing discussion the car lessons wouldn't be that bad.

"Okay, I'm listening." John said after drinking some blood, looking at Sherlock expectantly. "You know, it would be nice if you could discuss those things with me first before getting the children all excited about them."

"Right well.. I was thinking I could teach Charlie to drive on private property, which is legal, just if you had doubts about that." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Anyway, all I'm thinking is that she should know how to get away fast if she needs to, if she's in mortal danger and she might since you have to remember if she does get kidnapped those people would likely know she's a vampire and probably also know how to kill one, so if she has the chance to drive off in a car by stealing her kidnapper's or stealing one on the street, she should have the ability and to be honest, if her kidnappers car is open and the key is in the engine, she might try anyway, so then she should at least know how to do that safely and have some experience."

John thought about that for a moment, before nodding. "Okay, that's reasonable. I don't have anything against driving lessons." He said, because the skill would only be helpful and make her feel safer; he really didn't think she'd start driving their car after that. "What else have you got on your list? Car-breaking, so she always has a getaway car at hand?"

"Pretty much that, yeah." Sherlock said and smiled a little, "Which is where the class cutting would come in handy, it's quiet and fast and easier than smashing a car window."

"Okay, I see. And what other things did you want to get or teach her?" John asked him after a moment.

"Judo." Sherlock admitted and smiled a little, "That was actually her idea and even toddlers can get judo classes, so that's not a big deal."

"No, it's not." John agreed. "Alright, I'm fine with you giving our twelve year old daughter spy and combating training. That might actually help and protect her. The only thing where I draw the hard line is her body."

"Well that's pretty much the only secure way a tracking chip can be attached without risking it's taken off and discarded." Sherlock said and frowned, "Apart from chipping her like a dog, which doesn't seem like a good solution."

"If someone's thorough enough, they'd remove a navel piercing too." John said with a sigh. "She could hide something in her hair, use ear studs, there are other ways."

"Good god, John it's just a navel piercing, she's not gonna get a full body tattoo." Sherlock said with a smile. "And even for mortals when you leave them out long enough the hole sometimes closes up again with vampire healing she it would close up faster."

"Or maybe I'm just pissed that as soon as you're convinced an idea is good, instead of talking to me you run to the children. Christ, I'm twenty years old and not like my father. Hell, I'm perfectly fine with almost everything on that list, but sometimes you're ideas are way too impulsive. Why do I still have to be framed as the boring bad guy for trying to watch out for you?"

"Actually whenever Charlie comments on me being the fun parents, what I say is that you're the guy that keeps us all healthy, well and happy.. that's not boring or bad, it's what people like us need.." Sherlock mumbled and sighed, "I'll just tell her the piercing won't happen and I won't frame you as anything, I'll just say that I've thought about it again and decided she's too young after all." he said and frowned, not really having realised that being 'the responsible one' that kept them all together and healthy was something that bothered him so much.

"Look, I-" John sighed. "That piercing felt like an important thing for her, I at least want one or two hours to think about it. I'm sorry that came out like that." He said and ran a hand through his hair. "Just.. I'd rather make some of the bigger decision with you together. I didn't mean for it to come out like that."

"No.. you're right." Sherlock said and gave a small shrug, emptying his glass before he grabbed the kettle to start on Charlie's tea.

John sighed and sat down at the table. He was more than fine with being the one to say no to ponies, but disagreeing with Sherlock on major things in front of the kids was something different. "How about I pick Rosie up today so you can stay here with Charlie?"

"Sounds like a plan." Sherlock mumbled, focusing on making the tea while he was still pondering about what John had said, which basically translated to him making John the bad guy whenever the kids wanted something.

John looked at the table at the table for a while before speaking again. "I know you love and respect me. I know you don't tell the children I'm the reason they can't have nice things and that that's not what they think. What bothered me here was that I would've liked you to talk to me about those things first." He said to break the silence. "Okay, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I should probably change some parts of the way I'm behaving as a parent." Sherlock said and frowned a little as he turned around to John.

John nodded a bit at that. "Well, we're both still learning how to be parents."

Sighing, Sherlock sat down on John's lap, "I'll try to remember to talk to you about things like that first instead of just blurting out the idea." he said, moving his arms around John's neck.

John wrapped his arms around Sherlock in turn. "I'd appreciate that." John said and pecked his fiancé's chin.

"Oh god.." Sherlock said suddenly after a moment, having just had a startling realisation, "She can get pregnant now." he said and only now really realising the larger implications of Charlie's first period.

That sudden change made John chuckle and ease up a bit. "I suppose so." He said, resting his head against Sherlock's chest for a moment, before looking back up. "Do you want to have the protection talk with her by the way or shall I?"

"I very much hope she doesn't need any other protection talk for now than protection of that network that's threatening her safety." Sherlock said and frowned, really not liking the idea that she could technically do... what he didn't want to think about her doing and get a baby. Nope, not happening.

"Okay, I'm doing the talk then." John said, because even though he didn't like the thought, he knew she very well might in the not too distant future. And that was probably for the better; after all he did know a bit more about that topic than Sherlock.

"Right... I'd probably end up buying every brand of condom available.." Sherlock said and chuckled, resting his head on John's shoulder, "But there really is a ridiculous amount of variety with female hygiene products."

"Yeah, I don't really get that either." John said with a chuckle and began to trace shapes across Sherlock's back. "But I'm sure Charlie will figure that one out for herself."

"Well at the very least once she's settled for a brand she has a huge emergency supply of alternatives." Sherlock said and chuckled again.

"Right and she's got enough sweets to host a children's birthday party up there." John said with a bit of a laugh.

Sherlock chuckled, "Well at the very least that probably showed her, albeit in a somewhat ridiculous way, that we'd do nearly everything for her, even if that means buying stacks of female hygiene products, which trust me gains you some odd looks as a guy."

"I can't believe you got a whole shopping bag of those." John said with a chuckle. "But yeah, I think we handled that situation alright."

"Well I just thought it'd be better she gets to try out what works for her in private, without weird chats with sales people or anything. Plus that way she can just try everything at once and doesn't have to be uncomfortable for a week if she bought the wrong thing." Sherlock said and shrugged, "And perhaps I was also trying to make up a little for the lack of a mummy she can go to with that kind of thing. Must be difficult."

"I just thought it's really sweet you did that for her. Especially with the looks you must've got." John told him and kissed his head, before sighing. "Yes, it must be. Has she talked to you about last night?"

"Not yet, but well, she was sort of distracted and anyway, it's her thing when or if she talks to us about it." Sherlock said, looking up at John with a smile, "I mean, eventually in a couple of months or so if she hasn't said a word about it, we can probably ask, but even then we should respect if she wants to keep this all to herself."

"Mmh, I agree." John said with a nod. "As long as she hasn't discovered anything she found disturbing or something like that I'll leave her be."

"Yeah, that sounds good." Sherlock said and sat up a bit, "By the way, I told Greg about what's going on with the adoptions and the network.. Mycroft told me that he's been a police man in the Victorian Era so I thought even if methods changed, he still should have some experience that could help us out and honestly, if Mycroft says he's safe, then he probably is. He's likely run all background checks on every alter ego Greg ever had."

"Yeah, Mycroft probably knows best in terms of safety." John said with a nod. "Maybe we've even missed something he'll be able to spot."

Sherlock scrunched up his nose at the suggestion he might have missed something, but didn't comment on it, "Another perspective might be helpful indeed." he admitted grudgingly.

"Yeah, that can never hurt." John agreed and pecked his lips. "Speaking of hurting; we should maybe bring our daughter that tea you've made."

"Not until she texts. I really don't want to walk in on her trying out which of the products works best for her." Sherlock said with a small grimace.

"Right, I forgot about the texting. But I was going to knock, you know." John said and gave him a bit of a look, before suddenly asking. "How long have you been wanting to have children now?" It had been one of the first things he'd talked to him about when they had got together.

"It'll still make her uncomfortable to know we're right on the other side of the door." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Uhm.. I don't know.. I've thought it sometimes, it just never really seemed like an option, being constantly 18 years old and looking it makes it hard to adopt.."

"Hm, right. But I do remember your talking about surrogates on like our first or second date." John said with a smile.

Sherlock chuckled a little at that, "I was actually just trying to convince you that vampirism doesn't take away anything from a relationship, that we can still have kids and a normal life."

"I think the main problem there would've rather been the fact we're both guys." John said with a chuckle. "But you did manage to convince me either way."

"Hence the surrogate." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Do you feel much different than you have before you've been turned, though?" he asked, wondering if he only thought it's not that different because he's been like this for so long.

"Not that much has changed actually. I mean, I do feel healthier and more alert, but I could just be imagining things. The weirdest thing is the fact I'm not really... hungry anymore and just crave blood instead." John commented. "The fact that I only need a good four hours of sleep now is a nice bonus."

Sherlock chuckled a little at that, "So no regrets?" he asked, looking up at John with a smile.

"No regrets." John said with a smile and kissed Sherlock lips.


	89. An Ordinary Sunday

Rosie was incredibly excited as she put on her shoes and jacket, trying to be really really quiet because she wanted to surprise them all! She'd go and get cake, she had almost saved 10 pounds now, that was a lot and cake couldn't be that expensive, right? Grabbing her piggy bank, she put it into her school bag and sneaked down the stairs and took the emergency key from under the doormat to unlock the front door, before she walked out of the house. She had memorised the way to the baker at the end of the street and she knew she could do this. And then they'd all have cake for breakfast! Even though it was a little scary, because it was still a bit dark, but not as dark as at night, so it seemed okay.

Charlie woke up to what she thought sounded like the front door falling shut. Wait, what? Weird, it was still dark outside. Weren't John and Sherlock still in bed? ...Did someone from that network manage to break in after all? With a frown she got out of bed to investigate this. ...And she sent Sherlock a text, just in case. 

U hear that 2? Not sure, but I think someone has broken in. -CWH

`

Mrs Hudson had been out? Better safe then sorry he thought as he gave John a little push, "John, get up." he said and quickly slipped into the pair of briefs that was lying on the floor (for reasons that weren't important right now) before he put on his pyjama bottoms after a quick look around, determining where they had landed last night.

"What's going on?" John asked groggily, but moved to get quickly out of bed; the way Sherlock was behaving, something was up.

Charlie's first impulse was to check on and gather Rosie in case their assailant was coming upstairs. The text that followed was typed in such a hurry she even forgot to add her initials. 

ROSIE

`

Knowing John had quick reflexes, he tossed his phone over to him. rather than replying in words, before he shot out of the room and towards the stairs to go upstairs and even if John wouldn't catch the phone and it'd break, he'd probably figure that something was very wrong by the fact that he had just run out of the room. Arriving upstairs, he felt somewhat relieved seeing that Charlie was okay, before that moment shattered as he looked around, "Where is she?" he asked, his heart starting to pound loudly in his chest at the sight of the empty bed.

"She wasn't here." Charlie said, her voice sounding pressed. Rosie's piggy bank was gone too.. she must've thought that that's what the burglar wanted to steal and clung to it. Oh no. "What do we do?" // John had caught the mobile and followed behind a few seconds later, only throwing on his pyjama trousers. Running upstairs he went straight into Rosie's room; his blood froze when he didn't see his younger daughter. "Where-" "I don't know!" Charlie all but cried.

Meanwhile Rosie had almost made it all the way there and it wasn't even so scary as she had thought at first. She could even already see the sign of the Bakery! She was really proud of herself as she eventually arrived at the bakery, trying to push the door open, but it was really heavy!

"Alright, let's think things through." Sherlock said, trying to steady himself, they needed a cool head now. "John, you go out and see if you can find anything, ask people if they've seen her, whatever. Charlie, you check for any signs of forced entrance, I'll hack into the surrounding cctv cams and security cameras of shops and call Mycroft to use his sources."

Charlie and John nodded and were about to go downstairs. "Dad, put on a shirt first. No one's going to help you find her looking like that." Charlie said, before dashing downstairs herself. "Right" John said and went back into their room to put some clothes on. Having arrived at the front door, Charlie didn't even really know what to look for. Nothing seemed damaged, but maybe someone had done something to the lock? She lifted their doormat try their spare key on it... Wait, what? Did Mrs. Hudson take it? With a frown, she hurried back into the flat. "Paps, why is the emergency key missing?"

"It is?" Sherlock asked, immediately getting the idea that someone who had visited could have been in league with that network and perhaps had stolen the key? After all they didn't regularly check if it was still there, but that made no sense. They only ever had family over, none of them would work for such an organisation, he'd bet his life on that. "Did Rosie let someone inside with that key?"

"Not that I know of." Charlie said with a frown. "But no one broke into the front door. Maybe they made Rosie tell them where it is when they took her?" She thought out loud. "I'll check if someone broke into her window." With that she turned and almost ran into John who was heading downstairs. "Careful there." He told her and went to the flat's door. "See you."

"Do you really not want any money for the cake?" Rosie asked as she stood with Mr Miller in front of home, the man held four pieces of wrapped cake on a tray in one hand and held Rosie's with the other. "No, sweetheart, it's fine, I wouldn't want to hurt your piggy. It's a present. It's a late birthday present." he said and Rosie frowned, "How do you know my birthday?" she asked and Mr Miller chuckled, "Your dads ordered your cake from me." he said and Rosie smiled, "You made it? It was really pretty! And so tasty!" she chirped as Mr Miller tried to ring the doorbell with his elbow, not wanting to let go of Rosie, just to make sure she wouldn't stroll off for another adventure.

John opened the door in a hurry and almost walked into the two people standing in front of it. His heart skipped a beat when he saw Rosie standing unharmed in front of him. Within a second he dropped to his knees to pull her into his arms. "Oh thank /god/" He muttered under his breath and held her close. "Are you alright?"

"Uh huh, I've been out to get cake for us for breakfast!" Rosie said proudly, smiling at the hug. "Yeah, she was willing to sacrifice her piggy bank for it, but I thought it'd be a nice late birthday present." Mr Miller said, while Sherlock heard people talking downstairs and rushed towards the front door, nearly sagging in relief when he spotted Rosie. "Oh god.." he breathed and sank down right next to John, wrapping his arms around both of them.

"We were worried sick about you." John told Rosie and kissed her head. When Charlie didn't find Sherlock in the living room, she stumbled downstairs to find her fathers hugging... "Rosie?!" She jumped the last few steps and joined the group hug as soon as she crouched down next to them.

"But I was only getting cake!" Rosie said and chewed on her lips a little, while Sherlock pulled back a little to look at her, "Don't do that again, honeybee, okay? Never go out without telling us." he said and Rosie pursed her lips, "But I wanted to surprise you." she mumbled.

"And that's sweet of you, but when we woke up we only found your empty bed. We didn't know you're okay, to us it looked as if someone had taken you." John said and looked at her. She did need to understand why she wasn't allowed to leave like that.

"Oh." Rosie said and Sherlock smiled a little, "You understand now why we were worried?" he asked and Rosie nodded, before Mr Miller cleared his throat, "I hate to interrupt, but if someone could take that cake off of me, I've got to open up my shop again." he said and chuckled a little, "I'm all alone today, so.." he said and smiled.

"Right, we can't thank you enough for bringing her back." John said, having forgotten about Mr. Miller there. But before he could stand up, Charlie had already taken that cake from him with a smile. "Let's go upstairs." John told Rosie with a smile and lifted her up onto his hip, since her school bag was just small enough. "Have you already said thank you for the cake?"

"Uh huh, I have." Rosie said and Mr Miller nodded in confirmation, smiling at John and Sherlock, "Anytime." he said and chuckled a little, "Just one question though.. do you really eat cake that has tomato juice in it?" he asked curiously, "Rosie asked for something like that.." he said and Sherlock frowned a little, trying to determine if the man was just thinking it's strange or if the man was a vampire and wanted to know if they were. "Uh.. yeah. It's a sort of family recipe." he said, carefully watching the other man's expression, "Right.. well next time you make it, it'd be great if you could leave a slice for me. I'm rather curious about that one."

"We'll.. keep that in mind." John said with a smile, wondering the same thing. "If you like tomato juice in general, you'll like the cake too." If Mr. Miller was just curious though, they'd have to look for an actual recipe now, didn't they?

"Well, I can't wait. Anyway, I'll be off then. See you." Mr Miller said, before he turned to walk off, before Sherlock stood up and closed the door behind him, "Did you take the emergency key too?" he asked, looking at Rosie who's guilty look said it all without having to answer, "Sorry." she mumbled sheepishly.

"You know, it's a good thing that you thought about getting back inside. But we keep it there for emergencies and getting cake isn't really one, is it?" John asked her with a raised eyebrow need to work on that."

"No.." Rosie said and pursed her lips, looking back and forth between all of their faces, "Am I in trouble now?" she asked hesitantly, not really knowing what was going to happen because since she's been with Sherlock, John and Charlie she hadn't been really in trouble.

"Well, more importantly, I want you to understand that we didn't give you a house key yet for a reason. We know you're responsible, but something could have happened to you and we also could've needed that key." John told her seriously, before his expression softened a bit. "Rosie, we love you and worry about you, that's the only reason we're even having this talk. Can you promise me never to do that again?"

Rosie nodded, "I promise, I'm sorry." she said earnestly, "Can we still eat the cake?" she asked after a moment, because that was also a serious matter.

"Yes, we can." John said and bit back a chuckle, before beginning to walk up the stairs with her. "And you can help me with the dishes afterwards. Sound fair?"

"Cool!" Rosie said and smiled as she walked up the stairs, sounding actually rather excited about getting to do the dishes, "Is it just me, or did that punishment backfire?" Sherlock asked and chuckled a little.

"Well, if I'm gonna get some regular help with the dishes now, I won't complain. And we can't exactly ground them either, can we?" John said with a snort. "Way to go, Rosie. You defied the system." Charlie snickered.

"What?" Rosie said and frowned up at her sister, before she stopped and turned to rush down the stairs again, which made Sherlock startle and think she was going to run off again for a moment, before he watched how she put the key back under the mat.

"Oh, good job thinking of that. I'd almost forgotten about that." John told her with a smile. "And it's still really sweet that you wanted to surprise us with cake." He added and Charlie grinned. "Yeah, that's an awesome breakfast. Thanks for thinking about us."

Rosie smiled at the praise, liking that much better than the conversation before. "Next time I'll ask daddy or papa to come with me so we can surprise you and one of them." she said with a grin as she caught up with Charlie again, taking her free hand, "That's better than getting in trouble." she said and really didn't like that trouble thing.

"Yeah, that's true." Charlie said with a smile and squeezed Rosie's hand. "You know, after I texted paps you're not in your room, both of them were upstarts in way under a minute. That was quite impressive, thinking about it."

"Especially if you consider that we had to get dressed before." Sherlock murmured quietly enough for only John to hear, before he leant over to kiss his cheek.

John smirked at that and took Sherlock's hand. "Paps, can I make milkshakes for us? I bet, they'd go well with cake." Charlie asked, before turning to Rosie before he could reply. "Wanna help me? I'd even let you in on my secret recipe." She offered with a smirk.

"I love secrets!" Rosie chirped, tugging at Charlie's hand, urging her to walk faster, while Sherlock frowned a little, though the smile stayed on his lips, "Sometimes I wonder why they bother to ask.." he said and chuckled.

"Mmh, no idea, where I've seen that before." John said and rolled his eyes teasingly, a smile playing on his lips.

Rolling his eyes in reply, Sherlock chuckled again, "Okay, I can see how that's annoying to people now."

John chuckled a bit at that. "Glad you do. So, milkshakes and cake for breakfast, because we aren't strict enough... In fairness that does make rules more unattractive."

Sherlock chuckled a little, "Well, we do still have the excuse that we've only just turned from trainee parents into actual parents." he said with a smile, "I'm just really glad she was just out to get cake.." he said with a sigh as Charlie and Rosie had disappeared into the flat. "There's not even something we can do about it for exactly the reasons we keep a key under the mat."

"Hm, but I think she understood why she can't go outside on her own again." John said with a sigh. "I've got a feeling that Charlie's gonna make sure she really does. You know, as glad as I am, she noticed, I don't like the fact that that's the first thing she thought of when she heard the sound of the door." He said after a moment.

"Yeah, me neither. But.. at the moment, that being the first thing she thinks about might just save her life." Sherlock said and chewed on his lip, "But once they're out of danger, we "Yeah, that's true." John said with a nod, before stepping into the flat. "At least today's just an ordinary Sunday."


	90. ...Or Is It?

Later that day, Charlie was sitting downstairs in John's armchair (that was just hands-down the best spot in the living room) typing away on her laptop; well, googling to be exact. She hadn't been able to forget about the story Sherlock had told her about, which was why she was now looking up old mental hospitals from the area. Before long she had found the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, which looked quite promising. They'd installed an alarm system in 1952 according to Wikipedia, so it must've been hard to escape, she thought, searching the web for some pictures... "Dad? Could you come over?" Charlie asked after staring at one photograph in particular. A few seconds later she was on her feet and walked into the kitchen, putting the laptop onto the kitchen table John was sitting at. "Is it that urgent?" John asked with a frown, but Charlie pointed at a face on a group photograph. "Isn't that the guy who did Rosie's party decoration?" John's frown deepened and looked at the picture more closely. "Where'd you get that from?" "Found it online. I'm 93% sure that's the asylum Paps was at." She said, looking at him, a little unnerved. John pulled her onto his lap with one arm after looking at the picture once more. "Sherlock? I need you to have a look at this." He called after a moment.

"Just a second!" Sherlock said, having just been busy helping Rosie in the bathroom with a particular sturdy button on her trousers (he had been just seconds away from simply cutting the trousers off the wiggling girl, before it had popped open) and was now holding her up in front of the sink so she could wash her hands.

Charlie bit her lip, knowing something was awfully wrong here. "Dad? What did he say his name was again?" John felt his stomach churn, but kept it together for her. "He said Richard, I think. Why, does that ring a bell?" He asked. Charlie swallowed against a growing lump. She remembered every word of Sherlock's story. "No, but didn't he joke about wanting to become a vampire?" She asked weakly. "Is that- yes, apparently he meant it."

"Okay, we're ready. What are you two up to?" Sherlock asked as he entered the kitchen, with Rosie sitting on the side of his hip as he peered over Charlie's and John's heads at the laptop, frowning, before he looked at Rosie, "Hey, Rosie, can you go and ask Mrs Hudson if you two can make some more of those cookies you made last week? They were really tasty." he said and set the girl down, "Yeah!" Rosie said happily and dashed off towards the stairs. "Where did you find that photo?" Sherlock asked once Rosie was out of earshot.

And in that moment, Charlie knew they were fucked. "I tried to find the mental hospital you were at." Charlie said tonelessly. "That's the guy who did Rosie's decoration. His name's Richard." She said and looked up at him. "Sherlock, do you know that man?" John asked him with a frown.

Sherlock nodded, looking closer at the photo, "Well yes, that's Jim.." he said and frowned, "What do you mean he's the guy that did Rosie's decoration? He can't be.. I mean, he could be still alive but he'd be in his 80's now.." he said and looked back and forth between Charlie and John, "Are you sure it's him you talked to? I mean.. maybe he just looked similar?"

"He looks just a few years younger on that picture, but apart from that.. I'm fairly sure that's him." John said after a moment and Charlie nodded tightly; she wouldn't be showing them this picture in the first if she wasn't sure. "He did make a comment about vampirism. I only remember it, because I had to explain it to Charlie." John said after a moment, before asking "..Is that the guy who wanted you to turn him?"

"It is.. but how would he have managed that?" Sherlock asked and pulled a chair over to sit down next to Charlie and John, "I did not turn him, I mean I was a little out of it, but I know that for a fact."

"He must've found a different vampire, or not?" John asked and Charlie tore her eyes from the screen. "It's the same person. It can't be a coincidence, the universe can't be that lazy." She said, remembering Mycroft. "He must've been looking for you." She said and swallowed. "You said he was crazy and obsessed with becoming a vampire, he could be obsessed with getting revenge now." She said, gripping the hem of John's shirt.

"Wait hang on," Sherlock said and shook his head, "I mean, I usually agree that coincidences are rarely ever just coincidences, but.. how likely is it that we're dealing with two different psychopaths here. I honestly think we're getting a little paranoid. Couldn't it just be his job? It doesn't have to have anything to do with us."

"Yeah, love, I have to agree with Sherlock there." John told her, but she shook her head vehemently. "Just because I was wrong this morning, doesn't mean I'm wrong now." She said, though she couldn't definitely say that that wasn't fear talking. "You took us in three months ago and now a psycho doppelganger shows up? No way."

"But that's just it." Sherlock said and shook his head, "It doesn't make sense. I didn't even know about the orphanage up until three months ago. Hell I wasn't even really in a relationship with John just half a year ago and this adoption thing has been going on for decades. This can't be all about some weird obsession and revenge plan about me.”

"But... the alternative doesn't make any sense either." Charlie said, glancing back at the screen. "And some people are definitely after Rosie and me. Here, this could be the lead we were looking for all along." She rattled off, before pausing, trying to make a connection between them and Sherlock. "...OH! Is Destiny a woman? You have to tell me, who told you first to take us in?"

"Okay Ms Marple calm down." Sherlock said and smiled at her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, "No one told us to take you in, John and I decided that. And destiny is just that, destiny. Fate. I wasn't talking about a person when I told you that. We should really relax, I agree it's weird and might be a lead, but.." he said and was cut off by Rosie who had walked back into the kitchen without them noticing and was now standing on tiptoes to look at the laptop, "That's Jim!" Rosie said with a smile, pointing at the screen. "He's really nice!" she chirped and Sherlock felt a chill run down his spine, being too startled to speak for a moment.

Charlie froze at that, staring at her sister. How in the bloody world could Rosie know his face? "And where do you know him from, sweetheart?" John asked her, forcing himself to sound calm.

"He's Molly's boyfriend! And he repairs the computers at the orphanage." Rosie chirped happily and Sherlock took a deep breath, "Bee, why aren't you downstairs with Mrs Hudson?" he asked, they could hardly discuss this in front of her. "Mrs Hudson doesn't have milk, so I wanted to take some from our fridge!" she explained.

"Okay, love. How about we bring some milk downstairs together? I wanted to have a little chat with Mrs Hudson anyway." John said, really just wanting to ask Mrs. Hudson to keep Rosie downstairs for a few more minutes so that they had some time to talk. With that he set Charlie back on the ground to stand up and get that milk for Rosie.

Once Rosie and John had grabbed the milk, Sherlock looked back at the laptop, before looking at Charlie, "Okay.. you might be onto something there." he said and frowned at the photo again. "It is weird that he's had contact to all of us except me.. but we really have to investigate some more here, before we can be sure he's got something to do with it."

"What about Molly though?" Charlie asked him with a worried frown. "Is it really just a coincidence we've all met him somehow or did he use her for that?"

"Actually right now, we can't be sure if Molly isn't in on it." Sherlock said and looked somewhat conflicted about this, but they had to consider that.

"I'm not saying she is involved, but we have to consider that it might be the case, even if unlikely." Sherlock said and ran a hand through his hair, "Until we know what to make of this, we just have to lie low and pretend everything is okay. If that guy really is behind this, we've got the advantage that he doesn't know yet that we know."

Charlie nodded and looked at her hands; she had to be rational about this, that was most important. "You think our flat is bugged though? I mean, it'd be a possibility." She said after a moment, turning her head to find John coming back.

Sherlock shook his head, "I doubt it, actually. Mr Chatterjee always has an eye on the flat, then there's Mrs Hudson and Mycroft has an eye on the CCTV, so we would definitely know if someone was in the in the flat when we were out. But if you're nervous about it, we can turn the flat upside down and check." he said and smiled at his daughter.

"No, I think you're right." Charlie said with a sigh. John walked into the kitchen and pulled a chair up to sit down ext to Charlie and Sherlock. "Okay, Mrs. Hudson's looking after Rosie until we're done here. "What could this guy want from us? I feel like the personal attack on Sherlock might be a bit of a stretch."

"Well.. looking at it now, I still think it's a coincidence.." Sherlock said and frowned, "Just.. that the coincidence is that I know him and am connected to that case." he said and looked at the photo again, "I think Charlie's right though.. he definitely has something to do with it. Just.. honestly he was a nutcase, I don't think he's the head behind it."

"He made an impressively inconspicuous impression for that... For all we know someone might be controlling him." John said with a frown. "Or he's just a really good actor.." Charlie pointed out before shaking her head. "He'd have to be mentally stable for that though. You might be onto something with the controlling thing."

"I wouldn't say you have to be mentally stable for acting..." Sherlock said and smiled a little, "Actually most of the best actors had mental problems.." he said and shrugged, "But I agree, he doesn't seem to be able to pull something like this off." he said, before giving Charlie a grin, "But apart from all of this, that was some very good investigating, there, Ms Marple." he said and ruffled Charlie's hair a little.

Charlie smirked a bit at the praise, before asking. "But what do we do now? We can't just call him, can we?" She looked back and forth between them. "No, that's not really an option. We still have to decide what to do with those people." John said and sighed; Charlie didn't like that answer... She didn't know better either, but waiting just seemed... wrong. "He might we fixing the computers tomorrow again."

"Well then I know who's not going to nursery tomorrow." Sherlock said and frowned at Charlie, "You don't have to go to school either, we could say you both have the flu." he said and sighed, "Although it might be less suspicious if only Rosie doesn't go to the orphanage.. but if you're afraid you don't have to either. I'll be there the whole time though, I'll ask Greg if I can go into your class for a week or two, I mean, it's after all a sort of work experience so it'd be easy to pass it off as just getting a look what teaching higher grades is like."

"Okay, I'll go then." Charlie nodded. "Being in here all the time would only drive me mad anyway." She said and looked down. "I've got the flu too then. I'll ask Mike if he can send me his notes and I'm sure Jim at work can-" Charlie looked up at him suddenly. "Who?" "Oh, no, sweetheart. He's a colleague; completely different lad, I can assure you."

"True, and I've met his boyfriend." he added with a smirk, looking at John.

John rolled his eyes at that and bit back a chuckle. "Both send their love by the way." Charlie watched them for a moment with a frown before asking. "How long are you keep Rosie at home though? Do you think he's gonna act soon now?"

"Actually, I was thinking to just keep her home tomorrow for a start, since Moriarty, that's his last name, James Moriarty, since he's he'll be there tomorrow." Sherlock said and frowned a little, "And you have to calm down, it seems really pressing now, because you've found that link, but we don't know when they're going to act any more than we did before we had that lead."

"Right, yeah. I just don't like waiting like this, that's all." Charlie nodded and looked into her lap. "Maybe I'll find some more out about him online." She said and stood up to go upstairs. "Charlie, we're still all watching out for you. And with Mycroft as your uncle, some might argue you're better protected than some people in the witness protection program, alright?" He offered with a small smile, which she returned. "Yeah, thanks Dad. I'll be in my room."

Sherlock sighed when Charlie was out of sight, "This is so strange." he said and looked back to the spot where Charlie's laptop with the photo stood just moments before, before looking back to John, "Did he seem.. I don't know.. fishy to you? What exactly did he say about vampires anyway?"

"Charlie was about to take a picture of him and the two sketches he'd drawn and he said he didn't like being on photographs. Made a joke that that's why he used to want to be a vampire when he was young." John said with a shrug. "He seemed all but fishy, really. Mousy, a bit shy, but genuinely nice and... well, normal. I really wouldn't have thought of him again normally."

"Hm.." Sherlock said, genuinely wondering if they did have the same person after all. "He didn't seem to be able to even pretend he's normal." he said with a frown, "Did he tell you his last name?"

"His last name's Brooke." John said with a shrug. "Look, I- " He sighed, feeling bad for suggesting something like that. "we've agreed that Charlie is a bit overly alert anyway at the moment. He could just be related to that Jim. Maybe Moriarty's his mother's maiden name or something... And this joke could've just been, you know, a joke."

"We could hire him again for Charlie's party. Obviously, I'll have some of Mycroft's people supervise him undercover, but that way, I could meet him and see if it's really him." Sherlock said with a shrug.

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan." John nodded. "Otherwise, they do look identical, Charlie's right about that. You could also call him yourself to hire him. If you're able to recognise his voice after all that time that'd work too."

"Right.. good." John nodded and let out a sigh. "That gives us some time. Are you going to try and talk to the Tech guy tomorrow too?" He asked. "I mean, we can be quite sure he's dangerous if he somewhat looks like the man on the picture Charlie found." 

"Actually, I'm not sure if I would recognise his voice. It's really been too long and I didn't know that well, or long for that matter." Sherlock said and shook his head, "Better I meet him in person, then I could see his reaction too."

"Right.. good." John nodded and let out a sigh. "That gives us some time. Are you going to try and talk to the tech guy tomorrow too?" He asked. "I mean, we can be quite sure he's dangerous if he somewhat looks like the man on the picture Charlie found."

"Sherlock I've literally no idea... Maybe he could think Molly's not a threat anyway?" John suggested with a shrug. "Or Rosie mistook him for someone else.. though that would be quite the coincidence."

"Probably.. although I'd rather just watch him from afar for now.. do you really think it's the same person?" Sherlock asked and frowned, "I mean.. why would he use an alter ego with you, but not with Molly?"

"Sherlock I've literally no idea... Maybe he could think Molly's not a threat anyway?" John suggested with a shrug. "Or Rosie mistook him for someone else.. though that would be quite the coincidence."

"On the other hand the quality of the photo from the hospital.. it's really not the best, and that's putting it mildly." Sherlock said and sighed, "So it's an entirely reasonable assumption that we're talking about three different people here."

"Okay, true. And Jim isn't exactly the most uncommon name either.." John added. "Only time can tell, I guess, but at least it's better than no lead at all." He sighed, before asking Sherlock. "Why was Charlie googling those hospitals in the first place?"

"Oh, I told her about my time there." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Probably that made her curious."

"Right. They didn't take any photographs of you towards the end, did they?" John asked after a moment, not wanting Charlie to find something else that'd scare her today. 

"I have no idea, as I said, I was quite out of it." Sherlock said and shrugged, "But I didn't look that bad when I got out of there, I felt awful, true, but I just looked exhausted, deep shadows under my eyes, way too subtle for that photo quality."

"Okay, good. I mean, not good, but better than her getting nightmares tonight." John said and scratched his head. Seeing Sherlock in a horrible state was something that would give him nightmares; or make him overly protective, it depended.

"It's incredible that she did find photos at all though, it a good deal of digging to find that hospital in the first place, it was a rather small one and it didn't even exist that long, nothing spectacular happened there." Sherlock said and sighed.

"That's true.. You know, I'm not happy about it, but I can't help the looming feeling she's going to end up choosing an illegal profession."

"Or she uses that talent legally and becomes a private detective." Sherlock said and smiled, "It'd combine all her talents."

"Okay, that sounds a bit better... And practicing keeping a low profile for a living can't hurt with her being a vampire." John said before chuckling. "But if she did that, Rosie would be the first to join her. And you'd immediately follow suit too, wouldn't you?"

"I'd probably join her before Rosie even." Sherlock said with a laugh, reaching out to take John's hand, pulling him into his lap.

John began to chuckle at that and put his arms around Sherlock's neck and pecked his lips. "Right, obviously, silly me."


	91. 1957

"I will not, under any circumstances go out with your boss's demented daughter! Not happening, get your promotion another way!" William yelled at his so called foster father, this was so ridiculous. He wasn't even supposed to be here, but he had idiotically told his teacher that he was living alone and that bloody idiot had to go and alert the authorities, brilliant and Mycroft was somewhere overseas in America and he hadn't had the opportunity to call him yet. But he would do so as soon as his foster parents would ease up on their controlling behaviour. But more importantly now, he would not date that girl.

"Don't you /dare/ talk to me like that, young man!" He shouted angrily and stepped towards him. "You should be thankful I'm giving you opportunities like that. No other boy would even think twice about going out with a beautiful girl. And because /I'm/ getting something out of it too, so you're /definitely/ going."

"Beautiful? Debatable. Very, very debatable." William said and rolled his eyes, taking a step back, mainly because he didn't want to have that angry sweaty face right in his face, not because he was scared of that ridiculous man. "I'm just not interested, deal with it."

"Not interested? You haven't even talked to her properly." He said and huffed. "I won't put up with this, you're only refusing to get into an argument with me. It's your turn to show you're grateful to even sleep under my bloody roof."

"Not like I asked to sleep under your roof I was very content sleeping under my own roof, thank you very much!" William shouted, getting angry again, "And I don't have to talk to her, I am not interested in her! If you want that promotion so bad ask your boss if he's got a son at least!" he yelled and suddenly realised what he had just said, though he tried not not to show it on his face, his foster father wasn't the brightest candle on the cake and listening didn't seem to be his strong suit either, so perhaps he'd just brush off the remark.

He opened his mouth to shout back, before startling at the phrasing William had used. His face quickly contorted in shock, disgust and anger, which was quite an accomplishment, as his face was used to only one of those at a time. "/What/ did you just say?" He growled dangerously, his voice more quiet now.

"I said that I will not date that girl." William said and bit the inside of his lip, wondering how to get out of that conversation without any consequences.

His eyes were dripping with disgust and he stepped towards William and gripped the front of his. "Because you're what, a faggot?" He spat the last word. "Fucking hell, I won't tolerate any of your kind in my house." He turned around to shout for his wife, still holding firmly onto William's shirt so that he couldn't escape.

"I don't even want to be in your house, Jesus Christ!" William said and struggled a little to get out of the idiot's grip, "If you don't want me here then just let me go and tell everyone I ran off."

"What is it?" His wife returned and stood in the door. "We've got a gay in the house, apparently." He told her angrily. "All rotten, the lot we take in.." He said, before striking William across his face with his free hand. "Stop it, you disgrace!" "Oh Lord.." His wife said and clasped a hand in front of her mouth. "What are we going to do with him? Call the vicar?" She asked, not even looking at William anymore. "No, call the police. I don't want anything to do with this."

"The vicar?" William asked and couldn't help but laugh, despite the growing pain in the side of his face, this could hardly get any worse anyway, despite the growing pain in the side of his face, "What do you think? That I need an exorcism?" he asked, looking at the comically shocked woman and had to laugh again.

"Shut it!" He snapped and turned to his wife who looked as if she was about to cry. "For Christ's sake, pull yourself together, woman! Call the police they'll take him off our hands." She nodded and stared at William. "We can't let him loose on the public." She said and he sighed. "No, we can't. They'll lock him into an asylum and deal there with him until he's come to his senses. Now, /call them/. I won't stand here all day long. And get two of the boys to hold him down." He told her and she quickly scurried out of the room.

"Let me loose on the public?" William asked and chuckled again, he just couldn't help it, those two were so ridiculously appalled, it was hilarious. "If you think that I'm a danger to the public, that it's perhaps even contagious, then shouldn't you take a step back?" he said with a snicker.

"No wonder you couldn't find a family, you disrespectful brat!" He struck him once more to both get him to shut up and defend his authority (and because he wanted to hit something). "If the rumours about these places are true, I won't have to see you again at all. God, I hope they are."

William chuckled again, "If family is what you pretend to have here then I'm very glad I don't have one." he said, ignoring the second blow as well, even though he could taste his own blood in his mouth, he made sure to keep smiling though, just to piss his foster father off. "You incompetent little man, it's a blessing you're not man enough to have any offspring. And yes, I can tell it's you, even if you made your wife believe it's her fault."

"You pathetic little bastard! How /dare/ you?!" He yelled and punched him again, when suddenly two of his other sons appeared. "You called for us?" The sixteen-year old asked; he was quite bulky, but had a terrified look on his face, thinking he was the next one to get a bloody nose. "Yes, secure him until the police officers arrive. Do it!" He shouted and his sons quickly went up to William and did as they were told. "And don't hold him too gently, that faggot might get off on it." He grumbled and the boys shot William immediately a very uncomfortable look, before glancing down.

William gave the two boys a little barely noticeable nod and tried a genuine smile, though he wasn't sure how visible that was since his lips felt quite swollen, "Don't worry, haven't said a word about you." he murmured quickly when his idiot foster father was distracted by something his wife had called, glancing at Scott, the other reason his lips had been swollen recently, just for much more pleasant reasons. He sure as hell wouldn't tell on him, though.

"Thanks." Scott said and gave him a quick and strained smile, but didn't dare to let go of William properly. "I wish I could help you." He replied before his foster father went to the window to watch the police offices come to his house. "There they are.." He muttered and gripped William's chin harshly. "If you know what's good for yourself, shut your face when they're here, am I being clear?"

"Whatever." William said and rolled his eyes, waiting until the man had left to open the door, before he looked at Scott again, "Don't worry about me, I'll be alright. Just make sure he doesn't find out about you." he mumbled, before looking at Carl, his other foster brother who was Scott's biological, older brother, "Watch out for him, okay?" he asked quietly as he heard heavy footsteps returning to them.

"Of course I will." Carl nodded dutifully and Scott kissed the top of William's head softly, quickly withdrawing when he heard the policemen and their foster father arrive on top of the stairs. It was a matter of seconds before they showed up back in the room. "This is him then?" The older officer asked and their foster father nodded. "Yes, that's the brute." He nodded, which quickly led to them gripping him on each arms to drag him downstairs. "William.. Carter, we hereby arrest you for indecent behaviour. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"Well while you're at it, you might want to have a look into my dear foster father's finances, tax evasion on a large scale isn't what I'd call decent behaviour either." William said and smiled gleefully at his foster father before turning to his foster brothers, his smile turning genuine for them, before he turned back to the police man that just talked to him. "You think a little solicitor can afford a house like this legally?" he asked, raising a brow.

"That kid has a point..." The older officer said and gave his colleague a look, before radioing the station to call for backup. Their foster father stared at them with wide eyes and all but ran up to William to beat him into a pulp, though the older police officer stepped in fairly soon and handcuffed him, giving his colleague a took to do the same with William. "Mr. Carter, I hereby arrest you for deferring police actions and presumed tax fraud." He said and walked the both of them downstairs. His wife had a look of pure terror on her face when they passed her.

"Wait, please, just a second." William said calmly, hoping his peaceful and obedient behaviour towards the policemen had scored him some points. "May I say goodbye to her?"

The younger officer nodded and waited for the kid to say goodbye to his mother (what kind of a person would say no to that?). Meanwhile, his colleague dragged the fuming husband into the police car. Mrs. Carter just stared at William, tears in her eyes.

Using the fact that he was not yet handcuffed, William wrapped his arms around the woman - she had after all been rather nice to him while he'd been here, "He's lied to you. I've seen the doctor's letter." he murmured quietly so that only she could hear, "You are perfectly healthy and able to have a child, it's him who's infertile. I just wanted to let you know." he said and pulled back to look at her with a smile, "Take care of yourself and of Carl and Scott. They're good boys." he said, before he held his hands out to the policeman so he could cuff him.

The policeman did, though he didn't tighten the cuffs enough to hurt the skin; he was always appreciative when criminals cooperated. Mrs. Carter was more than startled at all of that that and just gaped when William was led outside. "You won't share a police car with your father." The officer said as he pulled him along to a waiting police car. "I'm taking you straight to the asylum, kiddo. You're avoiding a court case for now, since nothing has happened.

"Anywhere I won't have to deal with him suits me." William said and frowned, "Just if that's legally important, my face didn't look like it does now 15 minutes ago before he repeatedly punched me." he said, following the man to the car.

"It doesn't, kid. As your father he has every right to discipline you." He said and protected his head as he sat him on the backs eat of the car, before getting into the front. "But where you're going you won't miss a strong hand." He said as the car drove off.

"He's not my father. And I'm glad I'm not his offspring." William stated, before he laid back in his seat, wondering only now how he would manage to get blood once there. At least his last 'meal' hadn't been more than two hours ago. That was helpful, at least until tomorrow.

The officer was quiet during the rest of the ride and focused on driving. Not thirty minutes later, they arrived and the officer walked him towards the building. Inside, a male nurse took William from then on, while the officer talked to someone from the administration about the technicalities. "Can you tell me your name?" The nurse asked as he led William down the corridors to his room.

"William Holmes." William said, figuring his own last name would highly increase chances for Mycroft to find out about this and really, he didn't want to be called like that bastard any longer. He just hoped he'd spend a good long time in prison, perhaps even long enough for his wife to be allowed to get a divorce and find a good man to have that baby she so wished for.

"Okay William. You're sharing a room with three other nice people here." The nurse said calmly and clearly. "We'll have you washed, redressed and looked at by a doctor and then you can go see your room. We have some very simple rules here; If you don't break them, you won't get into trouble." He said for the probably three hundredth time as he brought him into an exam room. "Don't get close enough to other patients to touch them in any way and do what the people wearing uniforms tell you to. Do you understand?"

"Is the thing about not going near other patients for my protection or theirs?" William asked a little worried he might get stabbed at night, there were all sorts of people in places like this. And it wouldn't be so good if he was stabbed and the wound would heal while they were treating it.

"Both. That and decency." The nurse replied. "You should treat the people around yourself carefully, you can't know what they're dealing with or how they'll react. Hurting each other won't be tolerated, obviously. Can you accept those rules?"

"Sure," William said and nodded, "Can you tell me anything about the people I'm rooming with? Things I should avoid to talk about?"

"Of course, Gavin used to be a schizophrenic, but after having received treatment he's much calmer these days, mostly sitting on his bed. You can talk at him, just don't yell. If someone's pushed him over, you can call one of the nurses. Michael is delusional. If he tells you about his hallucinations, don't look at the place where he imagines them and never interact with them in any way. Jim is more erratic; you should avoid talking about magical creatures with him, since those excite him. He can get loud occasionally, but he hasn't bitten yet, as far as I know." The nurse summarised and disinfected his hands. "Any questions?"

"Hang on, did you say bitten?" William asked, trying not to sound too interested, but rather confused, though he was extremely interested since this sounded like this Jim could be like him, if so, he'd at least have an alley he could work with to get out of here.

"He thinks he's a vampire." The nurse confirmed. "But if you don't try to aggravate him, he's a nice one. His state has worsened over time, so feel free to tell us if you start to feel threatened by him over time." The nurse said and took William's wrist to take his pulse.

William nodded, "Sure, I will." he said and wondered what his face looked like now, "My erm.. my face is only half as bad as it looks, I suppose some cleaning up will do, my foster father didn't have the easiest temper, freaked out about everything and didn't mind to hit on old bruises either as you can see." he said, hoping that'd explain the fact that his bruises already looked a few days old.

"Right, they don't need tending to anymore now that they've healed anyway. You'll be fine in a week or two." The nurse said and took the watch William was wearing off hi swrist. "Okay, you'll have to strip now. The doctor will be with you in a minute or two, alright?"

"Sure." William said with a shrug and started to take off his clothes, "Am I going to get my personal stuff back when I get out of here?" he asked, quite confident that he would soon get out, "And is there any chance I can call my brother? He's overseas in America at the moment, that's why I was with a foster family."

"Patients only get telephone privileges in emergencies. What's his name again?" He asked and put the watch into a labelled box. "And yes, of course you will get everything back at the end of your treatment."

"Mycroft Holmes." William said and sighed, before smiling slightly at the nurse, "Anyway, thanks for nice introduction." he said politely, not wanting to be accused of possibly flirting with him in any way.

"You're welcome, William." The nurse said and took some notes on a a clipboard before collecting William's clothes and leaving again, locking the door behind himself.

William crossed his arms in front of his chest against the chilly air in the room once the nurse had left the room, taking a deep breath and enjoying the moment of privacy.

About forty minutes later, the doctor unlocked the door and stepped inside, holding William's patient file in one and his keys in the other hand. After glancing at William, he opened his file and began to read why he was here in the first place.

"Hello, you're probably the doctor then?" William asked and looked up at the man that just entered the room.

The doctor ignored him for the most part until he'd read his file and put it aside after making a correction; the patient didn't have any recent facial bruising... "Incompetent nurses" He muttered under his breath, before putting on his stethoscope. "Hold still, don't speak unless spoken to." He said, sounding annoyed, since he'd had to sacrifice half his lunch break for this, before beginning his examination.

William just nodded at that, already disliking that doctor, weren't psychiatrists supposed to be approachable and insightful? Well it didn't really matter, did it? He wasn't going to stay here anyway.

After getting all the data he needed, he got out a small questionnaire and began to go through it with William, for the first time actually talking to him. "Just answer with yes or no unless I say so. Are you sexually attracted to men? Have you been in a relationship with a woman before? Have you ever kissed a man? Have you ever had sexual intercourse with a man? Did your mother abandon you? Did your father abandon you? Have you been sexually abused? If so, by whom? Do you realise that you want and need to change?"

"Alright, well, yes, I am sexually attracted to man, no I haven't been in a relationship with a woman, I have kissed a man, I have had sexual intercourse with a man, my mother did not abandon me, neither did my father, I haven't been sexually abused and last but not least, I do not plan on changing anything." William said and gave a small shrug.

"Five out of eight." The doctor said as he scribbled down the answers. "You'll undergo a six-week therapy program under Dr. Moran's watch. He's head of psychiatry. Don't worry, you'll be cured by the end of it." He said and took the file back up. "Anyway, when exactly did you get those injuries?" He asked after a moment, wondering why the nurses hadn't done their job properly.

"Uh.. a while ago, the file might say otherwise, I've had a bit off blood spilled on my face because my foster father found it appropriate to punch me again and it all got a bit messy, I had a nosebleed and bit my tongue quite hard, it looked much worse before I wiped the blood off, so that might be why it looked worse at first, with the rest of the other bruises underneath."

"Right, that explains that." The doctor nodded and wrote that down. "And how long have you been living with your foster father now?"

"Round about four months." William said and couldn't help but roll his eyes, "Right bastard that man." he grumbled.

"And have you developed those homosexual tendencies under his.. care?" The doctor asked, though he all but agreed with beating children.

"No.. I've always been like that." William said and had to fight hard to keep the smile off his face that wanted to spread his lips as he thought of Victor and yes Scott too, though obviously you couldn't even begin to compare the two. He really did like Scott though.

"Of course..." He said with a slow nod and scribbled something down. "You'll know better once you're out of here again. We haven't managed to find your complete medical file, so can you tell me if you have any chronic diseases or allergies?"

"I don't." William said and realised that he was maybe lucky enough that the pills they'd probably give him wouldn't work given that he wouldn't get additional blood.

"Standard medication then..." The doctor wrote down, before getting to his feet again. "Wait here until a nurse gets back to take you to the showers." He said, putting the clipboard under his arm to leave again. He might still be able to have lunch if he was quick.

"Alright." William said and leant back against the cold wall, "Is there any chance I could get some sort of bathing robe or anything? It's rather chilly in here." he asked.

The doctor sighed, but opened one of the medical drawers to get out a thin linen sheet. "Here, there you go." He said and put it down best to William, before leaving the room and locking the door behind himself.

"Thanks." William said and unfolded the sheet, before he wrapped it around himself.

About ten minutes later a different nurse unlocked the door and stepped inside. "Hello, I'm Ted. I'll show you to the showers and then you can get dressed." He said and waited for William to stand up. "You can keep your sheet if you need it. Can you walk and shower by yourself?"

"I'm gay not sick, so yeah." William said and smiled lightly as he stood up, "Is it always so cold in here?" he asked and pulled the sheet tighter around himself, "Or is it just that you turn off the heaters around this time in the evenings?"

"The former. I suspect that's partly because of the thick stone walls." The nurse said and went out of the room. "Come on, the water isn't freezing. I'll give you your towel and clothes once we're there."

William nodded, following the nurse out of the room, "Well I hope the clothes are a little thicker than the sheet then." he said and looked around the plain corridor.

"They are." He said and walked with him down the hallway. "Patients are usually either in their rooms or therapy." He explaibed the almost empty corridor. "And how did you wind up here, if I may ask?"

"My foster father tried to make me go out with his boss's daughter so he would get promoted, that girl had seen me a few times and was apparently quite eager to go out with me." William said with a roll of his eyes, "I told him I wouldn't and he made me angry enough that I told him I'd probably consider it if his boss had a son.." he said and shook his head.

"Ah, well, that was a mistake." The nurse said with a shrug. "But if you were just trying to make him angry, you'll be back home soon enough. He sounds quite awful, your foster father."

"Well I was trying to make him angry, but it's still true. Not that I would have gone out with anyone to help that bastard, but I'm still gay, although I don't consider it something that can be cured and I don't think it's a bad thing either." William said with a sigh, "But awful he is. Told his wife that she can't get pregnant while he's the infertile one. At least I managed to tell her about this before I was brought here."

"Hm, you did the right thing there. Take it from me, those relationships never work out." He said, ignoring William's other statement. "But I can't tell you how many minors I've seen in here who've been sent by their parents. 9/10 times, the parents think institutionalisation is a punishment." He sighed and shook his head as they arrived at the showers.

"Isn't it?" William asked, looking at the nurse, "I mean I've read about the kind of 'treatment' people like me get, does sound quite a bit like punishment." he said and couldn't help but smirk. "What he didn't expect though, was that I told the police about his means of making money. Any idea what kind of punishment people get these days for tax fraud?" he asked, now actually grinning.

"Not exactly, but it doesn't sound like he'll see your mother's child grow up if she remarries." He commented. "Advice on the side, you best not want to let that "Schadenfreud" show too much. Perfectly normal emotion in my opinion, but the psychiatrists jump at it like vultures to make wild antisocial diagnoses." He said with a wink, before pointing at the room in front of them. "Now take a shower. Your clothes are in this shelf. The towel too and I'm waiting right here."

William gave his first genuine smile since he'd been led out of the house, "Thanks." he said and walked into the shower room, before he stripped off the sheet and stepped into the shower, turning the water on.

Meanwhile Ted leaned against a wall and sighed, enjoying his break.

After a quick shower, William got dressed (thankfully the clothes were indeed a good deal warmer than the sheet and he didn't feel so much like he was moving into a fridge anymore) and walked back out to the nurse. "Is there any kind of library here? At least that way I could use periods between torture sessions to further my education." he said with a roll of his eyes.

"Yes, there is, right down the hallway on the left." Ted said and pointed towards it. "You can borrow one book at a time and bring it back to your room." He said, beginning to walk towards said room. "You really needed that shower by the way. Your bruises only look half as bad now."

"Yeah guess there were still some left overs of the blood I had smeared over them.. my foster father gave me a good nosebleed as a farewell present." William said with a roll of his eyes, it wasn't so far away from the truth anyway.

"Hm, at least you won't have to see him again." Ted said and gave him a shrug. "No one will have a go at you in here, if you don't provoke them."

"Well that sounds promising.." William said and huffed a laugh, "So what next then? Is it bedtime already or can I possibly drop by at the library before going to my room?"

"No, feel free to do that after I've showed you your room. Just stay in there from eight pm until six am, we're checking." He said, stopping in front of one of the doors and motioning for William to go inside.

William sighed again as he walked into the room, remembering the story about this vampire guy, which still seemed promising, he just hoped he wasn't just a nutter who had watched Dracula too often.

"This is William, he'll be living with you from now on. Be nice to him." Ted said, before introducing the three people sitting/lying on their respective beds. "This is Gavin, that's Jim and this is Michael. You're toiletries are in the night stand." He said and walked up to one of the four twin beds to pull one of the men back up into a sitting position so that he was leaning against the wall, otherwise unresponsive. The beds had originally been white, just as the four walls, but with time the brighter colour had faded. Except for the beds, the four night stands next to each bed were the only actual pieces of furniture in the room. Meanwhile the other two people were looking up to eye the stranger, though Michael relatively quickly lost interest again and resumed to stare at the ceiling. Jim watched him carefully and leaned forward a bit, glancing nervously at the nurse who was already on his way out again.

"Well.. hello." William said and eyed Jim the same way the man looked at him, "So.. erm.. Jim, was it?" he asked once the nurse had left the room again, "Care to show me the way to the library?" he asked hesitantly, Jim was the one looking most coherent too, so even if he hadn't been the vampire guy William would have probably asked him for advice.

Jim jumped to his feet and looked William up and down for a second, before leaning forward. "Soo... why are you here? Homosexual or something interesting?" He whispered conspiratorially.

"The first." William said and smiled a little, "You don't sound like you've got a problem with that, no offence." he said, hoping it didn't sound like he was accusing him of the same, but his gaydar definitely did go off when he had seen him.

"No, I don't." Jim said and shook his head, but didn't elaborate. "But be careful, the doctors here are.. animals." He warned William seriously and looked him in the eye for a few seconds, before snapping back to normal and walking towards the door. "Library?"

"Yeah.." William said and cleared his throat, "So..they told me you want to become a vampire?" he asked, letting his voice sound perfectly casual, very much like vampires were a normal thing to talk about.

Jim nodded at that. "Yes, exactly. I just need to find a vampire who will help me, but then I can live forever." He told him and licked his lips. "Do you know anyone like that?"

William was quiet for a few seconds as he contemplated how to answer that question, no one would believe that guy anyway, right? It'd just seem like another delusion if he'd go around telling people William was a vampire, so there wasn't a big risk, was there? He'd have to take it, though. At the very least this Jim could help him not to 'starve', even if he could only have a few sips every few days and even then they'd have to be careful not to be seen since it would probably look like they were making out. "As it happens, I do, actually." he said quietly, hoping it wouldn't excite the boy too much. "But you have to be quiet about it."

Jim suddenly looked up at him in excitement and covered his mouth with both of his hands so as not to let a squeal escape. "Of course!" He whispered joyfully and nodded quickly after taking his hands down again. "Who? Who?"

"Well that'd be me." William said and smiled a little, letting his canines show a bit, "But it's not like Dracula, you know." he said and bit his lip, "I mean, I suppose the part about blood drinking is true, which obviously is a problem right now, but I have a reflection in the mirror and vampires are not evil or have any other superpowers, though the we do live forever, but we're not invincible, we can get hurt as you see. It does heal fast though." he mumbled quietly, letting his voice sound like he was letting him in on a big secret, which technically he was.

Jim's mouth was gaping and William revealed his big secret. He couldn't believe it! An actual vampire right in front of him! Fascinated by them, Jim reached out to touch William's canines, but- ouch! Before he could even comprehend what had happened, Jim's legs had given in and he was lying on the floor, looking dumbfounded.

"Hey, stand up, would you?" William asked quietly, looking around, but luckily no one of the staff had seen that, "That's not exactly helping with the keeping it secret part." he said and held out his hand to help him up. Though really in what state must he been kept that so little of his saliva had that kind of an effect on him, a well fed and healthy person would never have collapsed like that.

Jim took his hand to get up but was already grinning again, so much his face hurt a little. "You weren't lying! Will you promise to help me?" His grin was suddenly only half as big now and his eyes had gone wide again as he pleaded.

"Sure, yeah." William said and gave him a smile, "But erm.. you could help me too." William said and scratched the back of his neck, "As I said, the blood thing is a problem, don't worry, I don't need that much, I mean, I do, but I won't take that much from you and definitely not every day, but every now and then it'd be nice if I could drink..erm.. well from you."

Jim nodded at that and yanked the sleeve of him shirt up, before glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was looking. If he had been obsessed with rock stars and one of those had just offered to sign his shirt and later sing a song with him, that feeling would've been nothing compared to how he was feeling right now. "I'll help you. The library has good hiding spots." He suggested quickly, before hugging himself. "And you really promise?"

"I do, yeah, but you have to stop talking about vampires, okay? I can't do it in here, so we both have to get out of here." William said and reached out to pull Jim's sleeve down again, "It's a long process, it takes at least two hours and you'll be very tired for a while after that and more importantly, you need to drink a lot of blood afterwards and as I said, in here, that's a problem." he said quietly. "Also.. I don't have to drink right now, maybe the day after tomorrow, though. I've had some about four hours ago so that should tide me over for tomorrow at least."

"Okay" Jim nodded seriously and continued to walk with him towards the library. "HA! I knew I could become a vampire." He said more to himself with a chuckle. "The psychiatrists so stupid"

"You should stop the muttering to yourself as well." William said and frowned, "One of the nurses told me that the psychiatrists go after these things like vultures, he called it. Just try to be like they want you to be, what you think is irrelevant, that they can't see, but on the outside, you have to try to make them think they've cured you. So no more talk about vampires and no muttering, okay? I guess that means for me that I should stop telling people that I'm gay and proud of it too.." he said with a quiet chuckle.

"Act like they've cured me, keep the interesting things to myself." Jim repeated with a nod. "And when they believe me, you'll help me become a vampire." He said, almost jumping on the spot; but they didn't want him to jump, did they? Ha!

"When they believe you and well for that matter, believe me too, yes, then I'll turn you." William said and meant it, though he wasn't quite sure if Jim was stable enough to ever be let out of here.

"I'll be free *and* a" Jim began and mouthed the word 'vampire', before giggling with joy. His days of waiting were over. 'James Moriarty, a free vampire' That had a fantastic ring to it!

"Yeah.." William said, forcing a smile on his lips, he actually doubted there was any chance he'd get out of here. "So how about we go to the library now?" he asked.

"Oh! Yeah, sure." Jim nodded and began to walk towards the library to show William the vampire around.

William nodded and felt just a little uncomfortable around that boy, though he was still less awkward company than the other two in his room, "So what can you tell me about Gavin and Michael?" he asked curiously.

"Gavin used to be much more interesting two years ago. You never knew who you were talking to with him." Jim said with a giggle. "And Michael sees and hears things we others can't. But don't worry he can't read minds, I've checked." He said, before tapping the other's shoulder to share something funny with him. "If you're bored, you can go up to one of the spots he's looking at and pretend you're having conversations with them. You /have/ to see way he looks!" He said and began to laugh, even doubling over.

"Well the nurse told me explicitly not to do that." William said and smiled a little, "And what did we just agree, we'll do exactly what the nurses and doctors want from us and talk like they want us to talk so we get out of here sooner." he said and sort of felt strangely responsible for him.

"Okay, no more fun with Michael." Jim nodded, feeling quite pouty. But he was with a vampire and about to be free again so that took the edge of things. "I've actually calculated the exact maximum number of v- you know who I mean, that can be on earth with a population of six billion." He chatted lightly.

"You did?" William asked and smirked a little, "And how many would that be?" he asked, not really taking that seriously since he couldn't have actual data to use since it didn't seem like he had met an actual vampire before.

"It's a formula." Jim nodded eagerly. "But if you drank as much blood as normals do water, there shouldn't be more than eight million. A nurse told me people can donate blood five times a year and half of the population are probably to young or sick." He explained with a grin. "It could be way more though, if vampires would just take the blood and not wait until the body has replaced it." He'd given this quite some thought. "Where do you get your blood from without getting caught?"

"Well there are enough people working at blood banks that don't ask too many questions if you offer them a good price for some blood bags." William said and smiled a little, honestly he didn't feel like he was talking to an adult. Or even an almost adult. More like an overly excited five year old. "But truth to be told, I don't know how many vampires there are, I only know two, no three." he said and shrugged.

Jim listened intently until they arrived at the library, which then got his attention. "Here we are. We can take one book at a time. And you have to be very quiet!" He said the last part in a stage-whisper.

"Alright." William whispered back, mainly so Jim would stay calm, "Is there any book you recommend?" he asked quietly, looking at his new .. friend.

"Oh, I'll show you!" Jim whispered and pulled William the vampire along by the hem of his shirt. "They don't have the Lemming Game anymore, but..." Jim said with a frown and looked in one of the bookshelves for a Dr. Seuss one. 'The Cat In The Hat' "Here that one's not that boring and it's brand-new." He whispered and handed it to the other.

"Oh.. yeah.. that's.. erm.. fascinating. But I've read that before." William said and took the book, before he placed it back into the shelf, "Erm.. do they have books with.. you know, more words and less pictures too?"

"Oh, yeah sure." Jim nodded and looked for another one... "I get bored of those after a few pages though. And we're not supposed to tear out pages." He said and gave the vampire a bible; that probably had the most words and least pictures in it and people constantly borrowed those.

"That's.. better." William said and frowned at the book, "You know what, I'll look around for a while longer, "Can you check on Gavin and Michael? They don't look like you should leave them alone for too long.." he said and smiled a little.

"Oh right, I'll do that." Jim said with a nod and turned around again to go back to their room; not before taking one of the picture books though.

William looked after him for a moment, before turning back to the bookshelves and after some browsing time, he eventually settled on 'The Picture Of Dorian Gray' for nostalgic reasons. While he walked back to his room with the book in his hands, he tried to get some closer looks on locks and security measures.


	92. Sebastian Moran

William was more than a little nervous when he was escorted to his therapist's office for the first therapy session a few days later, he had only briefly seen the man - Dr Moran - a few times when he did his rounds, but today was their first actual therapy. He just hoped it wasn't anything too exhausting, he was weak enough as it was having only had a few sips of blood from that Moriarty guy over the past week. He was starved and felt like his room mates and the other patients he saw during meals actually drove him crazy. "What kind of therapy is this exactly?" he asked Ted, who was escorting him to the doctor's office.

"Well, you're having two kinds of therapy in total; talking and... exposure. Today you're just going to chat with doctor Moran. I'm sure you've already seen him over the past few days." Ted explained as they walked down the corridors.

"Right.." William mumbled and frowned a bit, "I suppose talking is the more pleasant one then?" he asked warily.

"Yeah, pretty much." Ted said, looking a bit uncomfortable. "If you've got any problems, you can tell the doc today, so there's nothing to worry about." He said reassuringly.

"I guess.." William said as they arrived at the office.

"I'll pick you up in an hour." Ted said, before opening the door and leaving William again.

William nodded, walking into the room and sitting down on the sofa that looked like it was for patients, given that there was a comfy chair next to it that did seem to be for the doctor (since it was unlikely that the doctor would lie down for these conversations).

"Ah, hello William" Dr Moran said after walking inside himself and sitting down on his chair. "I'm Dr. Moran. You may lie down if you'd like to." He said and set William's file aside. "How are you today?"

"Been better." William said and for the sake of good behaviour and because he was a little dizzy, laid down on the sofa and yes that did feel better with his circulatory doing loops.

"Really, and what may be the reason for that? According to your file you've been living in an abusive home, if I understand correctly?" The doctor asked and opened it again to have another look.

"Well yes, I have. But only for about four months. And it was just my foster father, he's a dick and I genuinely have no idea who in this world would trust this man with foster kids, but the government moves in mysterious ways." William said and rolled his eyes, "And no, he doesn't have anything to do with me being gay, I've been asked that before here so I figured I'd make that clear right away."

"Right, well, how about you tell me a bit about how you're dealing with living here, new room mates and so forth?" He suggested and git his pen out to take notes.

"Well.. Gavin's not the most interesting person to talk to.." William said and shrugged, "Michael is too busy to talk because he already has various people to talk to and Jim is.. enigmatic.." he said and chuckled a little, "To be honest, he seems a bit like a child at times."

"Yes, that's quite a fitting description." Sebastian Moran said with a bit of a smile. "He seems to look up to you, from what I can tell. Do you think that's true?"

"I guess I'm just the only treating him like a perfectly healthy adult. Maybe that scored me some points with him. Obviously I keep avoiding to talk about the V word." William said and sat up again, feeling slightly nauseous from the lack of blood, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't throw up.

"Hm... obviously. So what's your opinion on vampires then?" The doctor asked him after a moment, watching William carefully.

"They may or may not exist.. not my place to judge." William said and shrugged a little, "After all many people believe in god as well without having proof, so I wouldn't say everyone who believes in vampires is insane, but it is critical if you're obsessed with things like that and on your quest to prove you're right hurt yourself or others and can't live a normal life."

"Spoken like a diplomat. You know, I have to admit, there are so many things one can't explain that a completely rational individual may believe in vampires. Things like, contradictory records on injuries or an unexplainable fatigue or nausea." Dr. Moran said with another look into the file.

William glanced up at his doctor at that with a frown, not sure what he meant since he had pretty much explained his current state. "Exactly." he said and looked intently at his doctor, not sure what exactly his doctor was going at.

"Maybe, all things considered, it's probably not all that surprising you're getting along with James like no one else." Moran said and raised an eyebrow. "Don't you agree?"

"I suppose it's not too much of a surprise given that I'm more open minded than most people, yes." William said, not wanting to admit too much, he really didn't need another reason to be kept here.

Moran chuckled a bit at that before sitting up. "I wonder what the reason for that may be... could you I just have a look at your teeth, please?"

"Speaking of open-mindedness. Upon your arrival you said you didn't think your.. condition needed to be treated." Moran said looking up from his notes. "Do you still stand by that?"

"Yeah, I do." William said and smiled a little, "Well it would help if I could get out of here though, I happen to have a problem with being locked up against my will."

"To be quite honest, I still don't think it has to be." William said and shrugged, "I'm no danger to myself or other people, I wouldn't force myself on other men, but I don't see any problem with consensual relationships between two adults of the same sex. In my opinion it isn't 'a condition' and trying to treat it like one is a waste of resources which could be used on people that do need treatment."

"I'm afraid that's not exactly the medical consensus." Moran said and scribbled something down in his notes. "Which is why you'll undergo a six-week therapy program, alternating between talking and aversive therapy sessions with standard medication. Any questions about that?"

"Six weeks?" William asked, nearly choking on the words. He already felt like shit and it had barely been a week. "Isn't there some.. express therapy? Anything that'd get me out of here sooner?" he asked with a sigh. In six weeks with so little blood, he'd likely be crazy for real.

"That's actually one of our shortest therapy programs, provided it's successful, of course." Moran said and put his pen down. "A lot of our patients stay for years."

"Oh look at that, I feel quite heterosexual already." William said and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

"Look at that, we're making process already." Moran said with a small chuckle. "But I might actually believe you in a few short weeks."

"A few weeks in here will make me insane for real." William said, sounding quite desperate even though he tried not to.

"I'd recommend you'd better watch out for yourself in that case. 'Going insane for real' would only prolong your stay even more." He said, though it was actual genuine advice; his own hands were tied.

"Right.." William said and ran his hands through his hair, "Are we done here then?" he asked and really was quite eager to end this therapy session, "I erm.. I promised Jim I'd show him some of my favourite books in the library."

"Yes, I think we won't get any further today." Moran said with a nod. "See you tomorrow then."

"Yeah." William said and swayed a little as he stood up, before he gathered himself together.

"Can you walk or do I need to call a nurse?" Dr Moran asked him with a raised eyebrow as he stood up himself.

"No I'm fine." William said and shook his head, taking a deep breath, "It'll probably get better after walking a little around in the library." he said and he really needed that now. A good long sip of blood. He had been very careful drinking from Jim before so he could probably drink just a little longer today and god he really needed it too.

\---------------------------------------------

Before long Jim went with William the vampire back into the library. He'd asked him if he could drink from him again and of /course/ Jim had agreed. It had felt really nice the last time anyway and he'd seen how William had become more wobbly and slow since then; Jim was very observant. "No one's here." He whispered as they arrived; well no-one except the librarian.

"Mhm.." William hummed and walked around a corner where they wouldn't be seen by the librarian, "I really appreciate what you're doing for me here, you know." he said as he sat down on the floor.

Jim followed him and sat down too. "Well, we've got a deal." He said and began to hitch up his sleeve. "I can't /wait/ to be a vampire too." Jim said and tucked his knees under his chin, excited about what was to come.

William gave a little smile at that and held Jim's forearm with his hands, before he lowered his head to bite into his wrist, letting out a soft sigh as the warm liquid filled his mouth, god that felt good.

Jim closed his eyes and let out a sigh, overwhelmed with bliss. They could do this more often in his opinion...

William stopped drinking after a few seconds, making sure he didn't get carried away, but good god it felt so good to get some blood. "You alright?" he asked, looking up at Jim.

The blood loss, if small, paired with the anaesthetic had its effect on Jim. Feeling dizzy, he opened his eyes and blinked a bit disoriented.

"Let's keep sitting here for a while." William said and reached out for a random book from one of the shelves next to him, just so he could pretend he was reading a story for Jim, which no one would really mind in his state.

Jim started getting back to his senses a few minutes... Were they still in the library? How boring, ugh. After a moment, he stumbled back onto his feet to go somewhere else.

William couldn't help but chuckle a little as Jim simply walked away, he really was like a five year old. Standing up himself and feeling a lot better though still not exactly good, William started to walk back to his room.

–---------------------------------------- A bit under two weeks Jim was out on the corridor, shouting at one of the nurses after he'd stopped an argument between him and another patient; they'd been arguing about vampires and the other had even called him an idiot. As a result, Jim completely lost it. "You're gonna /regret/ the day you were born!" He screamed and tried to get past the nurse and to the guy he'd argued with. "Once In a vampire you'll /burn/!"

William rolled his eyes at Jim's outburst, watching it quietly from a chair in the lunch room, while he poked tiredly at his ... food? It was supposed to be spaghetti though they looked more like badly mistreated maggots if he was honest.

Before long Jim punched the nurse and managed to get past him, now having a go at the patient on the ground. A whole group of patients was beginning to gather around them while a few other nurses had been called and where now trying to get through the mass of people.

"Oh for god's sake." William murmured and stood up, walking over and squeezing himself through a small gap between the crowd, "Hey Jim, calm down." he said meaningfully, "It's all good, just relax, okay?" he asked, hoping he'd remember that their goal was to get out of here and that punching people really wouldn't help.

Too far gone, Jim didn't hear him anymore and just continued throwing punches at the increasingly disfigured poor sod on the ground. "Call some more nurses, we've got to break this" One of the nurses said to his colleague, still trying to break the group apart without success. "He'll go into solitary after this"

"Jesus, Jim, leave him alone!" William shouted and gathering all the strength he had left together, he pulled Jim away from the man on the ground and yanking him backwards with him through the gap he had slipped into the group of people, "What's gotten into you?" he asked quietly, holding his arms tightly.

Jim breathed heavily, beginning come back to himself. "He.. he called me an- but I'm /not/-" He began, when the two nurses from the beginning spotted Jim and pulled him up to his feet. "Come on, we're taking you to a nice and quiet room." One of them said and Jim slipped into hysterics again as they tried to drag him away. "No! NO!! I need to get out! William the vampire wanted to turn me! No!"

"Jim, it's all good, we've talked about this." William said and looked intently at him, "There are no vampires." he said and hoped he'd get the message that the best thing he could do now was to shut up. Promise or not, he couldn't do much for him when he freaked out like that.

"No! Let go of me!" Jim cried, still struggling against the hold of the nurses, trying desperately to get free. Meanwhile the nurses had only tightened their grip on him and dragged him slowly but surely down the hallway.

William watched the group lead by Dr Moran pass through a door that usually stayed locked, obviously there had to be some kind of exit near, right? Oh well, he was desperate enough to try, after all when would he get a chance like this again? There was no nurse or doctor around and the door was open, so he just stopped thinking and waited roughly 20 seconds until he couldn't hear Jim and the nurses anymore, before he walked slowly towards the door, slipping through it unnoticed by the other patients and .. damn. No exit. Just the way to the solitary cells and the laboratory.. that was probably his best shot. Walking into the laboratory he smiled as he spotted a door that was marked as an emergency exit. Oh thank god. Rushing towards it, he saw a jar containing a brain swimming in formaldehyde, grabbing it along with a raincoat that hung over the back of a chair, he pushed the emergency door open and for the first time in two weeks, breathed fresh air and it was glorious.


	93. Unexpected Reunion

John was just cleaning up the kitchen table so that he and Jim had some space to learn. It was nice that they'd have the flat to themselves this morning; Sherlock was still at uni and the girls at the orphanage. A few minutes later his colleague fellow student arrived and they went into the kitchen. "Now your flat is... interesting." He said and looked around a bit. "So how's family life, Dad?" Jim teased him with a chuckle and sat down at the kitchen table. John rolled his eyes a bit at that and chuckled as well. "Yeah, the style doesn't get boring too quickly. And it's great, really. Exhausting, but very rewarding, you know?" "Yeah, sounds a bit like medicine actually." He laughed. "Anyway, let's get started, shall we? We have to be done in time for you to be able to make lunch for the kids." Jim said with a smirk.

"...and then we started to make school cones! Janine said that where she grew up when kids start school they get a huge back like a cone that's tied at the top and it's filled with a whole lot of sweets!" Rosie chirped as Sherlock opened the door for the three of them, before he set the girl down on the floor, handing her her bag, "Oh yeah, I've heard about it." Sherlock said and smiled, locking the door behind them before he walked over to the stairs, "Literally translated it'd be school bag, but bag as in plastic bag not like hand bag, wanna take a guess what they're called in German, Charlie?" he asked with a smile.

"Erm.. Schultüte?" Charlie asked with a chuckle, since that really sounded like a grocery bag full of school supplies. 

"Oh, can you hear that?" Jim asked, perking up at the sound. "Oh, yeah, that's Rosie, our little one. The others can't be far either then. I'll just go get the door.." John said and got to his feet. "Oh, yeah, sure."

Sherlock smiled, "Exactly." he said and chuckled, "Well done, or as Germans say, gut gemacht." he said as they started to walk up the stairs "Papa can we say hi to daddy even though he has to study today?" Rosie asked and Sherlock chuckled, "Of course you can say hi to daddy." he said and smiled as Rosie rushed up the stairs, "Daddy!" she called, "We're home!" she added.

"Yeah, so I've heard." John said with a smile as he let them inside. "How was school?" "It was alright" Charlie replied before following Rosie upstairs. "Have fun studying!" She called before running after her sister.

Sherlock chuckled as he walked up the stairs, seeing the girls dash upstairs, before he turned to John, giving him a smile, "Hey, love." he said and leant in to peck John's lips.

"Hey there" John smiled. "How was pedagogy?" He asked him , beginning to walk back into the kitchen.

"It's a bit like.. going to preschool.." Sherlock said with a laugh, since they were really doing a lot of crafting and reading kids books. "How's your study party going?" he asked as he followed John into the kitchen and suddenly froze in motion as he spotted the man that was presumably John's friend Jim. "You gotta be kidding me.." he said after a few seconds and let out a laugh. "Scott?" he asked and he just knew this guy didn't just look a lot like an old friend of him. He had the same eyes, the same birthmark on his collar bone. Definitely Scott.

Jim looked at him in shock, though he soon had a surprised grin on his face. He'd given up on seeing him again decades ago, having thought he must've left the country. "William?" "What?" John asked with a frown.

"Well you look good for an 80 year old man." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "How's Carl? Is he a vampire too?" he asked and still couldn't believe it. "Oh and don't worry, John's in the loop, joined the club himself about a month ago."

Scott stood up to walked over to his former lover/ foster brother. "Yeah, we both turned after finding a dealer of yours; voluntarily, that is." He said and ran a hand through his hair, giving him a smile. "I'm glad you're alright, I never stopped wondering what became of you... So you're calling yourself Sherlock these days?"

"Well technically that's my name. William Sherlock.. Scott, actually." Sherlock said and laughed once again. "Christ, I really didn't expect that." he said and shook his head, "What happened to Olivia?" he asked after a moment of silence, "Please tell me she managed to get a divorce and have a baby." he said, despite everything really wishing things had turned out well for his foster mother.

"Oh yes, she did, her name's Cynthia." Scott said with a smile. "She got married to a Scotsman and lives up there with her family." He said with a sigh; he did miss her a lot. "Christ, we're old, aren't we?"

"Matter of opinion. And I'd say compared to me, you're still a youngster." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Turned 243 this year."

"Wait /what/?" Scott asked him with wide eyes. "I always thought you'd been thirty something at most at the time." He said before shaking his head a bit. Meanwhile John had literal question marks whizzing over his head as he watched them. But seriously how in the world were vampires even surprised when they met another? This happened on an almost daily basis to him...

Sherlock chuckled a little at that, "Well to be honest, you probably have noticed that too, it doesn't feel like I get older, that's probably to do with people still treating you like you're as old as you look and having to act that way too." he said and shrugged. Suddenly realising that they had completely forgotten about John. "Oh damn, sorry, love." he said and smiled at John, "Er.. you remember when I told you how I was sent to that mental hospital? Before that I've stumbled into the adoption system and ended up in a foster family. Scott.. or.. Jim, whatever and his brother were my foster brothers and erm.. well.. Scott and I.. we had sort of a fling at the time." he said and smiled a little.

"Oh, right..." John nodded slowly, though the fact that his colleague had made out with Sherlock and was together with the bloke that had hit on Sherlock... They'd have a couples night over his dead body, they weren't. Meanwhile Scott still couldn't believe this was happening. "So that's why you wanted me to take on John's shifts? I thought you'd only gone on a holiday." He said with a chuckle.

"Right, I can't believe I didn't recognise your voice when I called you.." Sherlock said and chuckled, shaking his head, "You know what, you and Dennis should come over some time. Well that is if Dennis isn't too mad at me." he said with a laugh, "It was an emergency, I really needed those files."

"He'd better not be; otherwise I wouldn't have got the chance to meet him at all." Scott said with a chuckle. "He told me it had something to do with an orphanage, but I didn't dare to ask John. Don't tell me that's where you adopted those girls from?" He asked and John felt like he could strangle Sherlock for that; or Jim for that matter. Next he was going to suggest to watch John's childhood videos or invite Edgar Allan Poe over just for the hell of it.

"Yeah, we did, actually. You know, you might be interested in this too, it's a vampire orphanage, with kids that have been turned, I don't know if you know about this, when you turn kids, they age until they're fully grown and only then the ageing stops. Although it takes some time to get used to toddlers drinking blood from a sippy cup, trust me on that." Sherlock said with a smile, "But if you ever toy with the idea of adopting, you might want to look there first."

"Dennis has been talking about children since day one, so we might actually consider it." Scott said with a smile. "When I've told him about it, obviously. How did you broach the subject to John? I'm terrified of that talk to be completely honest."

"Huh.. yeah that was a difficult conversation, I didn't exactly broach the subject.. my brother was a dick and sneaked an old portrait of me from regency times into an exhibit I've been taking John to for our first date." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, "So that broached the subject for me."

"What a cock." Scott said with a huff. "But, well, it worked worked out for you in the end, didn't it? Any tips on how not to sound like a lunatic? Convincing Johnny can't have been a piece of cake."

"Oh it wasn't, but actually.. you're the better person to ask that question." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "I mean you know both sides now, how would you do it?" he asked as he grabbed three glasses from the cupboard to pour them all a glass of blood, actually kind of curious about how John would do this.

"Well, generally speaking, you probably shouldn't start off with 'I'm a vampire' or anything drastic that. That'll only sound like you're taking the piss or need a need a holiday." John said with a bit of a smile. "I'd sit him down and start talking about it like it's a medical condition/anomaly or whatever. I mean, things like the quick blood-clotting, immune system and so forth are easy enough to proof. You could explain how your stomach can't absorb foods properly and so on. I mean, you know this from work better than anybody else anyway; Rationalising and staying calm is no guarantee for anything, but it's surely better than the alternative." John said and Scott sighed. "Yeah, I guess in the end I cant control how he'll react to, well, my reality and facts.. I mean, it's not like I'm telling him his brother's died or anything, so it'll hopefully not be that bad." He said with a wry smile.

"And if he has any doubts you've got your brother as a witness and well, us.." Sherlock said and smiled a little, handing John a glass, before giving another to Scott, "And by us, I mean round about 20 other vampires including me and a good deal of vampire kids, though only the ones above 12, they don't tell the little ones about the whole vampire thing."

"Your Rosie doesn't know what she's drinking?" Scott asked with a frown. "Though, on second thought, that might traumatise a child... and they can't really keep secrets either I guess." He said with a bit of a chuckle.

"The commonly used term is tomato juice." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Might make people think the kid is a bit obsessed with tomato juice, but that's still better than the alternative. Wanting to drink loads of tomato juice doesn't make people think they need therapy as much as wanting to drink loads of blood does."

Scott laughed out loud at that. "You might have a point there. So you've been working with children the past century then?"

"Only starting, actually." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I've met a lot of old friends lately.. my mother, who had become a vampire as well, which I didn't know until John's aunt needed us to look after their twin girls.. John's aunt being my mother." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Oh and his sister is married to my cousin, which I also thought dead and last but not least we've been visited recently by my.. well you might want to call it ex husband, though we didn't actually get married, but lived that way in the 19th century.. anyway, his brother visited us a while ago. Oh and I nearly forgot, I've served with John's grandfather in the second world war, that was actually just a few years before we met." he said and smiled at Scott. "However,, my mum was the one who told me about the orphanage and that's how I got the idea to start teaching there, they're heavily understaffed, so that way I can actually do something useful instead of continuously studying chemistry."

"Oh so that's what you've been doing in the meantime?" Scott chuckled. "I've been thinking about the same thing to be honest. It's why I got into medicine a few years ago." Scott said with a smile, before turning to John. "You know, just based on your description I'd never have guessed you're about to marry William."

"Possibly because he called me Sherlock?" Sherlock asked with a laugh, shaking his head, "Honestly, I really didn't believe I'd ever see you again. Just out of interest, though.. what exactly happened to the old man?" he asked, talking about his foster father, of whom he hadn't heard again either. "Did he come back after he was taken away by the police along with me?" he asked.

"Oh, he did. Olivia paid his bail a few days later and he was even worse than before. He got in front of court a few weeks later though and yes, he did get prosecuted eventually. Olivia sold the house one and a half years later and moved away to her 'boyfriend' in Bermondsey as soon as she had filed the divorce papers. I think the way he'd acted after coming back really was the last straw for her." Scott told him. "I haven't seen him since. Hopefully I never will again." He added with a bit of a laugh.

"Probably dead anyway." Sherlock said and couldn't fight the smile that played on his lips, "Have you stayed with her then? Or did they send you and Carl to some other family?" he asked as he sat down at the table.

"Oh no, we did stay with her until she sold the house. It was just before my eighteenth birthday anyway, so it felt like a good time to leave and start a new life." Scott said and sat down next to William and John. "Can't tell you how thankful I was I didn't have to play this family Russian roulette anymore."

"Well my face was hardly recognisable anyway when the police arrived, I didn't think the few more punches I'd risk by blurting out his secrets to the police could make it much worse. And I knew it might relieve you two and well Olivia from his presence. It did make it a hell of a lot safer for you as well." Sherlock said and smiled.

"It did. Seriously, William, thank you." Scott said with a smile.

"You're welcome. Although I don't recommend staying in a fifties mental hospital." Sherlock said and shook his head, "And it's Sherlock." he said and smirked a little at him.

–--------------------------------------------- The next few hours were spent talking a little more and actually wrapping up their study session, though unsurprisingly, they didn't get as much done as they'd planned. Sometime in the early afternoon Scott left again and John and Sherlock were alone in the living room again. "Can't get used to the fact everyone's now calling you William." John said with a chuckle; though, it really only were his ex-boyfriends until now.

"Well I used my middle names in a loop, William, then Sherlock, then Scott, then William again.." Sherlock said and toed off his shoes before he put his legs onto John's lap, "Guess I just met most people I saw again recently when I called myself William." he said and chuckled.

"And in which time period did you call yourself Scott?" John asked him with a chuckle, rubbing his feet a bit; sometimes he wondered how it was possible for him to walk on those ice lollies.

"In the seventies." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Wild time that was." he said and smiled, "By the way, you don't have to be jealous about Scott, you know. It was never anything serious between him and me, we just.. liked each other, more as friends than anything romantic, really, but it wasn't like there was a wide range to choose from and it felt good to just.. be with someone, to not feel that abandoned, you know."

"Yeah.. even if not, I mean, you've had every right to obviously." John said. "Was it obvious? The jealousy I mean. It runs in the family if you hadn't noticed." He gave a wry smile. "You know, it's hard not to think everyone around us wants a piece of you."

"Hm, even if everyone wants a piece, they won't get it, this cake is exclusively yours." Sherlock said and chuckled, "And haven't you noticed the way his eyes sparkle when he talks about Dennis?" he asked with a smile, "It's nice to know that things went well for him after I left, though.."

"Mmh, sounded like you made quite a difference after you left." John said with a smile. "i didn't know you got into the foster system at one point."

"Yeah wasn't my favourite period of my life." Sherlock said and sighed a little, "I accidentally mentioned to one of my teachers that I was living alone, I've pretended to be 16 at the time, so he informed the authorities and they came to pick me up and dropped me off in that family.. The father was a right bastard, they couldn't get own children and he had the audacity to give his wife hell about being infertile while he knew very well that the problem was on his side, he even had it confirmed by a doctor."

"Jesus, that sounds awful." John said with a frown. "And how long did you have to live with them?"

"Four months, until we had a fight about him wanting me to start dating his boss's daughter who had seen me a couple of times and probably liked me.. Anne or Anna, something like that." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, "And eventually he had me worked up enough that I joked about how I'd consider it if his boss had a son. That didn't go so well.. he called the police and deformed my face while we were waiting for them."

"Damn, people actually used to do that because of a remark?" John asked. "I mean, it sounds like nothing."

"Well he didn't want a faggot under his roof, so he made up a story about indecent behaviour.." Sherlock said and shook his head, "Anyway, as I said before, my face was already swollen so I took the risk of further beating by telling the police about his curious tax calculating formulas." he said and chuckled, "He probably thought I was too afraid to spill the beans, but honestly, he should have known that I'd stab his back the moment he stabbed mine. I'm glad he actually did get locked away, that certainly made Carl and Scott's life easier."

"Yeah, and her foster mother rounded like a decent woman." John commented. "It's nice they got to live only with her in the end."

"Well she did want to call the vicar when her husband told her I'm 'a gay'." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, "But I suppose that was more because she didn't know how to handle the situation and there certainly was a good deal less hate than there was with him."

"Hold on, her first impulse was to call the vicar?" John asked, almost chuckling at the absurdity of that.

"Yeah, probably considered me an angel later on as I actually moved things in the end and told her truth about her being able to have babies and basically taking her husband off of her." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "She wasn't a bad person though.. everything she ever did that was truly mean was only when she carried out her husbands orders. I'm happy for her."

"Mmh.. I'm glad you've been able to make peace with that." John said with a smile. "You know, it's strange to think how many lives you've lived."

"Never a full one though.." Sherlock said and shrugged, "It's always only the years between 16 and 30 and that over and over again and on your own .. sometimes it's annoying, really badly annoying." he said and sighed, shuffling a little closer to John and resting his head on a cushion as he laid back on the sofa, "Though I think now with a family.. it's bound to get much more exciting."

"Yes, I should hope so." John said with a chuckle. "And the last few months at least have been everything but boring in my opinion."

"No that's true." Sherlock said and laughed, "Though I'm not sure how many more people from the past I can handle." he said and chuckled.

"Yeah, there've been a lot of reunions lately." John said with a laugh. "Almost seems as if no one is left anymore at this point. Speaking of, you think it's likely that this Richard turns out to be that Jim from the fifties too?"

"I don't know.. I hope not." Sherlock said and shook his head, "The last time I've seen him he had beaten up another patient who called him an idiot for believing in vampires.. I just can't see him having small talk and joking around with people, let alone having the patience and well a sufficient attention span to make those sketches you sent me.."

"Really, was he that bad?" John asked with a frown. "Richard seemed like a perfectly capable person. A bit shy and odd maybe, but you know, I definitely wasn't fearing for Charlie's safety."

"When he showed me the library in that hospital he suggested 'the cat in the hat' as one of the least boring books, when I asked for a book with more words he seemed instantly bored and handed me a bible.." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Do I have to say more?"

"Okay, we probably are talking about different people." John said and shook his head. "Doesn't sound like an IT guy either. Well, at least that's something reassuring."

"I guess, yeah." Sherlock said and sighed, crossing his arms under his head, "Are you really that opposed to having Scott and Dennis over? Or perhaps just Scott and Carl, really. I'm kind of fascinated of the idea to set up an actual community, it just really makes a lot of things easier, for instance fractures, if you end up having your own doctor's office, vampires who know about you could come to you with injuries that do need treatment to heal properly, without deformation. Or vampires who know about my mother could go to her if they have mental issues. And the larger this subculture grows the more doctors and therapists we'll have and well even police men, lawyers and judges and people who can help with building an internal fair law system and help if vampire faces normal prison."

"That does sound intriguing." John agreed. "I didn't really love the idea of a couples night but this is something else entirely. Especially with the children in the orphanage that community is bound to grow." He nodded.

Sherlock smiled, "The problem is that we'll have to make this known somehow. Anything related to media is out, so that makes it difficult. So we largely depend on word of mouth advertising, which means if we meet a vampire, we should at least tell them about it and right now, I think it's safe to say that we're probably already the largest vampire community there is, so that is a good foundation to build on."

"That's true. And I do truly hope the number of members of this network is only a fraction of ours." John said with a sigh. "But I'd be concerned about the structure. I mean, making it too official involves a lot of paperwork and once that's discovered everyone on that list would have a problem."

"True.." Sherlock said and frowned, "But I guess that's one goal we all have.. keeping it secret. So I think if we'll actually manage to set up a system like that with own prisons, vampires would accept it, since it's after all better than falling into the normal system where you will also be locked away, just without access to blood."

"Yeah, that's true, I suppose" John agreed with a sigh. "By the way, are you still working on this artificial blood this we talked about? I have to admit I never really got past the studying-textbooks-and-looking-at-current-research stage."

"Still working on it, yeah.. currently I'm more focused on figuring out which parts of the blood we do actually need. Maybe it'd be easier to just try to reproduce those than artificial blood with all components. Maybe we'd even end up with some clear substance, that would be a lot less suspicious in a bottle." he said and chuckled.

"True" John said with a chuckle. "Though there must be something in blood that enables to absorb nutrients. I mean, otherwise we could just blend our food if it were just about the granularity we could just blend the food or prepare it differently." John said and scratched his head.

"Maybe I should look at pig and cow blood as well.." Sherlock said and scrunched up his nose a little, "Doesn't sound too appetising though.. but then again, it's not that far out, since it's in black pudding too."

"Have you already tried living off black pudding?" John asked with a laugh. "That's actually a very interesting thought."

"Er.. no, as odd as it sounds, I've never even tried black pudding.." Sherlock said and shuddered a little, "Call me a hypocrite but it's just .. ew."

That 'ew' made John laugh. Of all people Sherlock was one of the last people he'd have expected that opinion from. "Really? It's actually not that bad, the taste I mean."

"No thanks." Sherlock said and shook his head, "I really don't need that, the way it looks alone is enough to make me avoid it.. it's just.. ugh.." he said and couldn't help but laugh, "I guess I really do sound like a hypocrite here, considering I'm drinking blood on a regular basis."

"Yeah, you do." John chuckled. "Anyway, I'd also be against a strict black pudding diet. Speaking of, have the kids already had lunch today?"

"Oh yeah, they had lunch at the orphanage," Sherlock said and looked up at John with a smile.


	94. Thursday, June 7

The seventh of June 2018 was an unremarkable date on an even more unremarkable day of the week; a Thursday. It was also John's 21st birthday, but he didn't really have any big plans this year; except for the night out with some mates, though without blood he wasn't going to get drunk very easily anyway (which was good since he really couldn't afford the girls seeing him sloshed or hungover). With a yawn he opened his eyes to find an empty (even cold) other side of the bed. A disappointing sight, but he was probably up making breakfast.. John frowned a bit when instead of his family, he found the car keys lying on top of a set of directions. Hm? Before long, John had got dressed and was on his way to the outskirts of London (this better be good, because he still didn't love driving for that long..) Eventually, he parked the car in an industrial area and half considered someone had kidnapped his family or something.

Okay, I'm here now. Where are you? JW

'

Walk through the gate, turn right and walk through the second gate, then just straight ahead for a few minutes. SH

'

'

Sherlock sent back and chuckled as he put the phone back into the plastic bag which also contained his regular clothes, the destination he had given the cabbie had been weird enough and he didn't want to enhance that by wearing a glittering purple cocktail dress and heels, he also didn't want Rosie and Charlie to have to drive with him to his mother like this and well he didn't want his mother to see him like this either, really, so he had changed here. He had promised John to do this after all, so he was quite eager to see his fiancé's reaction when he'd see him sitting on top of an actual tank, in that dress.

Alright, but I haven't brought any ransom. JW

'

John joked, before putting his mobile away again and following the next set of instructions. Seriously though, what was Sherlock on about, because he genuinely didn't expect a surprise party after this set-up. But he'd recognised Sherlock's handwriting and he definitely would've heard someone break into the flat, so that wasn't-

He stopped in motion when he spotted a sparkly figure sitting on top of a... that mad bastard had actually rented a tank? "...Sherlock?" John asked once he was closer, laughing now that the initial shock had passed. "Jesus, I can't believe it." He said with it a grin.

"Well, I don't promise things I can't keep." Sherlock said with a laugh and slid gracefully off the tank (which he had practised only about a hundred times before and the quick healing of bruises and little cuts really had come in handy today, the first ten times he had simply fallen off that damn thing and face-planted on the ground). "Happy birthday." he said with a chuckle.

"Thank you, love. You look great by the way" John chuckled and pulled his fiancé into a kiss; well, he tried to at least, since Sherlock was taller than him even without the high-heels.

"It isn't fully functioning though, so if you were hoping we could go and start the next world war in a jumper and a purple dress, I have to disappoint you." Sherlock said and chuckled again.

"Christ, where did you even get that from?" John asked with a chuckle, still grinning at Sherlock. "You did all this because of a promise you once made?"

"Oh you mean the dress?" Sherlock asked teasingly, very much knowing what John was talking about. "There's a nice little boutique near..."

"You know" John interrupted him with a snort. "I was actually talking about the bloody tank over there if you can believe it."

"Oh that? You know there's a nice little boutique.." Sherlock began with a laugh shaking his head, "No actually I borrowed it from some guy, looks a bit like a veteran Gandalf..." he said and frowned, "He bought it years ago. He says it does drive, but the canon doesn't work anymore.. he actually gave me a discount because of that.. I'm not sure what he thinks I wanted to do with it." he laughed.

"Please tell me you talked to him in that outfit." John said and began to chuckle again. "Seriously though, did you get into a cab like that?"

"God no." Sherlock said and laughed, shaking his head, "After all I didn't want to scar Charlie and Rosie for life." he said with a grin, "They're with my mum until tonight, by the way. So we have the whole day for ourselves. That is until dinner, when we will meet the family in a restaurant."

"Sounds like you've got all this planned out." John said with a smile. "And am I safe to assume that with 'a restaurant' you mean Angelo's?"

"Well that's a surprise." Sherlock said and chuckled, "But yes."

"Good, that sounds perfect." John chuckled. "Did you have any plans for tonight too or do you think I can still let the guys buy me a pint?"

"Hm.. am I invited too?" Sherlock asked and chuckled, "I'd really rather just meet all of your friends at once to make sure there won't be any more surprise reunions." he said and chuckled.

"Sure you are." John chuckled and went on his tip-toes to peck Sherlock's.. chin. "The kid's are staying with your mum and Paul tonight?"

Sherlock chuckled at the kiss, leaning down to take off those shoes, "Not yet, but I'm sure mum won't mind." he said, dropping the shoes and leaning in to give John a proper kiss.

John smiled into the kiss, cupping Sherlock's cheek, before pulling back eventually. "Pub night it is then. I'm glad I finally get to introduce you to them instead of swooning over you in front of them." He said with a chuckle.

"You could ask Jim to bring Carl as well. I'd actually like to introduce you to him, pretty sure you'll get along great." Sherlock said and smiled.

"Alright, I'll send him a text on the way back home then." John said with a smile.

"Good, so what do you want to do now? Drive a bit around in the tank, or abandon it and go somewhere else?" Sherlock asked and smiled a little, "Though for the latter I'd want to change out of that dress." he said with a laugh.

John smirked a bit. "Well, now that I've got the opportunity, I definitely want to try it out; if just to say I've done it before. Even if the cannon's not working." He added with a laugh.

Sherlock chuckled, "Well, jump in then." he said and started to climb back up the tank, which was much easier without those shoes, really how did woman spend whole days in those?

 

\-----------------------------------

 

After a fantastic mid-morning and afternoon, dinner with the family and night out at the pub, John and Sherlock had invited Jim and his brother over for more.. substantial drinks. "Oh, do we have to be quiet because of the children?" Jim asked as they walked up the stairs to the flat.

"Nope, they're staying with my mum." Sherlock said and Carl chuckled, "Still can't believe you're a father, mate." he said and shook his head, still amazed to even see him. It had taken almost half an hour for Scott to convince him that he wasn't joking and had actually met William, or.. Sherlock as he called himself now. "Well.. let's start a club then, sometimes I can't believe it either." Sherlock said and laughed.

"That makes three of us. Or four going by the way John has been looking the past few months." Jim said with a chuckle. "He put up a picture their youngest had painted for him up at the station, what, half a year ago? It's still hanging there." He said and John smiled as he unlocked the door, before saying. "It does make for a nice addition, I think."

"Just like the literal gallery of paintings our fridge has turned into." Sherlock said and chuckled as he let them into the flat, "They're lucky to have parents like you, though.. you get worse places and people for that matter when you're in the system." Carl said and Sherlock smiled, "Yeah, I remember." Sherlock said and sighed, "I was so mad at myself for not stepping up for you, you know. We could have told the police that you haven't done anything." Carl sighed and smirked at his brother, "Well apart from what you and Scottie here did, but that was hardly the ludicrous story the old man told the police about you."

"Yeah, it all happened so quickly" Jim began but shook his head again and gave a sigh. "I'm just glad you're alright now."

Sherlock smiled a little, "Well.. who knows if I'd be where I am if I hadn't been taken away, though? Might never have met John, you two wouldn't wouldn't be here, you..." he said and looked at Jim, "Wouldn't have met Dennis, given that you and Carl would be in your 80's now.. so.. it's good the way it went." he said and patted Carl's shoulder, before he turned to the cupboard to fetch glasses for them.

Jim gave a bit of a smile and John lead them into the living room. "Just sit down." He smiled and sat down on his chair himself. "So Carl, I haven't really got around asking what you do for a living"

"Oh, just got promoted, actually. I'm DI now." Carl said and grinned happily, "Though I probably won't manage more than 10 years or so until people start questioning my age." he said and rolled his eyes, "Or rather the way I look, it's alright when they think you're new in the job, but you get strange looks eventually when you're supposed to have years of experience and still look like you've just finished school." he said and Sherlock smiled, "Yeah, we all know that. Or well, John doesn't yet. But he will. There are some easy make up tricks though, you can stretch it easily to 15-20 years if you want to bother putting on make up every day." he said as he set down a tray with a bottle of wine, a bottle of whiskey, a bottle of blood and some glasses on the coffee table.

"Maybe Mrs. Hudson has been turned in her twenties and just hasn't wanted to move the last few decades." John suggested with a chuckle, before beginning to fill the glasses. "One third whiskey and two thirds blood for me, please." Jim said with a smile. "You know, it's strange to say that to anyone but Carl."

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah I can relate, though you get used to it very quickly." he said and smiled, "Actually with so many vampires around, I have to be much more on guard not to say things like that when I'm not around vampires."

"Though with Rosie around we have to be careful to call it tomato juice. We can't quite tell her the whole truth yet." John said with a chuckle and handed Jim his whiskey. "What do you want, Carl?"

"I'll take the same as Scott." Carl said while Sherlock poured himself a glass of wine mixed with blood, which was still kind of a favourite for him, "So actually, it's great that you're working at Scotland Yard." he said, turning to look at Carl, "John and I have actually been talking about it recently, since we know.. erm.. well if you count the kids in the orphanage.. around 70-80 vampires now, we thought we should start a sort of subculture, my mother is a therapist, John's uncle, who's still mortal, but is probably going to turn is a doctor, my cousin is a lawyer, Mycroft is.. well, he's Mycroft, he's always the government of some place.. what I'm trying to say is that with that, everyone who knows about this community would have access to all these things, I mean usually we can't go to therapists for instance because it's all about being honest and being honest is not an option for us with mortal therapists.." he said and shrugged.

"You really know that many other vampires?" Jim asked with wide eyes. "But a community like that would be fantastic, isn't that right, Carl? I'm genuinely studying medicine mostly for utility's sake, you know. After some work-related incident for example Carl had to run around with a crooked forearm for years until we found someone who agreed to break it and set it straight again without going to a hospital." He recounted and shook his head. "We've met way too many dodgy people in the last century." He said and gave his brother a wry smile.

"Yeah when you think 'selling human blood' you don't usually think respectable and trustworthy." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "That's very true." Carl said and smiled, turning to Scott. "You remember that lunatic in Surrey? The one that wanted to meet us for a deal after a kids birthday party he worked at as a party clown.. he actually wore the costume." he said and shook his head, "That's.. creepy." Sherlock said and laughed.

"It really was, don't remind me of it." Scott gave a laugh and shook his head. "But we still both have our kidneys, so we've always got off lightly, I suppose." He joked with a bit of a laugh. "And what did you do before medicine?" John asked after a moment and sat back with his own drink. "Oh, I've been a painter actually. But business wasn't going too well and I thought a doctor in the family would come in handy, so you know." He shrugged a bit.

"Well Mycroft and I usually solved fractures and things ourselves. We just.. you know set the bone and put it into a splint." Sherlock said and sighed, "That's not nice though when you have no idea what you're doing. But that's nothing compared to field medicine when you're a vampire. Ever had to pull bullets out of your chest in a dimly lit tent?" he asked and shuddered at the memory. "I really don't recommend it."

"Right, you served in the two world wars, didn't you?" Scott asked. "At least Johnny will have actual training if it comes to that." He said with a wry smile and John nodded. "But not nearly everyone gets shot these days in war zones" He commented and cleared his throat, before drinking some more blood.

"I'm still not too fond of that idea." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, "But yeah true at least he won't have to blindly fumble with a pocket knife." he said and looked over at Scott, "By the way, did you tell Dennis yet?" he asked.

 

"I have actually. And we're still together thankfully." Scott smiled. "You know after I'd tried to explain everything for twenty minutes, he didn't believe me and said if I'm so sure I should bite him and well, the rest is history really."

Sherlock gave John a look at that, "See?" he said and laughed, "When I suggested that you nearly had a nervous fit."

"Well, yeah, but I hadn't seen you in a month and then you suddenly took me out on a date and wanted to bite me. What was I supposed to think?" John asked and put his hands up. "Mmh, I mean I've had way shadier dates than that, Johnny, I have to say." Jim commented shrug.

Sherlock chuckled, "Well to be fair, though, it's a difference if you tell someone you're actually 80+ and a vampire or if you tell them you're 240+." he said and Carl nearly choked on his drink, coughing for nearly half a minute before he looked at Sherlock, "240?" he asked and stared at Sherlock, "Didn't you tell him?" Sherlock asked with a chuckle, looking at Scott.

"I had a feeling he was gonna react something like this." He said and scratched his head with a chuckle. "Granted, that conversation's a bit tougher to have."

"Holy crap." Carl said and shook his head, "240 years, god damn." he said and laughed eventually. "Well don't look so shocked, you'll get there eventually." Sherlock said with a chuckle, nudging Carl's shoulder.

John chuckled a bit. "And now imagine hearing that on a first date." He said and gave Sherlock a bit of a look. "You alright there, Carl?" Scott asked him after a moment, giving a bit of a laugh.

"Yeah, I'm good." Carl said and laughed as well, "It's just so amazing to think how much history you've seen.." he said and nipped at his drink again, "Well it sure was interesting to see technology and society develop over time."

"Just watching the internet become popular and spread was fascinating but didn't you get to follow the invention of electricity?' Scott asked with a chuckle and took a sip.

"Not only electricity, Scottie." Carl said and smiled in fascination, "Telephones, cameras, cars, planes, hell, boats, trains, have you seen the Titanic?" he asked, focusing back on Sherlock again, "Er, yeah actually, had a ticket too, but I got delayed and missed it." he said and chuckled at Carl's expression, "You have to tell me about it." he said and smiled, looking a bit like Rosie when she saw bees.

Scot chuckled a bit at seeing his brother all excited. "Carl's a bit of a history nerd." He chuckled. "You haven't met any historical figures in your time, have you?" He asked, mostly to see his brother's reaction, since the way he knew Will- Sherlock he definitely had.

"Oh yes, I have." Sherlock said and Carl's eyes grew impossibly wider, "Who?" he asked and Sherlock couldn't help but laugh, "Er.. Poe.. Wilde, oh Jane Austen of course, I grew up with her. She's still alive if you want to meet her. Edgar is still alive as well, but he's a bit of a loner, really, though if you want to meet him, I'm sure I could talk him into it, I've seen Louis XVI once when my father took Mycroft and me with to France when we were little, saw Marie too, but I don't remember too much of it, I was five. That was shortly before the revolution.." he said and watched Carl with a grin, "You okay?" he asked and Carl nodded, "Yeah." he said grinning, "Would you mind if I randomly call you sometimes? Because I'm sure I can't come up with all the questions I have at once." he said and Sherlock smiled, "No problem." he said and laughed.

Scott chuckled a bit and turned to John. "It might be your birthday but it's Christmas for Carl." He said with a smile.

Carl gathered himself together after a moment, nipping at his drink, before grabbing the whiskey, "I need a sip more after this." he said and laughed, shaking his head, "John's definitely gotten the funnier present though." Sherlock said and remembered their tank tour this morning.

"Oh yeah, I got to drive a tank this morning. That was pretty brilliant." John said with a chuckle and gave Sherlock a bit of a smirk. "Hold on, you what?" Scott asked him immediately. "Yeah, Sherlock borrowed a tank from a veteran this morning. He sort of promised that the morning after he told me about vampirism."

"You can tell them about the other thing too." Sherlock said and leant over to peck John's lips, "But thanks for trying to preserve my dignity." he chuckled.

"What other thing?" Scott asked quickly and John chuckled again. "Alright, well, we were joking around that morning and that led to my saying I'd marry him if he turned up in a tank dressed in a cocktail dress. So that's what he did. But you do look great in dresses and heels." John chuckled and wrapped and arm around Sherlock's waist.

"Are you serious?" Carl asked with a laugh and Sherlock grinned, "Whatever it takes to get him to marry me." he said and smiled at John, "God you two are almost as bad as Scottie and Dennis." Carl said and rolled his eyes, while Sherlock smirked, "Well I know at least four pretty, single vampire women and Sally. There might be someone you like. Though I don't recommend the latter. But if I remember your taste correctly, you would really like Janine."

"As his brother I'll have to ask if Janine is related to John too though" Scott said with a bit of a laugh and John rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, she's one of the very few people we know who's not related to either of us."

"True, but she's really nice. Good with kids too, she's caring about the babies and toddlers at the orphanage." Sherlock said and pulled out his phone, "And just your type too." he said, looking up the photo Rosie had wanted him to take when Janine and her had made cat ears from paper and pipe cleaners and Janine had used eyeliner to paint both of their noses black and draw whiskers, before holding out the phone for the brothers to see.

"Now that's sweet." Scott said and with a smile "Hey and your last one put a lot of eye make-up on too." He chuckled and nudged his brother's side.

"Very funny." Carl said and rolled his eyes, though he couldn't help but laugh, "Though I must say she never wore it with as much style as those two ladies." he added and it was clearly visible that Carl did like what he saw. "That's your little one then?" he asked after a moment, pointing at the little girl on the photo.

"Yes, that Rosie. She just turned five three months ago." John said and gave a fond smile. "She's just great. Unprecedented in the history of children, well, with one exception. That’s not my bias; that’s scientific fact." He said with a nod, which made Scott chuckle.

"And she's a vampire? Rosie, I mean." Carl said and Sherlock sighed, "Yeah, she is... Rosie's and Charlie's parents were both murdered and they've been turned.. the orphanage always has an eye on hospitals, looking for kids that have.. unusual symptoms, fatigue with no actual reason, that kind of thing." he said and Carl frowned, "Hang on, I remember a similar case... the name was something with a B.. Bro.. Bromley, that was it." he said and pursed his lips, "Round about 10 years ago, murdered parents and their two year old just left there."

"Hold on, /Bromley/ you say?" John asked immediately and gave Sherlock a look. "That's Charlie's last name. We've actually been trying to look into that case. You don't happen to recall any details, do you?"

"I could simply ask them to send me the file." Carl said with a little shrug, "I can give you a copy." he said and Sherlock smiled, "That'd be great, actually." he said and grinned at John. "While you're at it, is there any chance you can get Rosie's file too? Rosie Bane. And Timothy Carter?" he asked and Carl frowned, "Sure but.. Wait, you think it's a serial killer?" he asked and sighed, "Looks like it, yeah." Sherlock said, not wanting to say too much about it just yet.

"So thanks a lot for helping us with that." John said with a smile; this was probably the best birthday present he'd got today. "Hold on, not so quickly." Scott began "Carl wants Janine's mobile number in turn, isn't that right?" Scott chuckled and winked at his brother.

Sherlock laughed while Carl rolled his eyes, "You know, women actually prefer it if you actually ask them for their number and don't just have your friend show you a photo and give you their number." he said and Sherlock chuckled, "Well, since you're working with the police.. you could give the kids some traffic safety training.. maybe you want to start with the little ones." he said, making Carl smile, "That's better than making deals over her number like we're on a market."

"I second that; girls usually aren't too fond of being treated like property." John said with a bit of a smile. "See, there you go, Carl." Scott said with a grin. "Weren't you straight at some point too, Johnny?" "Well, I've always had a bit of a hunch that wasn't entirely true, but then Sherlock asked me out and we made marriage plans. I guess that's how these things go sometimes." He said with a laugh. "I'd never have thought the station and an orphanage would help us both get laid at one point." He commented with a chuckle.

"If I remember correctly you were also convinced you're straight before Sherlock came along.." Carl said and chuckled, shaking his head, "First and only time I actually punched my brother, since he just wouldn't stop lying to himself, I've seen him with girls from school and then I've seen how he looked at you. Glad he eventually got over that and started to do what made him happy." he said and Sherlock frowned, "Yeah, I think I remember... you said you got that black eye in school, though.. but you did look much more at ease all of a sudden."

"Yeah.. I guess needed a little push. Or punch for that matter." Scott said and chuckled a little, unconsciously touching his eye. "Though that arrest did put me off dating for a while again.. Can't believe Dennis and I might actually end up adopting. It's a bit crazy. You're lucky you've never had to experience all that." Scott told John a0nd shook his head a bit at the thought.

"Yeah well.. could have been worse, the blood was the biggest problem, really." Sherlock said and frowned, "The more or less painful therapy methods wouldn't have bothered me so much if it wasn't for the lack of blood."

"How long did you have to cope there?" Scott asked him after a moment; he'd been wondering that for decades.

"Two and half weeks." Sherlock said and nipped at his glass, "There was this guy that let me drink though, he was there because he wanted to become a vampire and spent most of his time trying to find one.. so I had to use that.."

"Damn that's long.." Scott said and let out a long breath. "Did you manage to escape during your third week?

"Yeah, used the first chance I got, Otherwise I would have had to stay another four weeks and.. well by then I'd probably have gone crackers for real." Sherlock said and Carl sighed, "Well, that might be another advantage of a community. That way there always would be somebody to come and get you out and also just someone who'd share with you if you've got a shortage of blood."

"Yeah, that's true. Not everyone can rely on their Detective Inspector brother to bail them out" Scott nodded and gave Carl a wry smile.

"Well I have always manages to become a high up in the government in whatever country we currently live' brother." Sherlock said and chuckled, "That's useful too." he said with a laugh.


	95. By A Fountain

Today she'd ask Lowell if he was going to play with his band at her birthday party at the next month... As per usual he was about to come over for her guitar lessons with him. If she was lucky, she might even be able to try and talk to him about first kisses... Ahh, she couldn't wait until it was finally five o'clock...

Lowell rang the doorbell five minutes earlier than he was expected as usual, knowing it made Charlie always smile a bit. Obviously, she was way too young for him, but her little crush on him was surely flattering and he liked the girl, so if he could put a smile on her face by arriving five minutes earlier, it was a pleasure. That and she did remind him strongly of a girl he had met a long time ago, he had only seen her once, but she still had a very special place in his heart, maybe that was part of why he just loved to see Charlie happy.

"I'm getting that!" Charlie grinned when she heard the doorbell and ran over to the flat's door, before wiping the very obvious grin off her face and forcing herself to walk more slowly down the stairs; she didn't want to open the door completely out of breath. "Hi, Lowell. Glad you could make it." She smiled sweetly.

Lowell gave her a brilliant smile and walked in, "Always." he said and waited until she had closed and locked the door again, "It's my most important appointment of the week." he said as he readjusted the strap of is guitar case on his shoulder.

Charlie giggled a bit at that, before beginning to walk up the stairs, waiting halfway up for Lowell to follow. "Mine too. Not that I have too many though." She joked with a chuckle.

Lowell smiled at that, following her up the stairs, "Have you practised the C chord then?" he asked, since that was one of the cords that seemed the most difficult to her of the basic chords.

"Yeah, I can alternate between A-minor, C-major and G-major now." Charlie smiled, figuring that was quite an achievement. "Can you teach me some barre chords soon too?" She asked as they got into the living room.

"Hm, you can play basically 80% of the common pop songs with the chords you know now, so let's say we start with barre chords once you can play five songs fluidly, just so you get used to chord changes as well." Lowell said, setting his guitar case down, opening it to pull out his guitar.

"Alright, seems fair." Charlie nodded at that and picked up her own guitar from the sofa. "By the way, I was wondering if you and your band could maybe play at my birthday party at the end of July. That'd be really awesome."

"My schedule's actually packed next month." Lowell said and looked apologetically at her, "When is it exactly?" he asked, hating to disappoint her, but he couldn't help but saying no. Playing on her party was meant to be a surprise (obviously he wouldn't miss her birthday), so he couldn't agree now.

"Oh.. erm, on the 27th." Charlie said, trying not to look too disappointed. She'd really wanted him to come.. "That's the last Friday of July."

"I'm sorry, Charlie, I've got a very important gig there. I can't possibly call that off." Lowell said and grimaced a little, it really did bother him to have to say no.

"Oh, no that's alright. Maybe next year." Charlie said and shrugged it off; she didn't want him to know how upset she actually was. "Where are you playing then? Is it somewhere I know?"

"I don't think you know the place." Lowell said and gave her a smile, really wanting to cheer her up, "How about I teach you one of my songs? Maybe once you're coming to a concert of my band, I can get you onto the stage and you play with us."

That thought made Charlie smile again and her eyes lit up. "Wait, really? You'd actually do that?"

"Sure, I would. You're much prettier than Phil anyway." Lowell said and gave Charlie a little wink, glad to have eased the tension a little.

Charlie began to chuckle at that, having already seen a picture of his band before. "Yeah; thanks a lot. By the way though, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, shoot." Lowell said, starting to tune his guitar as he sat down on the sofa.

"Who was like the first girl you've played the guitar for?" Charlie asked after a moment, figuring that was a less awkward question than something about his first kiss... And he'd said he'd just got the guitar, so the odds that it had been herself probably weren't too bad...

"That's random." Lowell laughed and placed the guitar on his lap, before running a hand through his hair. "Let me think.. well that was a good long while ago.. I don't even remember her name, can you believe it? I was 14 and had sneaked a couple of glasses of wine, before and to be honest, I was kind of stunned when I was introduced to her, she was very pretty and funny, you remind me a little of her, you know."

Charlie couldn't help grinning a bit at that. "And what else happened that evening?" She asked sheepishly, though in her head she was already screaming... She was so gonna phone- or tell.. Mrs. Hudson. Yeah, that was safe.

"Well, we kissed." Lowell said and chuckled a little, a small blush spreading over his cheeks. "I never saw her again though.." he said and sighed a little, "Disappeared without a trace."

"Sounds a bit like out of a fairytale." Charlie said with a chuckle and though she meant to tease him, she began to blush herself.

"You could say that, would you believe it if I told you this all happened after a ball and in front of a fountain." Lowell said and chuckled, "Man, I wish I had found her again."

Eeep... Charlie bit the inside of her cheek so as not to grin. "Well, maybe she turns out to have been a vampire. Never say never." She said with a shrug.

"Well going by Sherlock's score card of meeting people he didn't think he'd ever see again, I'd say that is entirely possible." Lowell said and laughed, "I hear he's already met another one?" he asked with a grin.

"Yeah, two actually. Apparently Dad works with one of Paps' former foster brothers. Apparently, he got into the foster care system sometime during the fifties. Dad said that he brought his biological brother along when they met up on his birthday."

Lowell shook his head at that, "I don't know what's up with that anyway, it's almost getting ridiculous how many people suddenly pop up again." he chuckled.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Charlie said and chuckled. "Weren't you one of those people who just popped up in front of the flat too? Dad said he thought you were a stalker."

Lowell laughed at that, "Fair point." he said and picked his guitar up again to finish tuning it. "It's also good though, that way we might actually manage to build an actual community with doctors, lawyers, hell even just simple things like going to a restaurant and actually getting something to eat, or drink for that matter."

"Oh, there actually is a vampire-run restaurant in London but I'm not sure if the owner wants that to stay a secret... maybe ask Sherlock." Charlie said with a shrug, figuring she couldn't have revealed all that much about Angelo's identity.

"Angelo?" Lowell said with a laugh, "Yeah, I know him, don't worry. But I meant.. you know, more than just one restaurant." he said and smiled, "Who knows, maybe I open a bar myself. I've had that idea for a while now. Plus, once you're old enough if you want a job, you'd always be welcome."

"Yeah, that'd be cool." Charlie said with a grin, before picking her guitar back up. "Now, which of your songs are you going to teach me today?"

"Hm.. how about 'By A Fountain', seems fitting now, don't you think?" Lowell asks with a smile, "And it's pretty easy since I wrote it when I had just started out."

After suffering from a mini-heartattack Charlie nodded in agreement, not quite trusting her voice. "Mmh... kay"

"Alright, so I'll just play it once completely, alright? And then we'll go through it bit by bit." Lowell said, before he started to play, singing along to it.

Charlie almost imploded when she heard Lowell began to sing the song he'd written for, well, them... Even if he didn't know, they had a song now. About their first kiss. And they were gonna sing it together. Eeep...

Lowell smiled as he finished the song, opening his eyes which he had unconsciously closed before, "That's it. Sometimes I think it's a bit old fashioned, but I keep playing it on every gig anyway, maybe part of me hopes she'll hear it and come find me at some point." he said and laughed, "Stupid, isn't it?" he asked and chuckled again.

"I think it's romantic to be honest." Charlie said and suppressed a giggle; she'd died just about four times while he'd sung. "And I really like the song; it feels kinda personal."

"It is. But truth is, there just was something special about that girl, which is weird because I barely even knew her, but still.. I don't know." Lowell said and shook his head, not really wanting to keep talking about that, feeling like talking about a girl with her while he knew she had a crush on him, it just felt wrong.

As much as Charlie wanted him to go on telling her how special she was (!!), apparently he was too polite to do that... Just about everything about that sentence was.. "Sounds sweet. Anyway, how does the first chord go?"


	96. Girls' Night - Pt. 1

"Would you stop looking so worried?" Sherlock asked as he nearly had to drag Janine into the elevator, leading up to Clara's and Harry's penthouse. "They'll like you." he said and gave her a smile. Even he liked Janine and he wasn't the kind of person who met someone and instantly thought it would be fun to go have a drink with them, yet with Janine, he actually had thought that, hence why he had brought her along. He was funny enough and to be honest, he also wanted someone along who was interested in men, since he kind of had the feeling after a few drinks conversations like that would inevitably come up. Plus, he knew from experience that it was difficult to keep that big of a secret from close friends, so unless you've been turned along with them, or stayed with the person that turned you, having close friends was always difficult, somehow he wanted her to have some vampire outside the orphanage which she could be completely open with, knowing himself how important that was.

"You could've at least told them in advance you're bringing me along." Janine said, not looking much happier as she got into the elevator. While she was admittedly thrilled she got to meet some new vampire faces apart from those of her colleagues, the circumstances probably could've been a bit better. "Are you sure they won't mind me prancing into their flat without invitation?"

Sherlock rolled his eyes, "I'm sure they won't." he said and smiled at her, "What are you afraid you won't be able to cross the threshold without invitation?" he asked, playing on some vampire cliché that used to come up in old films and books.

Janine rolled her eyes at that but couldn't help chuckling at that. "Isn't that the literal definition of a break-in though?" She asked with a bit of a smile. "Look, I'm not sure how it's just among guys, but women usually don't love that."

"Well, they're not just women, they're also vampires." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "And vampires generally like to meet other likeable vampires." he said and smiled, "Seems to me like that would trump any dislike of an unexpected visitor."

Janine sighed, still a bit nervous about the whole thing... "Yeah, I hope you're right with that." She said and looked over at Sherlock as the elevator arrived.

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Sherlock said and really didn't understand the hangups Janine had about this, it wasn't that much of a big deal, "Come in, we're in the living room!" Harry called as she heard the ding of the elevator, Sherlock knew his way around the penthouse after all, so she didn't really feel the need to get the door - or elevator for that matter.

Janine bit her lip and followed Sherlock into the living room "Oh la, I've been looking-" Clara began with a smile as she saw her cousin come inside, before looking a bit surprised when she saw his companion. "Oh, you've brought someone." She said and put on a smile, shooting her wife a look, wondering if she'd known about the other woman and, if so, asking why she hadn't told her. "Yes, hello, I'm Janine. Sherlock and I work together at the orphanage." She said into the room, hoping that the silence that was bound to follow wouldn't be too uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I thought it'd be good to introduce Janine to some other vampires she doesn't work with or who wear nappies." Sherlock said with a laugh and nudged Janine a little forward, "She's caring about the babies and toddlers at the orphanage." he said with a smile, "That's.. nice." Harry said, putting a smile on her face too, eyeing this Janine girl.

"Yes, they're sweethearts." Janine said with a smile and glanced down for a moment, before Clara gave herself a push and stood up. "Hi, I'm Clara, nice to meet you." She said and gestured towards the sitting area. "Please, make yourselves comfortable."

Harry's smile turned a little more genuine at that, "Isn't it a little weird?" she asked honestly interested, "I mean.. you know.. bottle feeding babies with blood?" she said and grimaced a little at that, "I don't know if I could get used to that." she said and Sherlock smiled a little.

Janine had to laugh a bit at that. "It does get less weird over the decades but the feeling never really goes away, even if you're saying it's just 'tomato juice'." She said and sat down on heir couch. "And they're all lovely so that helps. And what do you do for a living?" She asked with a smile.

"This and that. Currently I'm a cabbie." Harry said and chuckled, "Didn't live long enough to pile up wagon loads of money yet." she said and gave both Clara and Sherlock a look who just sat down next to Janine, "Oh don't tell me that she's just as stubborn about making her own money as John is? He keeps babbling on about not wanting to live of mine.." he said and chuckled.

"Yes, I'm getting the feeling that that's a Watson thing." Clara said with a chuckle and sat back down next to her wife. "The discussions we've had over those legal documents when it came to marriage..." She said and gave her wife a small smirk.

"Excuse me how is it a bad thing to want to be able to support myself?" Harry with a laugh, shaking her head while Sherlock couldn't help but laugh, he had heard the exact same sentence from John not too long ago.

"Of course, it's not, darling." Clara said with a chuckle, before Janine tuned in. "And I get you, not all of us vamps manage to save a fortune either, doesn't mean we're not 'vampiring' right." She said with a chuckle.

"Ex-bleeding-xactly." Harry said and gave Janine a smile, "How old are you anyway?" she asked and Sherlock raised a brow at that, "Isn't it rude to ask a lady how old she is?" he asked and Harry rolled her eyes, "Not when said lady is immortal, dumbo." she said with a chuckle.

Janine had to chuckle at that "Harry's right there. And I'm probably the old granny here.." She chuckled, which made Clara smile. "Come on, please, Sherly and I aren't exactly our biological age either." She encouraged her and glanced at her cousin. "Alright, I'm turning 1598 this year." She said with a smile. "What about you two?"

"At least she told you before we're drinking. I've nearly choked on my coffee when she told me. Can a vampire choke?" Sherlock said and chuckled, suddenly remembering something, "Oh by the way, you should really meet a friend of mine." he said and smiled, really wishing he could be the person to tell Carl about it, just because he'd really like to see his face when he would hear about it.

"Oh, really? Who's he?" Janine asked curiously before turning back to Clara and Harry. "Yeah, I was born into a Roman household, though my Latin has become a little rusty." Janine said with a laugh, finding the faces she got when she told people about it were the best part about it. Clara still hadn't fully recovered from that shock. "And I thought Violet was ancient.." She shook her head and looked over at her unusually quiet wife. "Are you alright there, honey?"

"Yeah sure, I just... kind of feel like a toddler in a retirement home." Harry joked and still looked dumbfounded, "Hey, mum is just roughly 30 years older than you." Sherlock said, looking at his cousin with a laugh, while he fumbled out his phone to look up a photo of Carl, holding it out to Janine with a smile. "His name's Carl." he said, still grinning as he imagined the way he'd react, hearing about her age.

"Well, I don't know that many other vampires outside of the family.." Clara said and shook her head. Janine looked at the phone in Sherlock's and smiled. "Oh, he looks nice. Where exactly does he work?" She asked. "Hey, why are you looking at me like that? Should I be worried?"

Sherlock just couldn't get that grin off his face, "Oh, nothing, nothing, I'm just very convinced you're the woman of his dreams, that's all." he said and chuckled, "Oh and he's a detective inspector at Scotland Yard. Just got promoted... again.."

"Ah, I see.." Janine said with a smile, looking at the phone for another moment. "Do you think, you could ask him to maybe come and tell the little ones at the orphanage something about the police? I'm sure they'd be very excited to meet an actually Detective Inspector and ask him questions." She said with a smirk.

"Already suggested it to him. Oh and you might want to know that when his brother wanted to haggle something out about him getting your phone number he said that he didn't want it unless you'd give it to him yourself." he said with a smile, figuring that already said much about his character.

"That either means he's a decent guy or you're a good friend." Janine said with a wink and couldn't help laugh a bit. "But you can tell him that I might well give him my number in person." She smiled, already looking forward to meeting this Carl.

"Hm, I hope both is true." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "Didn't you say something about drinks, though?" he asked, looking at his cousin.

"Right, so we've got red wine and champagne." Clara said with a smile and stood up. "I'll just get it out of the fridge. Any preferences?" She asked as she began to walk into the kitchen. "I'd take champagne, if you're offering." Janine said with a smile, looking after Clara.

"Hm, me too, I think." Sherlock said and glanced at Harry, not really wanting to blurt her history there out in front of Janine, but Harry gave him a little smile and a nod, quietly telling him she was okay. "Same!" Harry said and looked at Janine, "Man I can't get over your age." she said and laughed, "Did you know Caesar?"

Janine chuckled a bit at that. "I wasn't quite that important. It'd be a bit as if you knew the queen.. or a bit more unlikely coming to think of it." She said with a smile. "On the contrary, most of the time I've just tried to fit in and keep a low profile."

Sherlock grinned at that again, "Please, please let me tell Carl how old you are, or at least text me before you tell him so I don't miss it." he said with a chuckle, shaking his head. "Although.. can vampires get a stroke?" he asked grinning, remembering how Carl had reacted when he had told him about his own age, Janine might be a bit too much for him.

"Is he really going to be that excited?" Janine said him with a snicker, before jokingly asking. "Okay, now are we talking granny fetish or history nerd here?" In that moment Clara came back with three red glasses and one even redder glass for herself in her hands as well as the rest of the bottle under her arm. "Here there we are" She smiled as she put everything down.

"If it was a granny fetish, you'd hardly be his type." Sherlock said and chuckled, shaking his head, "It's the history nerd. He already had a fit when I told him how old I am." he chuckled.

"Oh, in that case it really is going to be Christmas for him." Janine chuckled and took a glass of blood champagne. "Thank you, Clara." She said which made Clara smile again. "To another happy 2000 years for all of us." Janine said and raised her glass.

"At least you look visibly older than me, that makes it less strange." Sherlock said and Harry huffed a laugh, "Very charming, Sherlock." she said and Sherlock laughed, "That wasn't what I meant all I'm saying is that it makes it less weird if people that are a little older also look somewhat older. Guessing ages really doesn't work with us." he laughed.

"That's true though." Janine said with a laugh. "Did you know that Mrs. Turner and Greg should be roughly your age?" She asked, shaking her head a bit.

"Oh yeah, I know." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Oh that reminds me, Clara, by the way, our dear Mycroft has boyfriend." he said, purposefully waiting until Clara was drinking.

Clara spit the blood-wine mixture back into her glass, coughing to get the rest out of her lungs. "/Mycroft/?!" She asked with wide eyes; she'd thought hell was gonna freeze over before he wanted to find a partner.

"Yep." Sherlock said and laughed at her reaction, "Now if you find hearing about it shocking, imagine to stand there with him, introducing him to a colleague of yours and they suddenly start flirting like hormone controlled teens." he said and shook his head. "Though I must say that his taste could be worse." he said and frowned, "Do you have a photo of Greg?" he asked, looking at Janine.

Clara still wasn't entirely sure if Sherlock was telling the whole truth... Mycroft and flirting together seemed like an oxymoron.. "Oh, yeah sure. Greg's a good catch, your cousin could've found someone worse." She said with a chuckle and showed her a photo of Greg together with one of the toddlers. "Yeah, he's certainly good-looking..." Clara said to Janine, before turning hack to Sherlock. "And Mycroft's seriously going out with him?"

"Hang on." Sherlock said and quickly shot Greg a text,

My cousin doesn't believe Mycroft's going out with you, a couple photo would be useful. SH

he sent and chuckled, "I should have evidence in a few minutes." he said with a grin.

"Is his brother that awful or what's going on?" Janine asked with a frown and Clara shook her head. "Just imagine the most unsocial person with seemingly no emotional nor social life. That's Mycroft."

"And that ever since he was born." Sherlock said and laughed, "He doesn't even like puppies, nor do puppies like him." he said with roll of his eyes, "And that's not just an empty phrase, I had a puppy when I was little, first thing it did was peeing on him, the second was trying to bite him." he said and chuckled at the memory.

"Oh dear, he must've been an interesting boy." Janine said with a bit of a chuckle. "Let me guess, he tried to act as if he was in charge of you like an entitled mini parent?"

"Mini dictator is a better term." Sherlock said and laughed, nipping at his champagne, before looking at his phone again when it vibrated on the table, "Ah, there we go." he said and grinned holding the phone out for Clara to see the photo.

{ Image attached} Say thanks to Molly for sneaking that one. Myc usually isn't really into smiling for photos. GL

"Heavens... I've officially seen everything now." Clara said with a laugh and sat back. Janine smiled a little as she saw the picture too. "But he seems to make Greg happy."

Sherlock chuckled, "Well thinking about it, I don't think anyone would have thought I'd get married and have kids either." he said and smiled a little.

"That was more of a legislative thing though. Jane and I always thought you'd make a good father." Clara said with a smile and drank another sip of wine. "How is your family by the way?"

"Oh they're well, Charlie is still innocently crushing on a man that's 20 times her age, Rosie is still obsessed with bees and John's still content to live with me." Sherlock said and laughed.

Clara chuckled at that. "By the way, we saw the pictures of Rosie's birthday that you've send us and it's a right shame we couldn't make it. It looked so sweet, you must've put a lot of effort into the party planning." She said with a smile and Janine nodded. "I remember her talking about it the next day. She was incredibly excited about the whole thing, it took me a while to figure out you had decorated a room to look like a honeycomb."

Sherlock laughed, "Not only that, but we were all dressed up in bee costumes either and she was the bee queen." he said with a smile, looking at Harry and Clara, "Even David and Mycroft went along with it." he said with a snicker, "And by some... erm.. mistake when ordering the costumes Mycroft got a bumblebee one. I have no idea how that might have happened." he said with a grin.

"The pictures you send us were amazing" Clara said with a laugh, still remembering them clearly. "I'd never have thought I'd once see your father all dressed up, darling." She told Harry with a chuckle.

"Me neither," Harry giggled, shaking her head, "But then my dad used to do a lot of ridiculous things for John and me when we were little, I once got him to wear a tutu skirt, more or less, it was a crumpled white curtain wrapped around his waist and a light pink tablecloth over it, I was six or so." she laughed.

That made Clara laugh again. "Really? It's good to know he's so good with children in case we'll ever go down that road." She said sheepishly; she'd been wanting to have children for a long time, but didn't want to press anything or make any big suggestions in front of their guests.

"Well.. let's hope when we do," Harry began, giving Clara a smile as she emphasised the 'when', so she'd note that she hadn't said 'if', "We're as lucky with our choice as Sherlock and John were, those little girls really are precious." she said and took a sip of her glass.

Clara smiled to herself, having understood the hint. "That's true, they really are wonderful. But to be honest, I'm sure I'd love any child once it's ours." She smiled and laid an arm around Harry's waist. Plus, having children biologically wasn't out of the question for her yet, so she really wanted to discuss this with Harry once they were by themselves again.

Sherlock smiled at the two of them, "What about you then?" he asked, looking at Janine, "I mean.. have you ever had kids?" he asked, hoping he wasn't pulling at old wounds there.

"No, never biological ones." Janine said with a smile. "But I've been looking after them for the better part of my life." Clara looked at her, quite astounded. "Wait, you've never had children in 2000 years?" "Yes, thank god for proper contraceptives these days." She said with a laugh.

Sherlock chuckled a little at that, "Well that at least is something I don't have to worry about, there literally is no chance of accidentally getting a woman pregnant. If that ever happens, it'll be intentional." he said and shrugged.

"That sounds like a positive." Janine said with a smile. "But I think it's good for all of us that we're living in more liberate times. God, can you remember the 19th century?" She said with a chuckle and shook her head. "This whole obsession with sex and the sexes back then was almost comical looking back at it."

"Well.. we're living in times where someone like Donald Trump can become president.. so much for comical.." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, don't get the mood down, Sherl, I was beginning to enjoy myself. But yeah, he reminds me of Caligula, so if it weren't for modern technology, I'd laugh.." Janine said half-jokingly, before turning to Clara. "And what do you do for a living, I haven't even asked that yet." "Smooth transition" Clara said with a laugh. "I'm a barrister. Not to confuse with a barista, which probably sounds a bit more interesting than my job description."

"Well I'm sure your dad would be proud to see you following in his footsteps." Sherlock said and smiled, "I still remember how he kept saying what a shame it is that women weren't allowed to become lawyers since you would make a great one."

Clara smiled at that. "Yeah, I never forgot that either.. You can imagine how I jumped at the chance when we finally were." She said with a chuckle. "Speaking of, I also remember how he thought you'd make a good criminal investigator. Have you ever done that at one point or has it always been chemistry?"

"Well I didn't really want to be too close to people who's job it is to be very alert and solve mysteries." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "But it seems to work out for Carl.. so maybe at some point, I'll give that a shot."

"Do you still have Billy by the way?" Clara asked after a moment. "Didn't father leave you alone with a criminal once and later on you just had this skull?" She asked with a chuckle.

"You know the story sounds way more intriguing if you say it how it was, it was a pirate, not a criminal." Sherlock said and laughed, "But yes, I still have him, my most loyal companion, mainly because he's well.. dead.." he chuckled.

Clara chuckled at that and Janine said. "Maybe I could ask Carl to wangle me a skull then, just in case things don't work out" She joked with a laugh. "I had no idea you were into pirates, Sherlock"

"Well I was.. five or so." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "Every five year old boy would want become a pirate given the chance.. but after I let them out of the cells, the guy I talked to told me I was too young to be a captain and then he gave me Billy." he grinned.

"That sounds sweet. A little dubious, but sweet." Janine said with a chuckle. "And Sherlock had the exact same look on his face that day." Clara commented with a grin.

Sherlock laughed, "Well that was one of the best days of my life so far." he said and smiled, "At least until I was sent to bed without supper, Clara's father was furious." he laughed.


	97. Girls' Night - Pt. 2

Two hours later Janine was sitting on Sherlock's lap, her one arm on his shoulder and the other holding her champagne glass. "...And then I gave gave him my big, sad eyes and put on my best German milk-maid accent 'Bitte, Herr officer, these miles and kilomtres are so confusing.. And I just can't be late for my Onkel Franze's funeral..' " Janine said with an exaggerated German accent, before beginning to laugh in earnest. "It did work, though. What about you, Harry?"

"Well I generally avoid tickets." Harry said and chuckled a little, "Partly because I really do need my licence and second because I just suck at flirting." he said and laughed at Sherlock's expression at that, "No really, ask Clara, my first attempts of flirting with her could be the script to a disaster movie." she said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I think I did most of the flirting, but to be honest I must've been too distracted by your beautiful face to really listen to our small talk." Clara said with a chuckle and leaned in to kiss her wife.

"Charmer." Harry said, giggling against her wife's lips, before looking at Sherlock, "Does flirting get you out of speed tickets too?" she asked and giggled, "Hm, not really, but it did get me some files I needed." he said and laughed, "Although John wasn't so happy when I told him about my success."

"Oh dear, I can imagine, thinking back to our couple evening." Clara said with a chuckle, before explaining to Janine. "When Sherlock and I saw each other again after centuries, we went upstairs for a few minutes. And I think I can remember that.. John wasn't too happy about our leaving the room when he didn't know that we're cousins." She said and gave her wife a small smile.

"Neither was I.." Harry said and laughed, shaking her head, "It is very good to know that you're 100% gay and related." she said and Sherlock rolled his eyes, but couldn't help laughing himself. "Well I didn't know if you know she's a vampire, which obviously she had to be."

"When I first heard Harry mentioning your name I was so surprised, since that was the first time I'd heard your name since back then." She said and shook her head. "When I actually saw and heard you I initially thought I'd gone mad." She chuckled. "But to answer your question, Janine, I don't really flirt with police officers either these days."

"Probably doesn't work so well anymore anyway given that most of them wear body cams now." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "Now I have a question to all the grandmothers here." she said and Sherlock frowned, "Oi!" he complained and Harry laughed, "Alright, grandmothers and grandfathers." she said and Sherlock chuckled, "Not exactly what I meant." he said and Harry just grinned, "Anyway, has anyone of you ever been with some historical figure?" she asked.

Janine chuckled to herself at that and Clara said "Well, had a thing with Virginia Wolf once." She said with a chuckle. "Terribly posh thing. But Janine looks as if she's got a whole journal full of names." Janine shook her head. "Not quite a whole journal, but you might've heard of Franz Beckenbauer or Martin Heidegger, the philosopher.. I met him in Freiburg." She said with a smile. "And what about granddad?"

"Well I met a few but I only made out with Oscar Wilde once." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "But hey, apparently I left an impression, he did write a book about me." he chuckled.

"Which one?" Clara and Janine asked immediately, before jinxing each other at the same time and beginning to giggle.

Sherlock chuckled, "The picture of Dorian Gray.. I mean.. a guy that stays young over decades?" he asked and chuckled, "Ring a bell?" he laughed.

"Well, and you're not exactly bad looking either." Janine said with a chuckle. "I had no idea you'd lived on the island for a while." Clara commented with a smile.

"Oh, no I didn't, I met him in London actually, he had just graduated at Oxford." Sherlock said and chuckled. "Years later he wrote that book."

"Now that sounds exciting." Clara said with a chuckle and drank some more wine. "But in the end we both settled on Watsons." She said and kissed her wife's cheek. "Now that I get to see your engagement ring in person, by the way, may I ask if we'll all soon have the same last name or if John is going to take on yours?"

"Actually we were thinking to make it 'B. Watson-Holmes'." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Rosie and Charlie already changed their names to it. Charlie was extremely excited about this and I think Rosie was more or less indifferent, but Charlie got her all excited about it." he said and smiled, "The B. in front of it is for both of their original surnames. In their names their last name is written out as well when you write the full name, for John and me it'll be just the B that stands for both their names. That way we symbolically take on both their names and they take on ours, without making our names way too long. Especially mine.. three first names come in handy when you're a vampire but it does make my name awfully long, four last names would have made it ridiculous." he chuckled.

"Aww.. I love that. That's such a sweet idea." Janine said with a smile and Clara nodded. "That's true. So it'll be William Sherlock Scott B. Watson-Holmes in the future? That's a cute mouthful. I can imagine that the girls are already excited." She smiled.

"Well it's a way to make them actually feel like they properly belong to us without making them forget where they come from as the B is a constant reminder. And us taking on the B as well does connect us even more." Sherlock said and Harry smiled, "That's a nice idea. Should we adopt we should think about that too, it's good that you help them to remember their origins." she said while Sherlock shuffled a little underneath Janine, he didn't want to say it, but she was getting heavy on his lap.

"Yeah, that's true. No need to add the Honeyfield though." Clara said with a chuckle and put her empty wine glass onto the table. "By the way, where's your loo? I've got to powder my nose." Janine said, noticing she was beginning to make Sherlock uncomfortable. "Oh, it's there, second room on your right hand side." Clara said with a smile. "Right, thanks." Janine put her wine glass down and stood up, before leaving the room.

Stretching his legs a little, Sherlock gave Harry and Clara a smile, "You're not mad at me anymore for bringing her, are you?" he asked and Harry rolled her eyes, "Well, I still think you could have at least sent us a text, but she's nice." she said and smiled.

"I couldn't have said it any better." Clara said with a smile. "I still have a hard time imagining she's ten times our age though." She chuckled and shook her head a bit.

"I know, god can you imagine living through all of that?" Sherlock asked and frowned, "It does show that 'our race' is as old as the human race though.. so that's interesting to know."

"Yes, that's fascinating.. I wonder where this... I don't know, 'virus' sounds like the wrong word, but where whatever makes us vampires originated from.." Clara said with a frown. "Have you asked her how she got turned? Feels a bit too personal for me to ask her that."

"I only know that she's somehow got into a sort of cult or something and that's where it happens." Sherlock said and shrugged a bit, "Guess it's her thing to decide when to talk about it."

"Hm, right.." Clara said with a frown, not sure what she had expected here. "Oh, there she comes." She said and gave Janine a smile. "I hope you haven't missed me too much" She said with a chuckle and picked her glass of champagne back up after sitting down next to Sherlock.

"Hm you were away?" Sherlock teased and chuckled a little, nipping at his glass, before reaching for the bottle for a refill.

"Charming" Janine said and rolled her eyes, before drinking the rest of what was in her glass. "Could you be a dear and refill my glass too?" She asked Sherlock while Clara poured herself some pure blood, already feeling tipsy enough for now. "How about we play truth or dare with that empty bottle?" She suggested with a chuckle.

"Okay.." Sherlock said and laughed, "But no kissing dares, even if I'm just around women, I'm pretty sure John wouldn't like that." he chuckled.

"We're married too and you're my cousin so don't worry about that." Clara said with a chuckle. "In that case I'm in too" Janine said and watched Clara putting the empty bottle onto the table and spinning it. A few seconds later it landed on her wife. "What a start; Truth or dare, darling?" She asked with a chuckle.

"Let's start with dare then." Harry said and smiled at her wife.

"Mmh, I think in honour of Rosie I'll dare you to take a shot of actual ketchup." Clara said with a chuckle, figuring that was a harmless enough start.

"Well considering how much we claim we love tomato juice, we should probably build up our tomato tolerance in case we're ever challenged to drink or eat a lot of tomato stuff, so.." Sherlock said and chuckled, shrugging a little. "Yeah that doesn't really make it better." Harry complained and chuckled, "Do we even have actual ketchup at home?" she asked, looking at Clara.

"We do actually, it's behind the vinegar. I sometimes mix ketchup with blood and use that as sauce for my baked beans." Clara admitted with a chuckle. "You still cook?" Janine asked with a laugh. "I can't remember the last time I've done that." "Well, I think it's different when you're living with someone. Especially if that someone's a mortal. But either way, you can hardly call baked beans cooking." Clara said and laughed too.

"I think what really changes things a bit is living with someone who needs food." Sherlock said and chuckled as Harry stood up to get the ketchup, "Or at least is in the habit of eating even if they don't need it anymore, but even if you've stopped eating in favour of liquids, living with mortals or recent mortals still gets you eating and cooking again." he chuckled.

"I think at this point my cooking comes close to the dirt that archaeologist dig up; it'd probably fit the time period I learned those recipes in." Janine said with a laugh and took another sip. "I prefer Mrs. Turner's food, if any. You don't know if Carl happens to be a good cook, do you?"

"Likely." Sherlock said and sighed, "He's taken care of his little brother ever since they were boys, their father was a drunk and regularly spent nearly all his salary in a pub after work and their mother died when they were very little, shortly after Scott's birth, Carl managed to do little jobs to support his little brother ever since he was 10 until he was 16 when a teacher had finally noticed they were basically living on their own, so yeah I guess he can cook." he said as Harry returned with a ketchup shot.

"Hm.." Janine hummed with a soft frown, remembering the situation shortly after the war. Carl was certainly a good man going from what Sherlock had told her. The way he treated women, had looked after his younger brother... What he must've been like? "Would you kiss me first, darling? I'm not very much into ketchup-flavoured kisses" Clara asked her with a smirk.

Harry chuckled, leaning over to kiss Clara, before pulling back and just to get it over with, downed the ketchup shot, grimacing as she swallowed, which made Sherlock chuckle a little.

"Well done" Janine chuckled and clapped a bit, Clara joining in on that with a smile. "Alright, you're turn to spin the bottle."

Harry rolled his eyes, still fighting to get her face back under control as she spun the bottle, watching it until it stopped and pointed at Janine.

"I think I'm going to go with dare too." Janine said with a chuckle after some thought.

"Hm.. okay.. let me think." Harry said and toyed absently with the little ketchup smeared glass as she thought. "How about you show us some classic roman dance then?" she asked and chuckled.

Janine had to laugh at that. "Its been literal millennia since I've done that though.." She said and frowned trying to remember some of the parts of dances she'd known back then. "Okay, just imagine I'm wearing a long gown and holding a tambourine." She said after a few seconds and stood up, before beginning to basically belly-dance, imagining their old music. Her muscle memory was good for nothing anymore in that regard, so she basically did the Roman equivalent of club-dancing.

"Oh wait." Sherlock said with a laugh and grabbed a couple of Janine's discarded hairpins lying on the table (she had taken them out a while ago), before he grabbed the thin white blanket that had been lying folded up next to him on the sofa. Walking over to Janine, he quickly made a makeshift toga out of it, fastening it with the hairpins, before using his scarf as a belt for her. "That's better" he said and chuckled, while Harry raised a brow at him, "Now Sherlock, you've got some hidden talent there." she said and Sherlock laughed, "Well, I've helped my best friend and my mother regularly with their dresses when I was little and I've got two little girls at home, what do you expect?" he asked with a grin.

Janine began to laugh at that. "Brilliant, reminds me of old times." She said, before pulling Clara and Harry to her feet too. "Here, I don't want to dance alone, on second thought. Here, move your hips like this and your arms like that" She grinned, before clapping along the beat. "That's the female version, but feel free to join us."

"Meh, so what." Sherlock said and chuckled as he started to dance along with them.

After a few minutes they all sat back down and Janine kept the makeshift toga on. "You would've fit right in, I'm telling you." She chuckled, as she spun the bottle, which this time landed on Sherlock. "So, truth or dare?"

"Well I'm not gonna be a party pooper, dare." Sherlock said and chuckled again.

"Alright... then write an at least 100 character text to your brother Mycroft." Janine said with a chuckle, before putting down her glass.

"Oh dear.. okay hang on.." Sherlock said and chuckled as he began to type, "Greg and Mycroft, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage! There you go. 126." Sherlock said, holding out the phone for all of them to see, before he sent the text0 without regrets, that surely wasn't the most ridiculous thing he had ever mocked his brother with.

"You two haven't changed too much, have you?" Clara snorted and Janine began to laugh at seeing the text. "Have you got that from one of the children?"

"Yeah Rosie picked it up at the orphanage and started to sing it about Charlie and Lowell when he was there for a guitar lesson.." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "And while I did feel bad for Charlie and quickly moved to scoop up Rosie to go to the park with her, it was still a little funny."

"You know, I always say, not a single day goes by where the children don't teach me a valuable lesson." Janine said with a snicker.

"I can definitely relate to that." Sherlock said and laughed, twisting the bottle again, "Oh Janine again." he said and chuckled. "Okay then, truth or dare?"

"Mmh, I'll go with truth then to spice things up." Janine said with a smile.

"Okay.. who was the weirdest boyfriend you ever had and why?" Sherlock asked with a chuckle.

"Phew.. a lot of them have been quite weird verging on crazy." Janine laughed and thought about that for a while. "Okay, I can't recall every single one of them, but I can still remember Markus quite well. He was kind of obsessed with my hair, I think. I mean, when we saw each other at the end of the day, he'd pet, comb or I don't what with my hair. Even bought my shampoo, hair conditioner and asked me questions about it; regularly that is. After an argument I came back home with a shaved head just to annoy him and then he broke up with me."

"What? I mean, I like to play with Harry's hair too, but that guy does sound properly weird." Clara said a quiet laugh so as not to wake Harry up who'd nodded off a few minutes ago.

"Well I constantly have John's fingers in my hair when he gets the chance to, but.. yeah the whole wanting to control how you take care of it part is a little creepy." Sherlock said and chuckled, shaking his head.

"I think I'll just go get Harry a blanket" Clara said after a moment before standing up. "Hang on, you can just use my toga." Janine chuckled and put her hair pins back on the table, before folding the blanket a few times. "Oh, thanks." Clara smiled and covered her wife carefully with it. A moment later Janine spun the bottle again (well, twice after it had landed on Harry) and it landed on Sherlock.

"Well let's take truth then, that's more quiet." Sherlock said with a glance at Harry and smiled.

"So... what's the sweetest thing a boyfriend's ever done for you?" Janine asked with a smile after looking over at Harry and Clara.

"Hm.. I guess that'd be... John proposing to me on Christmas morning." Sherlock said and smiled happily, glancing at his ring.

"Aww... That is really sweet." Janine smiled and glanced at his ring too. "Seriously, when I hear about your relationship it sounds like straight out of a Disney film." She chuckled.

"Can't help it, I'm head over heels for him. But I've already noticed that the Holmes' and Honeyfield's are extremely drawn to the Watsons." Sherlock said and chuckled lightly.

"You mean, because Harry and Clara?" Janine asked with a smile and Clara chuckled. "No, it does get a little more complicated than that. Apparently my aunt Violet is- oh, do you want to tell the story? I mean, she's your mother."

Sherlock chuckled, "Right, well my mum is apparently married to John's uncle." he said and chuckled again, "Oh and John's grandfather and I are rather good friends, though we've never been a couple."

"Oh, now that's a big coincidence." Janine said with a chuckle. "So did you and John meet through Clara and Harry or how did that happen?"

"Eh no, actually we all met separately without knowing how deep the family ties run there." Sherlock said and snickered a little, "Actually we all just met again through the Watson family, neither of us knew the others were still alive."

"Really?" Janine asked surprised and Clara nodded. "Thanks to our relationship I've got my cousins, aunt and childhood best friend back and Harry her grandfather." She said with a smile. "It's strange how these things happen sometimes. I never thought anything like that could happen when we got together." She said and shook her head.

"Well and I got my mother back, my cousin and got two very sweet little twin sisters." Sherlock said and chuckled.

"Right, Violet had us over a while. They're amazing.. look almost frighteningly like Sherlock's late oldest sister." Clara said with a smile. "I only know them from pictures, but they look very sweet." Janine smiled

"Oh yes, they are. And true, you noticed that too?" Sherlock asked looking at Clara, "It's almost creepy how much they resemble Eurus."

"Yeah, if Violet asked for a daughter like Eurus, she certainly got that. And then two of them at once and so bubbly on top of that." Clara said with a smile.

"They're really great kids." Sherlock said and felt a little guilty that he hadn't spend so much time with them lately.

"Mmh, Harry and I should visit them all again sometime. It's almost infuriating how all those years we we were this close to meeting up with them." Clara sighed and shook her head. "Anyway, isn't it your turn now?"

"Hm.. I don't know about you, but I think I'll call it a night, or rather call a cab." Sherlock said, yawning a little as he turned to Janine, "You want to come along, or do you want to stay?" he asked, looking at his watch, yeah, 5 am seemed like a reasonable time to consider going home.

"Is it that late already?" Janine asked with a chuckle. "Time flies.. No, I wouldn't want to push Clara's hospitality, so I think I'll join you. Do you think we could we share that cab?" She asked him with a smile.

"Sure, I can drop you off at your place, before going home." Sherlock said and smiled, pulling out his phone and quickly calling his usual cab service.

"Great, thanks." Janine said with a smile, before turning back to Clara. "I had a great night, please let Harry know. I'd love to do this again sometime" She said and Clara nodded. "Me too. Sherlock can give you my number and then we can talk. But for now, I'll already carry Harry to bed." Clara said with a smile. "It was lovely to have you here. I trust you can find the door yourselves when your csb arrives?"

"Sure." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Good night. And sleep well."

"Goodnight and you too." Clara said with a smile, before picking Harry up bridal style and carrying her into their bedroom. "Goodnight" Janine said and watched them leave.

"Still mad I dragged you here?" Sherlock asked, giving Janine a little smile.

"Concerned might be the better word." Janine said and rolled her eyes at him teasingly. "But it's no either way."

Sherlock smiled at that, "Knew you'd get along." he said and grinned, standing up to gather his coat and scarf. "Should we wait downstairs so we actually notice when the cab comes along?"

"Sounds reasonable." Janine chuckled, before standing up and putting on her jacket. "Really, this evening was nice." She said going to the elevator.

"Yeah it was, my personal highlight was your dancing, though." Sherlock said and smiled as the elevator dinged and he walked into it.

Janine let out a chuckle. "Likewise" She said and gave him a smirk, following him inside. "You know, I'll always have a soft spot for the period I was born into. You too?"

"Definitely. Though I have some constant reminders with my brother and Jane, my mother.. Clara." Sherlock said and looked at Janine. "Do you know anyone from your time?"

"One and a half thousand years is a very long time." Janine said and gave him a sad smile. "A lot of deaths and bad communication services in comparison." She sighed. "We got separated some nine hundred years ago."

"Hm if you've got some names they maybe used more often, like I do for instance with my three first names, I tend to use them in turns." Sherlock said and chuckled, "If you've got some data and maybe even a good enough memory for some sort of composite sketch, Mycroft has a lot of contacts and I'm sure we could get some history students to help find specific people for a few pounds too." he said and shrugged, "It'd be a nice challenge, if you would like to find them that is."

"I only remember them very vaguely and none of them were particular ambitious or made it into history books I think... But you think it'd be worth a try?" Janine asked him after a moment; it wasn't as if she hadn't tried before.

"Sure is. I mean with each passing year in human history there was more listing people, until today it's increased to a ridiculous level. But with Mycroft's sources and abilities and tips from historians where to look, I think the odds are good that we can find some things." he said and smiled.

"I'm not getting my hopes up yet, because finding someone would be beyond words." Janine said and shook her head a little. "Thank you"

"You're welcome, really, I do like a good puzzle, so.." Sherlock said and smiled as the elevator finally arrived downstairs.

Janine chuckled at that. "Well, there you've got one then." She said and stepped out of the elevator, closing her jacket.

"Would be good if you take a few days time for that list though, just to make sure there's as much information and alter egos and places they lived on as possible. I mean the places should be easy since you probably weren't too far away before you lost each other." Sherlock said and sighed, "Damned pre-telephone times, really. It's so much easier to stay in touch these days."

"That's true. It still hasn't ceased to amaze me that I can video-chat with you from almost anywhere on the globe or even have an easy time finding you." Janine said with a chuckle. "Though, I must say, I'm wary of the recent development in terms of records and surveillance. The attitudes have changed so much over the last few decades.

"Yeah that's true.." Sherlock said and gave a little wave at a CCTV camera, "Hello big brother." he said and chuckled as that was true in both ways.

Janine had to chuckle. "No one should have that much power. But it's good to know up there's at least one vampire who's on our side."

"I guess Mycroft's more oh his own side when you look closer at it." Sherlock said and smiled as he spotted a cab, his smile faltering as it passed them and drove off.

Janine sighed as it drove past them. "So you, Clara, your brother and Clara's friend were turned together then?" She asked after a moment, thinking about the people she'd been turned with.

"No, just Mycroft, me and Jane were turned together." Sherlock said and his head snapped up in realisation at that, "Oh you haven't met Jane, have you?" Sherlock asked and chuckled, "That's Clara's best friend.. Jane.. Austen, actually." he said and kind of liked the looks of people he got when he told them about her. "Thinking about it, I should ask her if she'd like to give English classes at the orphanage, she'd certainly be qualified, both in capability and on paper, she's a uni professor at the moment after all."

"Really, Jane Austen?" Janine asked with wide eyes, before chuckling at her own surprise. "I wouldn't have expected her to be your friend. But that'd be great, I mean, you've seen how packed our schedules are. Rachel and Dorothy could definitely use the help. Especially from a professor."

"Well, yeah I've noticed, I've been working there too for the past few months if you haven't noticed." Sherlock said and chuckled, "But to answer your first question properly, I've only met Clara and my mother again through John, before that, I didn't even know they were still alive."

"That's amazing. I sincerely hope I'll met a few more people from my past again." Janine said with a smile. "You know, actually I practically chose to become a vampire at the time together with a friend. Well, we thought of it more like demigods at the time, but you know, times change." She said and shrugged. "I've never told you about that sect, have I?"

"Well you did mention something about a sect, but no specifics," Sherlock said and frowned, "Demigods, huh?" he asked and frowned, "I suppose that does sound a bit like what early civilisations must have thought about it, with the healing and all."

"Well, things were different back then. It was a small denomination of the Hecate cult, so I doubt it ever made it into many official records." Janine said with a frown. "I mean, it was quite shady, but when initially joined I was just looking for an all-purpose goddess to worship, bluntly put, this demigod thing really made me eager to join the inner circle. I mean, Hecate was quite popular among the population, but this splinter group was a thing of its own.. Have you ever heard of that goddess?"

"Isn't she supposed to be some sort of necromancer? Guarding all sorts of boarders and crossings?" Sherlock asked with a frown, trying to remember more, he definitely had heard of her before, but never put too much thought into that matter, having grown up in a time where people generally believed into only one god. Back in his time the number of gods hadn't been an issue, rather the way people chose to believe in him.

"Yeah, exactly. Basically a protectress against bad spirits and demons. 'World soul' is what we called her." Janine explained. "You know, I should probably say that we had all kinds of sects and imported gods coming and going. They weren't a bad thing at all. This cult didn't have cross-dressing or castrated priests like those of Cybele or other off-putting things at first. But yeah, our teachings said that she could help us overcome the border to death.. find eternal life in death so to say. I'll spare you the details of the ritual, but it entailed a sacrifice and receiving their "Ichor".. They really took 'finding life in death' literally." Janine said and shuddered at the thought of that night.

"Well that sounds positively creepy." Sherlock said and frowned, "Was there a sort of leader? I mean.. it must have originated somewhere, did some of those people tell you how old they were at the time? It would be interesting to know how all of this began.."

"We did actually. Senectus we called called him, which literally comes from the Latin word for old. He claimed to be thousands of years old at the time and of divine lineage." Janine said and rolled her eyes. "A lot of it was probably for show in hindsight. I ran away from there too soon to get into the core of the cult, but one of the people I got to meet there said he'd been about one hundred at the time."

"Hm.. who knows if it was show.." Sherlock said thoughtfully, "Maybe that guy did know a good deal about where it all began.. I'd actually love to know if that cult still exists.."

"I genuinely couldn't tell you, but if so I hope my friends didn't slip back into it again. It only got creepier the longer I stayed." Janine said and shook her head, putting her hands into her coat pockets.

"How did you manage the blood thing then? I mean.. if that guy kept turning people.. how did you feed?" Sherlock asked curiously.

"Well, we mostly kidnapped people who were out on the street too late." Janine said and glanced down. "Never children, though, but it still wasn't nice. And while I'd been feeding on people out on the street until the invention of blood banks, I never did it to that extent."

"Did that cult of yours release them afterwards, though?" Sherlock asked and frowned a little, not that he blamed Janine entirely, though. That had been the only way she'd known how to do things after all.

Janine cleared her throat, clearly uncomfortable. "We did release them into the nearby forest, but after maybe three vampires had fed on someone, that person probably had a tough way home."

"I suppose so." Sherlock said and gave her a smile, "Well I guess it's all water under the bride now.. It's not like you could really help it without risking to get in trouble with people one really doesn't want to get in trouble with." he said and shrugged, "And well, I did feed on people out on the streets at night as well before blood bags were a thing."

Janine sighed. "God, I was an adult and part of a group. I don't even want to think about all of the turned children throughout history.. Could you imagine one of our children out on the street? I mean, children are resilient, but having to feed on other people somehow.." She shook her head.

"Yeah that'd be horrible.." Sherlock said and sighed, shaking his head, before smiling a little as finally a cab halted right next to them.

"Oh, there we are." Janine said with a smile, before getting into the back of the car.


	98. Coming Home

They had a relatively quiet ride to Janine's place, which was partly because Sherlock dozed off every couple of minutes, waking up with a 'what did you say something' which had Janine in giggles nearly the whole time until she eventually got off and left Sherlock alone in the cab to be woken up by the cabbie when they arrived at 221B. Quickly paying the man, he got out of the car and the fresh air did help wake him up a bit as he unlocked the front door.

Charlie lay on the sofa in a dazed state watching one of her favourite old family tapes for the umpteenth time, not really registering that something was going on downstairs.

Sherlock yawned as he walked up the stairs, trying to be quiet as unlocked the flat door and walked in and.. found Charlie in the room, watching TV. "Bit late for you, isn't it?" he asked quietly, sitting down at Charlie's feet on the sofa.

After realising Sherlock was suddenly next to her, Charlie jumped a bit and reached for the remote in a ninja-like move to pause the video. "Good.." She glanced at her watch "morning. Are you already awake too? I've just changed into my... morning.. pyjamas." She said but couldn't hold back a tired yawn. How was it already six o'clock anyway? What had happened to all the other o'clocks? "I thought you were crashing at Harry and Clara's place"

Sherlock chuckled a little, "Nice try." he said and grinned at her, "Don't worry, it's fine. It's the weekend after all." he said and sighed, "Though perhaps try not to stay up all through the night next time."

"It wasn't completely intentional, the last time I checked it wasn't even three." Charlie said, admittedly relieved, and stretched her legs. "How was the London night life?" She asked him with a smirk and sat up a little.

"More like Clara's flat." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "But it was interesting, I learnt a little more about Janine.. did she ever tell you kids how old she is?" he asked with a smirk.

"She only said she's ancient." Charlie said with a shrug, figuring that meant she was about Sherlock's age. "Oh, did we meet her as a little girl or something during that time travel dream?"

Sherlock chuckled, "No, nothing like that, but yes she is in fact ancient. She's about 1598 years old, actually." he said and smirked.

"Say what?" Charlie asked with wide eyes. "Wow, that's like seven times your age!"

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah, stuns me every time I think about it." he said and smiled, "She's got a hell of a lot of stories to tell though." he said with a chuckle, "Anyway, what were you watching that kept you up all night?"

"I've been re-watching a few of my parents' tapes." Charlie said with a smile and glanced to the paused TV screen, before sitting up. "That one's my favourite actually. went out on a trip to Regent's park. In two minutes a pigeon is gonna steal a cracker right out of my father's hand." She said with a chuckle, before hesitating for a moment. "Would you like to see?"

Sherlock smiled at that, "If it's really okay, then sure, I'd love to." he said and started to take his coat off, placing it on his lap.

Charlie smiled and picked the remote back up, before pressing play. "That's not him yet, that's just some random guy" She explained in a hushed voice, leaning a bit into his side. "That's him there on the blanket and there's me lying next to him."

Sherlock smiled a little, wrapping his arm around his daughter's shoulders, "Well you were a cute one." he whispered and chuckled a little, watching the little girl on the screen, "How old were you there?" he asked quietly.

"Fourteen months" Charlie said quietly, her eyes glued to the tape she practically knew by heart now. "He had a nice face, don't you think?" She asked quickly so they'd still get to hear her mother's voice right afterwards.

Sherlock smiled and nodded as he continued to watch the screen.

"Here, now on the left" Charlie whispered with a grin and watched as that pigeon waddled confident up to her father, took a cracker without his noticing, and strode away with an attitude. The best part about that scene though was the way the camera was shaking a bit because her mum giggled throughout, which always made Charlie giggle herself.

Sherlock chuckled along with Charlie, giving her a smile, "Did you notice that you have your dads eyes and lips?" he asked, studying her face.

"You think?" Charlie asked with a small smile and glanced up at him. "Don't call him my Dad, though, that's John. He's my father."

"Hm.." Sherlock hummed and rubbed Charlie's arm little, "I think neither John nor I would mind if we'd have to share that position with him." he said and gave her a smile.

"Good to know but not quite what I meant." Charlie said and smiled. "I don't want to call you all the same thing or go back to first names, so he" She said and pointed at the screen. "is my father, you're my paps and John's my dad. It's kinda weird if you mix those up."

"Oh. Well yeah, I suppose that does make sense." Sherlock said and chuckled, which turned into a yawn just a second later. "But you know what, we need to copy all those videos to DVD, so you can watch your favourite moments over and over again without risking to damage the video or lower the quality. That's the catch of VHS cassettes, but it'll be easy enough, we'll get a VHS and DVD recorder, you can just record it on DVD while you watch it then." he said and yawned again.

"That'd be awesome." Charlie said and yawned back. "But first we ought go to sleep. You've been yawning the whole time, look tired anyway and I think you're beginning to ramble again because you're still tipsy too." She said with a small chuckle, even though she could've stayed on the sofa a bit longer.

"Hm, yeah I forgot you had your own experiences with being tipsy.." Sherlock said and smirked, rolling his eyes fondly, "Anyway, yeah you're right.. and well how about you sleep on the sofa? That way you can keep watching your video until you fall asleep, if dad asks, just tell him I said it's okay." he said and stood up, stretching a little. "You just have to promise to actually try to sleep now."

"Scout's honour" Charlie said with a bit of a grin, before lying back down. "Sleep well, paps."

Sherlock smiled, leaning down to tuck Charlie's blanket a little tighter around her, "You too." he said and leant down to press a small kiss to her forehead.

Charlie smiled at that, before rolling onto her side to watch the rest of the video. And while she did want to have that family there on the screen back, she also loved her current one.

Sherlock smiled down at her, before he turned and walked towards the bedroom.

John looked up from his notes when the door opened (he'd really become more productive now that he only needed four hours of sleep). "Good morning, sunshine." John said with a warm chuckle. "How are Harry and Clara?"

"They're well.. probably going to end up with a little hangover, Clara at least, but basically they're all well." Sherlock said and flopped down on the bed next to John, "By the way, before I forget to tell you, Charlie's sleeping on the sofa, she's been watching her videos all night.." he said and yawned.

"Really? I haven't heard a thing. She really could become a detective, couldn't she?" John asked and shook his head a bit, running his hand gently through Sherlock's hair. "I mean, at least it's Saturday. I'll get her upstairs in half an hour or so then."

Sherlock smiled, leaning a little into John's touch, "Really though the evening was nice." he said, resting his head on John's stomach.

"Yeah?" John asked with a smile and put his notes with his free hand onto the nightstand. "You have my full and undivided attention"

"Well for a start I found out today how old Janine is." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Wanna take a guess?"

"The way you're sounding she's either 30 or 300." John said with a chuckle. "Am I close?"

"Yeah definitely close, you're just 1000 years or so off." Sherlock said casually and snickered quietly to himself.

"Hang on, did you say a /thousand/?" John asked him with wide eyes and stilled his hand. "Are you kidding me right now?"

Sherlock chuckled again, "1598, to be precise." he said and frowned, "Or at least as precise as that age allows."

"Jesus.." John muttered and shook his head. "She does look a bit younger though."

Sherlock laughed, "Yeah just a bit younger." he said and rolled his eyes.

"You know, I couldn't really wrap my head around the 243 in the beginning but I'm not even trying with 1.5k." John said and huffed a laugh, beginning to stroke Sherlock's hair again. "And what else did you talk about?"

"Oh you know, the usual, famous ex lovers, Roman belly dancing.. that kind of thing." Sherlock said and chuckled.

"Roman-? Oh, right, Janine." John said with a chuckle. "You haven't told them about my turning yet, though, have you?" He asked after a moment; now that they were back from their honeymoon John really needed to meet up with Harry to talk about that.

"Took some self control after a few glasses of champagne, but no I haven't said a word about it." Sherlock said and smiled, leaning up to peck John's lips, he was still enjoying the fact that he hadn't had to rinse his mouth after drinking blood anymore.

"Oh good, thank you." John said with a smile. "We didn't do much either over here. Homework, tea, some games.. and I've started reading the first Harry Potter to Rosie now." John told him with a smile.

"Oh after all? Weren't you worried it'll be too violent for a five year old in the later books?" Sherlock asked and crossed his arms on John's chest, looking up at him with a smile.

"I was, but she doesn't have to read them all in one go. I mean, if she likes them, those could be birthday presents so she can grow up with the books." John said, before admitting. "And the fact I didn't want to wait much longer to read her the first one, might've also played a role."

Sherlock chuckled a little at that, "Well if we're already in that genre, we could read the little hobbit with her afterwards." he said and smiled.

"It's actually just the Hobbit" John said with a smile and kissed the top of his head. "But yeah, sounds good to me. Do you think Charlie would like that one too?"

"Probably. Guess she'd still enjoy Harry Potter too. Maybe you two could read it to her together, she could do all the female voiced and you'd do the male voices." Sherlock said and smiled, closing his eyes for a moment as he yawned once more.

"Good idea, I'll ask her tonight." John said with a smile and began to trace shapes with his fingertips on Sherlock's back. "By the way, what's the last proper book you've read?"

"Teleny, actually." Sherlock said and blinked his eyes open again, "It's a homosexual romance playing and actually written and published in the Victorian era. It's presumed that Oscar wrote it, but he never actually confirmed it, however, I always meant to read it, but it was hard to get by a copy back then, then I forgot a while about it and only recently found it in book store again."

"Sounds interesting." John said, but kept quiet after that, since Sherlock sounded like he was about to fall asleep. Instead, he continues to stroke Sherlock's back.

Sherlock smiled, slowly falling asleep on John's chest until he heard the tell tale pitter patter of Rosie's feet, then the door handle tilted down, stayed that way for a moment, before it snapped up again and Rosie remembered to knock. "Papa? Daddy? Good morning! Can I come in?"

"One moment, love, I'm coming to the door." John said just loud enough for Rosie to hear him. "Duty calls, I guess. Don't worry we'll do something quiet." John whispered and kissed Sherlock's curls, before sliding out of bed.

"I can pull through as well.." Sherlock said and felt about ready to pass out as he started to sit up, "I just need a few litres of coffee." he said with a yawn.

"Yeah, attached intravenously." John said with a chuckle and pushed Sherlock gently down again, tucking the blanket back around him. "Go to sleep, love. It's not like Charlie's going to wake up before noon either."

Sherlock hummed a tired laugh, leaning up to steal himself a kiss, before he snuggled back into the blankets, letting his eyes fall shut.


	99. Purple And Red

Charlie lay on the sofa, her legs hanging down one armrest as she researched different colour patterns on the internet; she wanted everything to look just right on her birthday party now that she'd get to have one (!) "Do you think Mrs. Turner could cook and Mrs. Hudson cook bake a cake maybe?" She asked after a moment. "Then we wouldn't have to drink that much blood. Oh, and speaking of drinking...?" She began sheepishly, looking over at Sherlock.

"Not happening." Sherlock said and chuckled, shaking his head, "You know what happened the last time." he said and smiled, "Ask again when you're turning 16." he added and thought about the other question, "But sure, yeah, I think they'd cook and bake for you."

"You can count on my asking. And cool, that would be great. By the way, what do you think of purple and red as theme colours?" She asked and turned the screen around for them to see. "Looks good to me." John said with a smile, before looking back at his own laptop where he was trying to find a good location.

"Hm, it's pretty. But try to decide on a colour theme soon, we still need to go and buy your dress too." Sherlock said and smiled, "And once you have yours, we'll take your friends shopping." he said and smiled.

"Wait really?" Charlie asked with a grin, though now that she was thinking about it, it did make sense if they all had prom-appropriate clothes that fit the theme. "They're gonna be over the moon. Just the girls or do the guys get to come too?"

"Well we're not putting your male friends in dresses." Sherlock said and smirked at John, "Unless they want to, that is." he said and shrugged, "But yeah, suits for the boys and dresses for the girls."

John chuckled to himself at that, thinking about his own birthday. "Well, yeah, obviously." Charlie said with a chuckle. "What about you two though? Do you even own suits? Because the bee costumes are off the table as long as I get to I have a say in it. Though, I'll make an exception for bumblebees, if Mycroft wants to show up." She said and snickered.

"Don't worry, we have suits." Sherlock said and chuckled again, "Do you have an idea for your dress already though?"

"Mmh, I was thinking strapless, purple, floor-length and with rhinestones maybe but I don't have anything specific in mind yet, really." She said with a shrug.

"Hm, I'm sure we'll find a proper one for you." Sherlock said and smiled, "Do you want to go to a professional for your hair or do you trust me with that important task?" he asked and chuckled.

"I already know you'll do great" Charlie said with a chuckle. "Could you style my hair the way you did 200 years ago?" She asked him with a smile. "I never wear my hair like that and it looked so pretty"

"Sure." Sherlock said and smiled, "And yeah, it did suit you really well." he said and looked up at John, "Are you still awake there?" he asked with a chuckle.

John's head snapped back up from his chest. "What, yes, not asleep." He mumbled, blinking his eyes open. "Long day at work?" Charlie asked empathetically. "Yeah, just a bit. Purple and blue still sound good though."

"Purple and red." Sherlock corrected with a chuckle and leant over to take the laptop from John's lap, shutting it before he placed it on the table, "Come on, go to bed, we'll get this sorted."

"You know what, I think I might." John said and yawned, before slowly standing up. "Sleep tight, Charlie." "You too, Dad." She said with a smile and John turned to Sherlock. "Maybe come to bed before I get up again?"

"Hm, I'll be there in a bit." Sherlock said and took John's hand to pull him down a bit for a kiss.

John smiled into the kiss, before pulling back so as not to fall asleep again. "Good" He said and walked over to Charlie to press a kiss to the top if her head. "Sleep tight, Charlie" John repeated with a bit of a smirk and gave another yawn for good measure. "Just go to sleep, Dad" Charlie said with a giggle, before watching him leave.

"Purple and blue is not bad though." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Although that might seem a little cold.."

"Mmh... yeah, but I still prefer red and purple." Charlie said after some thought. "You know how you could really freak me out by the way?"

"Freak you out in a good or bad way?" Sherlock asked and yawned quietly, though he wasn't nearly as tired as John.

"Nah, bad one. I mean, if you did my hair in a completely different way from I remember. Because what would that mean for us?" Charlie said thoughtfully before looking back over to him with a frown. "You almost look as tired as your fiancé, you know?"

Sherlock smiled, "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure that whatever that was, it was real."

"It better be. I want that to have been my first kiss." Charlie said with a chuckle. "It's a pity July's a busy month for Lowell.." She said and let out a sigh.

"Hm, maybe I can get him to record a birthday track for you." Sherlock said and gave Charlie a smile.

Charlie's eyes went wide at the prospect. "You really think he might do that?"

"Sure he would." Sherlock said and chuckled a little at her expression.

"Whoa..." Charlie grinned a bit. "That'd be an awesome consolation gift."

"Maybe we can play just his music that night if you're okay with not having a live band." Sherlock said and shrugged.

"Hm.. yeah, I guess no other band comes close to their music." Charlie said with a nod, before turning back to her laptop.

Sherlock chuckled softly to himself at that and looked back at his own computer, "You know, we could take the same venue we had for Rosie's room, if it's not too small for you." he said and shrugged, "But that way we could already start planning the decoration, I still have the floor plan here."

"Yeah, sounds good to me.." Charlie said and nodded. " I mean, I won't have that many people coming anyway. Are you gonna call this Richard again though?" She asked after a moment.

"I don't know.. No, I don't think so, actually." Sherlock said and sat up a bit, closing his laptop, "I mean, I know it was the plan, but I don't really want something to happen to spoil your party."

Charlie smiled at that, quite relieved actually. "Good, thanks. Seeing that bloke again really freaked me out a bit." She said with a shudder and looked over at him.

Sherlock smiled, "It's your birthday, I want you to have a carefree night." he said and stretched his arms a little, "Speaking of night? Let's call it one? I'll book the venue tomorrow and look up other interior design companies."

"Alright, sounds good to me." Charlie said with a yawn, before shutting her laptop and rolling off the sofa. "Goodnight"


	100. "Actually, we're talking about a limitless budget."

"Why can't I go dress shopping with you?" Rosie complained with a pout as she watched them all put their jackets on. "Because it's a big shop and we'll be focusing a lot on Charlie today and we wouldn't want you to get lost." Sherlock explained for the gazillionth time, though he was still smiling, it was understandable that she would want to come along, but he really feared that she might see something pretty and stroll off.

"And we'll only be out for a couple of hours." John said and Charlie jumped in, since that almost made it sound worse. "Look, I'll take pictures and keep you updated, how about that?" Charlie suggested with a smile. "You'll still be a vital part of the official birthday-dress-selection team that way" She smirked a bit.

"Really?" Rosie asked and gaped a little, "Yes, of course, honey bee." Sherlock said quickly and pulled his phone out of his pocket, "We'll send all the photos to this phone, okay? And maybe we can even video call you, give it to Mrs Hudson, she'll help you with looking at the photos." he said, since her phone really was just a phone and text one without any internet access, except for GPS. "Cool!" Rosie chirped and grinned at Charlie, "And you'll show me every dress you try on?" she asked.

"Yeah, obviously." Charlie said with a chuckle and slipped into her shoes. John pulled Rosie into a hug once he was ready to go. "And be nice to Mrs. Hudson, alright sweetheart?"

"I'm always nice to Mrs Hudson!" Rosie said and smiled as Sherlock crouched down to hug Rosie as well.

"Of course you are." John said with a chuckle before standing back up. "Let's go downstairs then."

After dropping Rosie off at Mrs Hudson's flat, Sherlock followed the others outside to the car. "So John, do you want photo duty?" he asked and chuckled a little as he unlocked the car.

"Sounds good to me." John said and got into the car. "I mean, you could also just give me fashion advice." Charlie said with a snicker. "Yeah, I'm definitely sticking with camera duty." He said with s chuckle.

Sherlock chuckled at that, "Camera and bag carrying duty." he said and grinned.

"Yeah, alright. I'll leave all the fashion details to the girls." John teased him with a smirk, which made Charlie chuckle in the back.

Sherlock laughed at that as he started the engine after buckling up, "Yeah, well one of us has to be good with clothes and hair, we've got two daughters after all."

"Yeah, but if one of you ever wants to have really short hair, you can get solid styling advice from me." John commented with a laugh. "Brilliant, your knowledge about all the differences there must be extensive." Charlie said and rolled her eyes at him a little.

"Well to be fair, if you ever have loads of chewing gum in your hair and we have to cut it short, you might be thankful for his advice." Sherlock said and frowned, "Or if something else happens, I just remembered that you can get chewing gum out of your hair easily if you soak it with coke." he said and chuckled.

"I think I prefer that over a military cut." Charlie said with a chuckle. "If you ever decide differently just come to me. I think a lot of girls wear their hair short at the moment." He commented and Charlie shook her head. "Yeah... not happening"

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah.. me neither I think." he said and leant over for a quick kiss after stopping at a red light.

John kissed him back with a chuckle, reluctantly pulling back once the traffic light turned amber and then green again. "Relationship goals; having someone to stop traffic with" Charlie said with a chuckle.

Sherlock rolled his eyes fondly, "Don't worry, you'll have that soon enough." he said and chuckled a little.

"Yeah, hopefully. Maybe I'll meet someone today now that I'm putting myself out there again." Charlie commented with a smile and looked out of the window. Now that Lowell wasn't going to show up anyway, she might as well try to find someone her age to slow dance with... and the boys from the orphanage were alright too.

"I kind of doubt you're going to find much boys in a boutique for prom dresses." Sherlock said and chuckled a little. "Plus, we're already torturing John with shopping, you can't put him through watching you flirt." he said, smirking teasingly at John.

John rolled his eyes teasingly at him and Charlie chuckled at that too. "Fine.. But next time we'll bring Rosie then. She's still so adorable that she'd make an excellent wingman; at least when she doesn't get side tracked and runs off."

"Yeah since that trip to the bakery, I'm a little hesitant to take her out somewhere unless we can actually pay full attention to her." Sherlock said and sighed, "At least I think she understood that it is a bit not good to run off on her own."

Charlie looked at him through the rear view mirror. "Do you think I should talk to her again?" She asked and John turned around to look at her. "I think Sherlock's right there; at least she does understand that she can't run off; In my opinion we should see it as a positive that Rosie isn't scared. So as long as we don't let her out of our eye sight she's both happy and safe."

"I think if we give it some more time she'll learn that she has to stay near us even if there's something she wants to do or investigate." Sherlock said and shrugged as he pulled up in front of the boutique which also sold bridal fashion.

"Ohh... do you think I can already try on some wedding dresses?" Charlie asked with a grin, unbuckling her seatbelt. "I don't know, but you can always ask. I'm sure they'll let you try on a veil though." He said and got out of the car. "Cool" Charlie said and got out too.

"Hm.. perhaps we find a flower girl dress similar to the dress you'll pick.." Sherlock said and chuckled, "To console our pouting bee a little." he said and chuckled, "Also.. it'll make great photos of the two of you."

"Oh yeah, she'd love that." Charlie said with a smile. "We should also get a her similar dress to mine for my birthday, don't you think?" She asked, walking into the boutique.

"Well I was thinking one dress would do. If she's only allowed to try it on once and then she can only wear it again on your birthday, that'll be almost as special as two different dresses." Sherlock said and gave Charlie a smile, "For now though, this trip is all about you. Your dress and shoes are the top priorities today."

"That's right, so take all the time you need. At least until the shop closes that is" John told her with a wink and Charlie grinned at them. "This is soo awesome. Like, seriously, best. Shopping trip. Ever." She said, already looking around eagerly.

"Hang on, better than the one where we brought home wagon loads of stuff for you and Rosie?" Sherlock asked with a smirk as he followed her inside.

Charlie rolled her eyes at that, though she was still grinning. "There've just been a lot of best days, alright?" She said and looked around the boutique in amazement. There were so many dresses to choose from! "Can I already go and look at a few?"

"Sure you can, that's what they're hanging here for after all." Sherlock said and looked up as a young brunette woman approached them, "Hello, I'm Donna and who are you, little lady?" Donna (apparently) asked, putting her hands on her knees and leaning down a little to be on eye level with Charlie.

Charlie suppressed an annoyed sigh (how 'little' did this woman think she was?) "I'm Charlie. I'm looking for a dress for my thirteenth birthday" She said, giving her a polite smile; John had better be looking right now, he was after all the parent concerned about manners and all that.

"Oh isn't that nice." Donna chirped and cleared her throat, "And you brought your ... brothers?" she asked, clearly bewildered by the idea to bring one's brothers to buy a dress.

"Oh no, they're my fathers." Charlie said with a chuckle, still finding the idea of people confusing them for her brothers quite funny. "Bit young maybe but they're doing great." She said and gave Sherlock a smirk because of the 'young' part.

"Ah.." Donna said and her smile turned instantly into a fake one, which made Sherlock wonder if she was aware how fake her fake smile actually looked. "Right.. what is.. er.." she began giving each of them a critical look checking out their clothes as it seems. "What kind of budget are we working with?" she asked and pointed at a selection of dresses, "We have quite a few dresses on sale." she said and if it wasn't for Charlie, he'd have turned right around and left again, honestly he really preferred the outspoken unfriendly type to the fake friendly type. "Actually, we're talking about a limitless budget." he said and Donna looked at him sceptically. "Sir, to be quite honest with you, I don't think you understand that nearly all of our dresses are designer pieces within a price range starting at 300 pounds and that's only the ones on sale." she said and Sherlock was quite proud of himself for sticking to good manners, John had better be looking right now. "When I say limitless, Miss, I mean limitless." he said and reached for his wallet, pulling out his coutt world card and Donna grew multiple levels nicer within seconds, yeah that card tended to have that effect on many people. "Right, how about we look around a bit, Charlie." Donna chirped, putting much more effort into her fake smile now.

"Yeah, okay. I was looking for a purple one" Charlie didn't really smile back this time and just followed along, feeling both angry and kind of amused by how shocked that hombophob had looked. Ugh.. If this Donna woman could've at least been straight up impolite instead... but at least she wasn't insulting her fathers to their faces. Meanwhile John simply stood by, wearing his usual poker-face, quite proud of the fact neither Charlie nor Sherlock had lashed out on that woman yet. There was no point in getting involved so as long as Charlie was happy he'd just wait. Where there any places to sit down? He probably couldn't just sit next to the clothes like at H&Ms.

"Actually Diane.." Sherlock said in the snobbiest tone he could manage, purposefully using a wrong name, "I don't think we'll be needing your help, we're quite fine on our own." he said and linked his arm through his daughter's. He just couldn't help wanting to have a minor payback and seeing how dumbfounded that Donna looked was definitely worth it. "Alright then, let's go check out those dresses then." he said and grinned at Charlie.

Yeah, Sherlock was awesome, she thought giving him a chuckle. "What a bitch" Charlie mouthed with a look, before walking with him to a side of the shop.

"Achte bitte auf deine Aussprache." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Aber stimmt, so eine blöde Kuh." he said and smirked at Charlie, quite liking the fact they had a sort of secret language.

Charlie giggled at that. "Ja, eine richtig blöde Kuh." Charlie said with a giggle, before pointing at one of the clothes racks. "Oh, schau mal da vorne! Das ist schön." Thankfully John spotted a few chairs next to one of the racks they were going to.

"Wir müssen John wirklich deutsch beibringen." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "But for now, let's switch back to English, he does look like he's eager to be part of the conversation." he joked and flashed his fiancé a smile.

"It's your only choice if you want to hear my expert opinion" John said with a with a smirk. "We'll stick to English in that case." Charlie said and laughed a bit. "Seriously though, I think this one looks great." She said and pulled Sherlock over to a red one.

"Hm, but didn't you say you want a long dress? This one's more of a cocktail dress, isn't it?" Sherlock asked and took the dress, holding it against Charlie, "Yeah, definitely around knee length once a tailor fitted it for you." he said and pulled the middle of the dress a bit together to show Charlie how it would fit.

"Oh yeah, you're right." Charlie said, looking down on herself. "But I do like the colour. So maybe one like that but floor length. Oh and on second thought I'm not so sure about an.. erm neckline that low."

"Yeah you won't get any complaints about a higher neckline from John or me, that's for sure." Sherlock said and chuckled a bit.

"Right, yeah. Hm.. " Charlie said and went through a few longer dresses. This would be a lot easier in a few years time, she thought with a slight frown as she looked at some strapless ones. After a while she finally found a purple lace one she liked that. It had a laced top, see-through sleeves and some flower parts. "I think I'll try that one one for size. What do you think?" She asked and John nodded "Yeah, that looks pretty." He said with a smile, though he thought most dresses here did.

"Hm, yeah that is rather nice." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "Make sure you take a photo when Charlie comes out with the dress on and send it to Rosie.. or rather to my phone."

"Sure, I will" John said and Charlie took the dress before disappearing into a changing room. This was so exciting!

Sherlock chuckled when she disappeared into the changing room with the dress, he definitely enjoyed seeing her all excited and happy. "If she's that happy about a dress, can you imagine how she'll react to Lowell playing on her birthday?" he asked John quietly, making sure Charlie couldn't hear.

John had to chuckle at that. "I'll have a camera ready to try and capture the moment she realises." He said with a smirk. "Meanwhile Charlie slipped out of her street clothes and into the slightly too large dress, managing to zip it up by herself and doing a few turns in front of the mirror inside the changing room, before stepping outside.

Sherlock smiled when Charlie came back, "Now that's really pretty.. I'm not sure about the tattoo lace, but the cap sleeves and the boat neckline definitely suit you." he said and smiled.

“Hm.. I think you might be right" Charlie said, looking at herself in the mirror. "What do you think, dad?" Yeah, purple looks very pretty on you." John smiled and pulled out his phone to take a picture. "Now smile for Rosie" He said and took the picture when she grinned into the camera.

"It's lilac, John." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes as he walked around Charlie, "Debby, I need a couple fitting clips." he said and startled Donna (of course he knew her name, though just for the fun of it, he didn't intend to use it again) out of her dumbfounded staring at the three of them. "S-sure, yeah, just a second." she said, still in this fake friendly tone she had used ever since Sherlock had flashed his credit card. Handing a few clasps to him, Donna retreated back behind her desk, continuing to watch them. "Right, let me see." he said and pulled the dress together at the back, fixing it with the claps so it fitted around Charlie's figure the way it was meant to be. "Now, that's much better, it's your choice in the end, but I do think that you'll look best in an A line dress like this one. It makes you taller. It'll look great with the right shoes." he said with a smile.

"Mmh, I think I'll put it on the side" Charlie said after some thought. "Maybe I'll find something similar with a different top part. I'm still into rhinestones." She said eventually before giving Sherlock a smile and disappearing back into the changing room.

"Oh hey, how about you try that one." Sherlock said and took another dress, which was more of a wine red, but mermaid style, it had the same neckline as the one before, but no sleeves, yet he did want her to try out various styles of dresses so she'd find what she liked and didn't feel forced to pick a kind of dress he found suited her best. "It's a mermaid dress, let's see how you like that." he said and stuck the dress beyond the curtain of the changing room, without looking into it.

"Oh, alright" Charlie said, and took it before changing into the next one. Two minutes later she stepped out of the cabin with a sceptic look. "Now, I like the colour and the fabric, but that's way too long." Charlie said and looked at herself, before looking over at her fathers.

"Hm, but the colour is really great on you." Sherlock said and looked at John, "What do you think?" he asked.

"Yeah, the colour's great. But in the end you just have to feel comfortable in it." John told her and pulled out his phone again. "Hm... yeah, I'm just not very fond of the cut" Charlie said and allowed John to take another picture for Rosie. "I think I'll look for a different one now."

"Alright, but get out of the dress before, so you don't stumble, looking for another." Sherlock said and chuckled a little. "It really is too long."

"Yeah, I could use a flower girl for that one" Charlie snickered before going back into the changing room and putting her street clothes back on. A minute later she was outside again the two dresses in her hand. "Where can I put those?"

"Oh I'm sure Deliah will handle those for you." Sherlock said with a smirk and took the dresses from Charlie, before hanging them over a chair.

John gave Sherlock a bit of a look, though it ended up to be an amused rather than a scolding one. "Alright" Charlie chirped, before going back to the racks. (This time looking for a red dress *with* rhinestones) "Here, what do you think of this one?" She asked them, holding in in front of herself.

"Now that's really pretty. So pretty that I actually want to buy it for you anyway, even if you don't choose it for your birthday." Sherlock said and chuckled a little.

Charlie grinned at that and John could already see where that was going. "I think I'll keep looking in that case." She said with a wink and handed Sherlock the dress, before turning around again to tease him.

"You know, you could at least try it on, before pretending you're not sure." Sherlock said and laughed, handing the dress back to Charlie.

"Alright, granted" Charlie said with a chuckle before taking her dress and trying it back on. And while it didn't fit like a glove, she still loved almost everything about it. The sleeves and neckline, the colour, the cut... With a bright smile she walked out of the changing room again. "Now that does look brilliant on you" John told her.

"That one is definitely bought." Sherlock said and smiled grabbing the clasps again to adjust the dresses fitting, before pulling a little stool over to them, "Get up there, so we can see how it will look when you're having shoes on and it's shortened." he said with a smile.

Charlie did as she was told and turned a bit. "Yeah, that's the one." She said while John snapped another pic, managing to capture her expression.

"Alright then, if you're sure, let's see if they've got a similar one for Rosie." Sherlock said holding his arm out to help her down the stool.

Charlie smiled and took his arm, before climbing down. "Yeah, let's do that. I think I'll keep the dress on for later when I'll pick the shoes"

Sherlock chuckled, "I'm sure we'll find some." he said and looked around for the racks with flower girl dresses.

"Here, how about this one?" Charlie asked and pulled out a purple princess dress. "Or is that too three year old?" She asked while John looked for some dresses too.

Sherlock frowned, "Yeah a bit, after all she sees what Amy and Ally wear, so she'll probably recognise this as a 'baby dress'." he said and chuckled.

"Hmm, yeah, you're right." Charlie nodded and turned back to the other ones. "What about this one?" John asked and came over to them, holding a red dress with tulle, which looked quite similar to the one Charlie was wearing.

"That's actually.. perfect." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, looking at Charlie, "What do you think?" he asked with a grin.

"Yeah, we should get that straight away. It's even got similar fabric" Charlie chuckled, seriously impressed. "Well, every dog has its day, I guess" John joked.

Sherlock chuckled at that and leant over to peck John's lips, "Erm Dolores?" Sherlock called and chuckled a little to himself, "Do you have shoe too?" he asked and Donna rolled her eyes, before turning to that family. "Sure, right over there." she said, not even bothering to offer to help this time.

Charlie didn't look over to her and went right over there, naturally drawn to the sparkly ones. "Thanks, Dara" She said and gave Sherlock an amused smirk.

Sherlock chuckled when Charlie went along with his joke and gave her a grin. "Okay, you can go wild here. There's no height limit." he said and smirked, "But.." he added, "You should think about it and try to put comfort above looks." he said and after all, he knew what he was talking about his feet were killing him after John's birthday.

"I've had some girlfriends who'd come in high heels to a party and change them later on for flats they'd brought so they could actually dance. That's always a possibility since you don't know how those shoes will feel four or five hours in." John told her with a smile and Charlie nodded. "Hm... Yeah, that's a good idea. And I guess my sparkling personality will be the most dazzling thing about my look anyway." She said with a snicker, before beginning to look around.

"That's true." Sherlock said, being absolutely serious there. "Well, go on then, try some." he said and chuckled a little, glancing up at John, "Did some of your girlfriends ever wear floor-length dresses?" he asked and chuckled, "High heels are the trick there, with flats you can't dance because you'll be busy holding your dress up."

"Not unless we're talking School Formal." John said with a chuckle. "But granted, my advice probably isn't the best in that area." He said as Charlie already gathered two red ones in her size and a silver one and sat down to try them on.

Sherlock smiled, "Hm.. you're pretty brilliant in other things." he said and with a smirk.

"Thanks, love" John said with a smile, before Charlie came back up to them. "What do you think of that one?" She asked with a smile, wearing a sparkly silver shoe. "Yeah, I like that on you. And it's almost as sparkly as your personality" He said and gave her a smile, which caused a grin to tug on the corners of Charlie's mouth.

"Debrah, can we have the second shoes to the ones Charlie picked?" Sherlock asked and smiled sweetly at her, before turning back to Charlie, "You need to check if you can actually walk on both shoes."

"Hopefully, because I quite like the one." Charlie smiled and looked at herself in the mirror. "By the way, has Rosie already replied?" She asked and John pulled out his phone again. "Hold on, let me check."

Meanwhile Donna returned with a few shoe boxes, placing them on a chair next to them, "There you go." she said and walked back to her counter. "Thanks, Dodo." Sherlock said with a grin.

" they re so pretty " John read out loud, quite proud she could already spell that well. He then raised an eyebrow at Sherlock for all the absurd nicknames.

"What? You try to come up with loads of different names with D, then we talk." Sherlock said quietly and snickered to himself.

"Well, as long as you don't start calling her donkey.." John said quietly and rolled his eyes a bit, which made Charlie laugh. She's already put on a pair in her size and was 'walking' around in then slowly (yeah, she definitely needed to practice to walk in these stilts...)

"Don't look at your feet, lean just a little back when you walk and always put your heel down first." Donna said, finally finding an area of expertise here and now actually having a genuine smile on her face as she watched Charlie take her first few steps in heels, which made Donna slightly more likeable in Sherlock's opinion, though not likeable enough to stop calling her wrong names.

Charlie looked at one of the clothes racks and slowly tried to walk the way Donna had told her to. "Is that better?" She asked, looking over to the saleswoman.

"Hm, just keep those three things in mind." Donna said and gave her another smile, "You're actually doing well, I've seen a lot of girls land on their noses the first time they try heels." she said and chuckled a little.

Charlie had to giggle at that, feeling a bit conflicted since she didn't seem so bad now. "Okay, I'll hang on to that. And do they really?"

"Oh yeah." Donna said and cleared her throat, "Your.. erm.." she looked with a disapproving frown at Sherlock before looking back at Charlie and putting the smile back on her face, "You.. father.. is right.. it's better you feel somewhat comfortable in your shoes, so no matter how lovely a shoe is, if it's already uncomfortable wearing it for the first time.. it's not gonna get better, just try another one."

"Hm... I think I'll try the red ones over on then." Charlie said after some thought, as much as she liked the sparkling ones. "Could you please get the whole pair, Denise?" She asked, because even though she was nice, no one had the right to look disapprovingly at her family. Who did she think she was?

Sherlock couldn't help chuckle a little, when Donna left to get the shoes, smirking at his daughter, "Denise.. good one." he said and held out his hand to high five with his daughter.

"Thanks, paps." Charlie chuckled and high-fived him, before looking at John before he could say anything. "I'd like to point out by the way that we're not even being actively aggressive. And we're even saying please and thank you." She said and John closed his eyes and chuckled at that. "Yes, I've noticed. I'm proud of you two, love."

"And even Mr Moral has to admit that she is a bit of a .. bitch." Sherlock said and smirked at John, "And don't give me a lecture about that word, we both know Charlie knew that word long before we met her." he chuckled.

John rolled his eyes a bit at that. "Yeah, she is and no I wasn't. I just don't think that bad looks are worth the energy it takes to be angry at someone. Or the trouble to get thrown out of a boutique, possibly."

"Oh she won't throw us out, they're trained to endure a lot of things when someone shows a flashy credit card." Sherlock said and chuckled again, gathering himself together as Donna returned with a shoebox. "Oh thank you, Dolores." Sherlock said and took the shoe box from her.

Charlie smiled and took the shoes from Sherlock, before sitting back down and slipping out of the old and into the new pair. "Yeah, those do feel better a lot better." She said before standing up and walking a few steps (weight back, eyes fixed, heels first; ugh, she really needed to practice that whole routine) without even tripping. "Yeah, those are much more comfortable. Do you think they look alright too?"

Sherlock smiled, "They're really pretty especially with the dress. Do you like them?" he asked, steering her towards a mirror and crouching down next to her so he could pull the dresses hem up a little to show her what the whole outfit would look like once the dress was fitted.

"Yeah, a lot." Charlie smiled, letting the image in the mirror sink in for a while now that she had everything together. This was by far the prettiest she'd ever looked... she almost felt like an actual princess. "This outfit's so pretty"

Sherlock smiled, looking at her, "Well, I guess it's bought then." he said and pulled Charlie's hair together in a loose bun to see how it would look with her hair up, "I think a trip to the jeweller wouldn't hurt either. Some little ear studs with a little red gem would really look good." he said and frowned, "We have to make sure to get the right studs right away though.. I don't think they'll be healed enough for you to take them out on your birthday."

"Awesome" Charlie grinned, thrilled she'd get those earrings after all. "Can we still go there today?" She asked immediately and John looked over to Sherlock. "I actually don't see anything that'd speak against that. The jewellers should still be open for a while, don't you think?" He asked and Charlie practically beamed. "Oh pleease, can we?" She asked Sherlock with puppy dog eyes.

Sherlock smiled, "Sure we can." he said and gave John a smile, before dropping Charlie's hair, "Come on then, hop into the changing room, I'll pay while you get dressed."

"Alright" Charlie smiled and started to jog over to the changing rooms, having completely forgotten over her shoes with all the excitement. Though, she didn't exactly get very far and stumbled over her own feet on her second step. Quickly, John leapt forwards and just caught her before she hit the ground. "Are you alright there?" He asked and helped her stand up. Charlie blushed and cleared her throat. "Yeah, fine. Thanks." She said and slipped out of the shoes to put on her old ones.

Sherlock chuckled a little (once John had caught her and she was safe, mind you), it was just really sweet how excited she was. Picking up the heels and Rosie's dress, he walked over to the changing room, waiting for Charlie to hold out the dress, so he could go pay everything.

"This is seriously such an awesome day" Charlie said through the curtain as she worked herself out of the dress.

Sherlock laughed again, "Glad you're enjoying it." he said and grinned at John.

John chuckled as well and Charlie handed him the dress. "Here, there you go. I'll be with you in a minute"

Sherlock smiled, taking the dress, before he walked over to the counter, handing Donna his credit card, "Uhm, sir, about those earrings, if her birthday's anytime soon, you might want to get studs matching the dress right as her first ones, since she'll have to leave them in for a while before it's all healed. Wouldn't want her to be disappointed when the jeweller tells her that after she's got other ones in her ears already." she said and Sherlock reluctantly smiled at her. It actually was a nice advice, he had to admit that. "Thanks. We'll make sure she gets the right ones." he said and took his credit card back, before taking the shopping bags.

"Paps are you coming already?" Charlie called, standing with John next to the exit.

"Alright alright." Sherlock said and laughed, "Bye.. Donna." he said and turned to Charlie and John, walking towards them, "Alright then, off we go. Jeweller first or should we drop off the dress at the tailor's shop before? If we do that first, we might be able to pick it up before we go home, it really are only minor changes, that shouldn't take too long."

"Yeah, alright" Charlie smiled and walked outside. "I just don't want the jewellers to have already closed up." She said, peaking into the bags he was holding.

"Don't worry." Sherlock said and chuckled softly, "We'll make absolutely sure you get those earrings today, okay? Even if we arrive when they close up, I'll just bribe them to get it done." he promised though it was still rather early, so he doubted it'd come to that.

"Awesome" Charlie grinned and ran to the car a few meters away. It want her birthday yet, but she already knew that it was going to be the best birthday ever.

"Do you think she knows that we almost enjoy seeing her so happy more than she enjoys this trip?" Sherlock asked, looking at John with a grin.

"I think she might be a bit too excited to realise" John said with a chuckle, looking after her. "Seriously, being able to make her happy like that is one of the best things about fatherhood for me."

Taking John's hand with a smile, he started to walk again, "Same." he said and unlocked the car.


	101. Baby Steps

Excited to show Rosie their outfits, Charlie got out of the car. The ear studs hadn't hurt half as much as she'd have expected and she already looked forward to trying on the other set of earrings they'd got. Holding her shoebox in her arms, she waited for Sherlock and John to follow along and open the door. "Are you coming?"

"We're coming, don't worry." Sherlock said with a laugh, getting out of the car and unlocking the boot to grab the bags.

John got out of the car too and walked to the door to let them in. "There we-" He began, but Charlie was already inside, knocking on Mrs. Hudson's door. Meanwhile John turned around to Sherlock. "Do you need any help with the bags?"

"I'm fine." Sherlock said, laughing again as he watched Charlie, "Do you think she'll sleep tonight?" he asked with a raised brow, though he was still smiling.

"No idea" John said and laugh, waiting for him at the door. Meanwhile Mrs. Hudson let Charlie inside. "Hi Charlie." She smiled. "So did you get some nice clothes?" Charlie nodded happily. "Yeah, a dress and shoes" She said with a grin.

"Can I see?" Rosie chirped as she appeared in the doorway, before forming a large "O" with her mouth as she spotted Charlie's ears, "Whoa you have earrings!" she said excitedly, standing on tiptoes to have a better view on Charlie's ears.

Charlie crouched down to let her see. "Yeah, here take a look." She said with a grin. "I'll put on everything again once we're upstairs. We've even got a surprise for you."

Rosie grinned, "They're so pretty! But didn't it hurt?" she asked, tilting her head as she inspected Charlie's ears.

"Just a little." Charlie smiled. "We even got some clips for you. They look the same but don't hurt. Paps has them in one of the bags."

"Really?" Rosie asked and looked over to Sherlock and John, rushing past Charlie towards them, "Can I have them now?" she asked, hopping up and down excitedly, while Sherlock wondered how they were supposed to get either of them to sleep tonight.

"You can have them and your dress once we're upstairs, alright?" John said and gave Mrs. Hudson a smile too. "Thanks for looking after her today" "No worries, deary. You should better go upstairs now, considering the look on your daughters' faces" She chuckled.

"Alright then off we go." Sherlock said and started to walk up the stairs, while Rosie kept trying to peek into the bags. "The photos were so pretty!" she chirped happily, "I liked all the dresses a lot! Which one did you pick?" she asked curiously.

"I picked the last dress; the red, long one with sleeves." Charlie said and followed him upstairs. "John even found a similar one for you."

"I get a dress too?" Rosie asked wide-eyed, now even more eager to get a look into the bags.

"Of course. We want you both to have nice dresses to wear that day." John said with a smile. "But you only get to wear it today and on Charlie's actual birthday so it doesn't get dirty or rip in the meantime."

"Cool!" Rosie chirped and took both Charlie's and Sherlock's free hand to tug them both faster up the stairs, "Whoa, calm down, bee. If one of us stumbles and falls down the stairs we neither of you will get to put on dresses today." he said and Rosie slowed down a little again, "Kay.." she said.

John chuckled a bit at that and when they finally got to the front of the living room Charlie took the bags off Sherlock. "We'll come downstairs in five minutes. See you" She grinned and waited for Rosie to follow her up to their rooms.

"Alright.." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, though he had a grin on his face as he turned to John and pulled him into his arms for a proper kiss, "I've been waiting to get to do this the whole trip." he murmured.

"So have I" John said with a small chuckle, before bridging the gap between their mouths.

Sherlock smiled as he broke the kiss eventually, still holding John close to himself, "Yeah, I definitely needed that." he said and pecked John's lips again.

John smiled and rested his chin on Sherlock s shoulder for a moment. "Mmh, definitely." He said and let out a sigh, before remembering something. "Do you think Charlie will think of putting her shoes on downstairs?"

Sherlock chuckled, "Well if not she'll at least have practice.. Thank god that stairs have railings."

"True." John chuckled. "I don't particularly like her track record with neither stairs nor heels." He said half-jokingly and drew back a bit. "How about some blood?"

"Sounds good." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, taking John's hand as he started to walk towards the kitchen. "You were okay with me suggesting the earrings, right?" he asked, remembering their conversation a while ago about these things.

"Yeah, I was." John said with a nod. "I think I might've even suggested she get those when we were talking about that." He said and got two glasses out of the cupboard with one hand, giving Sherlock's with the other a squeeze. "I'm glad you're thinking about those things now though."

"Yeah, I just need to remember to think about them before I actually suggest it, rather than asking afterwards." Sherlock said and chuckled a little.

"Mmh, that's true." John said and gave him a look, before taking a blood bag out of the fridge. "I mean, it's fine now, but really, think of it next time, please."

"It really was on impulse, though, if that makes it better." Sherlock said and smiled, "I just looked at her and thought that some earrings would complete the look."

"That's actually exactly my point." John said and pecked his lips. "If I had for example thought that like two months ago and let her get her ear pierced without talking to you, I think you wouldn't have been too thrilled" Remembering that he hadn't wanted them to get anything permanent back then.

"True." Sherlock said and sighed a little, "Though, I was actually more worried about tattoos." he said with a little smile, "Anyway, I get your point. I'll really try to remember, alright?" he asked as he took his glass of blood.

"Thanks." John said and took a sip. "Oh, and does that mean you don't like the bee tattoo on Rosie's calf?" He said sheepishly, smirking into his glass.

"You know, if you were about 10 times more irresponsible than I am, I'd be worried now." Sherlock said and chuckled, nudging John's foot with his own.

"I don't think you're irresponsible, love." John said seriously, before pecking his cheek.

"I am though. Not in a dangerous way, but in a I just can't say no way." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes about himself as he nipped at his glass.

"Well, yes, but you don't say yes to literally everything they suggest. I wouldn't trust you with them if you were like that." John offered after a moment, before taking another sip.

"No true, if I'd say yes to everything Rosie would be keeping a herd of ponies in room and Charlie would have a dozen piercings." Sherlock said with a laugh.

John snorted at that. "And now I'm trying to imagine Rosie with a herd of ponies and a beehive." He laughed, before hearing quick and tiny feet footsteps followed by more laboured ones coming down the stairs.

"Guess she didn't remember to put the shoes on downstairs." Sherlock said with a chuckle, putting his glass down on the counter and walking towards the stairs, so he could catch her, just in case she would stumble and fall.

Following her sister, Charlie made her way down the stairs, clinging to the railing; mental not: make sure to practise stairs more. "So what do you think Rosie?" She asked on their way downstairs.

"I think that you're walking funny!" Rosie said and chuckled a little, watching her sister.

"Well, it's really hard to walk in those." She said, making sure not to step onto her dress. "Hey, but I made it" She grinned as John came into the living room to see them too. "Oh, I didn't know we were expecting royalty" He said with a smile and crouched down next to Rosie. "Could you maybe tell me if you've seen our daughters? They wanted to come down the stairs but they're nowhere to be found." He said politely and put on a frown, scratching his head.

Rosie chuckled at that, "But it's me daddy!" she chirped and turned around in her dress, "It's really pretty isn't it?" he asked, looking down at herself.

"Ah, of course! Now that I look more closely, I can see you. And yes, it's very pretty, especially now that you are wearing it." John chuckled and picked her up to spin her around once, setting her down carefully.

"But Charlie looks like a princess too!" Rosie said and looked at her sister, "But she doesn't walk like one. Is it really so difficult? Because it's just walking on tiptoes isn't it? And that's not difficult, look!" she said and stood on tiptoes walking back and forth.

"Of course she does, you both look beautiful." John said and gave Charlie a smile. "I'd think so too, but you'd have to ask Charlie for that. She's the only one here who can tell you that" John said, biting back a smirk in Sherlock's direction. "Yeah, because you Also have to lean on the heel here. That's the hard part. And your toes get all squished together." She explained to her sister.

Rosie frowned, crouching down to look at Charlie's feet more closely, lifting the hem of her dress, "If it's so difficult and squishes your toes, why are you wearing them?" she asked and looked up at her sister.

"It's a mixture of peer pressure as well as social norms that have shaped my perception of beauty and femininity." Charlie said and tried to take another step without tripping. "Actually, those are rubbish reasons, thinking about it."

"Uh huh." Rosie said and nodded, "But if you really want to learn to walk on them, I'll help." she said and took Charlie's hands, "You can hold onto me until you can walk on your own. That's how Janine teaches the babies to walk!"

Charlie had to chuckle at that and held onto her. "Thanks I appreciate it." She said and did her very best not to fall onto her sister. "Hey, this _is_ much easier"

"I'll help you on your birthday too if you still need help." Rosie offered with a smile, which made Sherlock chuckle, "I guess she'll have learned to walk on her own until then." he said and ruffled Rosie's hair as he moved into the kitchen to put their glasses away, it would be a little catastrophe if they'd spill blood on their dresses.

"Yeah, I think so too." Charlie chuckled. "If you want to you can try them on too. I mean, they'll be to big for you, but you'll know what I'm struggling with." She offered with a wink.

"Hm.. no. They don't look very comfortable." Rosie said and looked up at John, "Can I have some tomato juice?" she asked, still making sure not to lose her grip on Charlie however, after all she had to make sure she wouldn't fall.

“Sure, love. And please make sure Charlie doesn't fall while I'm away." John said with a chuckle before turning to get some blood. It was sweet how Rosie was always so keen to hold the people's hands when she thought that they might get hurt. "Maybe you want to get changed though, wouldn't want tomato juice stains on your dresses." He said and Charlie nodded, before slipping out of her shoes. "Let's go upstairs then"

"Okay.." Rosie said and looked up at Charlie, "How many days are left until your birthday?" she asked, because she really really wanted to wear the pretty dress again soon.

"Nine more days" Charlie said with a smile and began to walk up the stairs. "That's one week and two more days."

Sherlock smiled as he looked after them, "God they're extremely sweet with those similar dresses." he said and chuckled, leaning against the counter.

"They are." John said with a chuckle as he poured two more glasses for the girls. "And we're still taking all of Charlie's friends shopping, don't forget that."

"Oh I haven't forgotten." Sherlock said and smiled, "I'll take girl duty on that trip though, so you can go shopping with the boys." he said, figuring that'd be easier to handle for John than giving advice on ball dresses.

"Thanks I definitely prefer that job" John said with a chuckle. "Was it very obvious today that I don't know anything's about ball gowns?"

"Well... yes. But I think she still appreciated that you were there. That's more important than being an expert. That's what those sales people are for usually anyway." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Plus a non expert opinion is almost more important since she probably wants to know what normal people think given that this isn't a runway show in front of designers and models. It's a birthday party with friends."

"Hm, yeah I guess that's true." John said with a smile, though all of the dresses had looked vaguely pretty to him. "But genuinely, I think she'd probably still look beautiful in a bin liner."

"Yeah, she would." Sherlock said and smiled, "Anyway, how about tomato soup with meatballs for dinner?" he asked.


	102. July 27

When July 27 finally came around the corner there Charlie had already become used to the constant low-level excitement of the past few days. So when she walked into the room (on the heels she'd now learned to walk and even dance on) they had rented, she wouldn't have thought anything could surprise her today; she'd been involved in all aspects of the party planning after all. "Why is there a stage? I thought we'd agreed to listen to Lowell's tape"

"Well that's weird." Sherlock said, sounding properly surprised just how he had practised and giving John a clueless look, "Did you tell them to put up a stage after all?" he asked fighting very hard not to smile, knowing that Lowell and his band were already backstage preparing for the big surprise later on.

"Not that I recall" John said with a frown, keeping a straight face. "Maybe they just assumed that's standard for a prom-themed party" Charlie suggested, biting back a sigh; she /really/ would've liked for her favourite band to come, but at the same time she didn't want to sound ungrateful; everything else was absolutely amazing. "But that doesn't matter as long as the stereo is working."

"Hm, yeah. And who knows, maybe you can put the stage to some use, you can always have a karaoke contest or something later on." Sherlock suggested with a chuckle, turning on the colourful spotlights and disco ball. "Now that's much more party like already. And Greg and Molly should arrive with your guests in a minute."

Charlie grinned at that; she couldn't wait for them to finally be there and celebrate with her. Once they'd arrive this birthday would be just like her last one just a lot larger flashier (that and together with John and Sherlock). "I'll just catch them at the door then" Charlie said and began to walk to the front door again.

Sherlock smiled as Charlie conveniently walked out of sight, before he pulled out his phone and shot Lowell a text to start playing backstage so they could for now pretend it was just the stereo. When he heard the music begin, he smirked at John, before calling, "The stereo works." to Charlie.

"Awesome!" Charlie called and opened the door, happy to see the others had just arrived. "Hi guys!" She said with a grin and waited for her friends and Greg and Molly to come inside.

Sherlock smiled as the guests began strolling in with even wider eyes than they had when John, Greg and Sherlock had announced that their 'field trip' actually was a shopping trip for prom wear for Charlie's birthday party.

A few minutes in and Charlie and her girl friends had been quick to show each other their dresses properly and start dancing with each other to the playback.

After about fifteen minutes when Charlie was properly distracted and Lowell and his band had played track after track with barely any break in between, successfully giving the illusion that it was just a CD playing, Sherlock sent Lowell a text to start the surprise now, before just a few seconds later an all acoustic track came on (the song Lowell had written for Charlie's birthday), while Lowell himself walked out onto the stage with his guitar.

When Charlie suddenly heard a completely new song, a grin crept onto her face... Even if Lowell couldn't be here, at least he'd- hang on, was that-? No. But- It couldn't possibly be- OH! Getting into a tizzy, Charlie just stared at the stage when she caught sight of Lowell. He'd come, written a song for her and lied to her to surprise her? This was the /best/ birthday /ever/! Completely out of it, she couldn't even...

Lowell smiled at Charlie when she eventually noticed him on the stage, eventually finishing the song, he signalled the rest of his band to come on stage, one of them carrying an extra guitar, "So, birthday girl, wanna play a song with me?" Lowell asked which (flatteringly) elicited a gasp from most of the girls, while he held out a hand to help Charlie up on the stage.

Charlie grinned and took his hand (proud to say she'd pretty much mastered high heels in her book), getting on stage. Taking the guitar from Zack, she stood next to Lowell and began to play "By a fountain" (which obviously she had memorised a while ago) with the whole band. This was /so awesome/!

Sherlock smiled, watching the two on stage for a moment, before looking at John, "I'd say that's a successful surprise." he said and chuckled, leaning over to peck John's cheek.

Once the song was over and Charlie was officially the coolest thirteen-year old in he room that day, she gave the guitar back again and turned to Lowell with a grin. "I thought you had an important gig somewhere?" She said and, yes, that set-up was completely intentional. (But it was her birthday, okay?)

Lowell gave her a smirk, "Well I do have a very important gig somewhere.." he said and grinned right back at her, "Here." he said and pulled a little box out of his pocket, which contained a cameo necklace his from his mother's jewellery box, he was attached to the pieces in it, but he knew that Charlie would take care of it and he knew that his mother would whole-heartedly agree with giving the necklace to Charlie, she did use to give some of her older jewellery to younger girls she knew couldn't afford things like that on their own, just because she didn't like to have more jewellery than she could actually wear just to own it and keep it in a box, "Happy birthday." he said as he held the box out to Charlie.

Charlie gaped at the present (something she'd learned from lingering in boutiques; the smaller the box, the more precious the actual gift, since you didn't need a bow to make it more interesting. Or alternatively he'd got just her a pair of nail clippers and didn't care about presentation, which she doubted). Opening it carefully, she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw that necklace. It almost looked like one of Jane's from back then. "Wow... thank you. Who did that belong to?"

"My mum." Lowell said and gave her a smile, "I'm sure she'd rather see it on you, than me keeping it in a box just for it to go dull and dusty. She used to do that, you know, giving her old jewellery away to other girls, sometimes her maids, she liked that better than keeping boxes full of jewellery she doesn't wear anymore anyway, just to know she owns it."

Wow... that was even more special than she'd have thought. Lowell had just given her his mum's ancient necklace that he'd kept for centuries and now he was giving it to her? In front all of her friends... Oh, she was so going to wear this on their wedding day; she'd need to think of getting rings that matched the necklace in a few years (legally five, eight if she asked paps and probably ten if she asked dad, though dad would probably abroad at that point any- no, he'd come home for her wedding if he was still going to be deployed at that in eight years. And he was getting married at twenty one himself so kettle to that, dad). And didn't the necklace fit beautifully to the old wedding dress she'd seen upstairs in the attic the first time she'd been home. Now she'd have another reason to go up there again! Oh, this was exciting! And paps could do her hair again and Rosie would be a flower girl. Or her maid of honour or whatever (whoa, she'd be one year younger than Charlie was right now, weird. And she'd be as old as dad was right now; double-weird. But as least paps and Lowell would still be ancient so there was that constant. Oh, she and Lowell could grow /really/ ancient (like Janine-scale ancient) together... that sounded so romantic... he was so dreamy and romantic and he'd shown up and played their song and given her his mum's necklace and... she felt like she was flying as she stared at the necklace.

"You alright?" Lowell asked and smiled at her, though he was wondering if he was giving her some wrong signals here. Though then again, he had asked Sher and John about the necklace, so he assumed it was alright. "Want me to help you put it on?" he offered after a moment.

Charlie giggled a little at that and just nodded. "That'd be great."

Lowell smiled and walked around her after taking the necklace from her, fixing it carefully around her neck, before giving his band a signal to continue playing. "Care to dance?" he asked with a smile.

Eeeeeep! "Yeah, that'd be-" She cleared her throat and spoke a bit more slowly ladylike, giving him a smile. "that'd be great." If Lowell's eyes hadn't been so captivating she'd have really wanted to see her girl friends faces right now.

Lowell chuckled a little, "Let's go then." he said and stepped off the stage, before held out his hand to help her down as well. "Are you really against the idea of them dating at some point in the future?" Sherlock asked looking at John, having watched the scene with a smile, their surprise had definitely worked out.

John sighed. "Well, not at some point... maybe that is. I don't know him well enough yet. And she'd have to be at least 21 before they can start dating." He said after some consideration. And the fact that he'd been behaving decently towards her for the past couple of months spoke for him.

"To be honest, I highly doubt that he'd even look at her as anything but a sister-like friend until she's at least around that age." Sherlock said and leaned over to peck John's lips.

"He'd better." John said and kissed him back. "And don't forget who was willing to catch pneumonia to kill him on the spot for showing er his guitar." He smirked just a little, even though he'd most likely have followed him.

"Yeah, okay I might have overreacted a little there, but there we were talking about a boy in the midst of puberty, being driven by hormones, that's an entirely different matter." Sherlock said and chuckled.

"Okay, I'll give you that" John said with a chuckle. "You must've been a wild one then, the way you reacted." he said and nudged him a little, remembering the way he'd looked (not physically but his body language and mimic) when he'd met the younger Sherlock back then.

"Well you've seen what I was like when you burst in on me and Victor." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "That was .. most of what we did back then.." he said and smirked.

"I suppose, given then time that was actually wild." John said with a chuckle and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Think dancing for one song would embarrass her too much?" He asked and looked over to their daughter who was looking as if she'd drunk a love-potion in a comic. "She doesn't look as if she's noticing too much anyway"

"True. I think one dance won't hurt." Sherlock said and chuckled a little as he looked at Charlie and Lowell, before looking back at John and taking his hand, pulling him towards the dance floor.

John smiled and let himself be pulled along, holding his elbow high for Sherlock to put his arm onto his own. Thankfully Sherlock had already insisted to teach him in preparation for their wedding, so he actually somewhat knew how to dance now.


	103. Charlie And Ron Are Sitting On A Fence...

Charlie was more than excited when, for the first time ever, she was allowed to go out on the streets on her own. Now that she had an actual camera, she wanted to try it out after all and she'd promised to stay on Baker Street. And while she was a bit nervous, it was the middle of the day she could still make out 221; paps could probably hear her if she started yelling. Hm... Now she only needed a good angle to get started on her (baker) street photography series... Oh, that fence over didn't look too bad. And the people were too busy to mind her anyway. With that, she made sure her camera bag was definitely closed, before finding the right spot and beginning to climb up.

Ron was sitting in his backyard as he usually did after school, working on his drawings. One special one today, actually. It was probably a little creepy, even he could see that, but the new girl in the neighbourhood (she and probably her little sister had for some reason moved in with the gay couple across the street, maybe one of them was their brother? The blonde one, if he had to guess), however the girl was very pretty and he just couldn't help drawing her. Wasn't like she'd see it anyway, so it was only he who had to deal with his own awkwardness, which he was quite used to.

Once Charlie was finally up there, she was pleased to find that she really had a great angle from up here. Those pictures would turn out great as long as she didn't smash her camera. Though, she didn't *just* look at the street, now that she had the chance to peer into that backyard. Oh, there was this cute guy she'd seen out on the streets a few times. He had a cool look from what she could tell, but she had no idea he was an artist. Curiously, she lay down on her stomach and looked at the sketchbook (no that she was lying on top of his fence with a camera anyway, she could just embrace the weirdness probably) Though, she blushed when she recognised the portrait he was working on. "Sweet drawing skills" She commented casually, though her heart was beating out of her chest. He'd thought /she/ was worthy of being drawn?

Ron nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a voice from above him and a second time when he looked up and found out who's voice it was. Oh good god.. "Er.. hi." he said and belatedly shoved his sketchbook out of sight, before he gathered himself together a little, clearing his throat, "Your.. climbing up a fence with a camera to peek into people's backyard skills aren't bad either.." he said and managed a small smile.

"Thanks." Charlie said with a bit of a smirk. "And originally I was just looking for a good view on Baker Street. I'm not a stalker or anything" She added because she felt like that was an important side info. She wasn't /that/ creepy yet. "You're an artist too then?"

"Well yeah.. and while we're on the subject.. I'm not a stalker either." Ron said and pulled his sketchbook out again, holding it out for the other girl to look at it properly. "I just thought you'd be fun to draw." he said and frowned, shaking his fringe out of his face, "That sounds wrong too.. you're just.. pretty." he said and inwardly rolled his eyes about himself. "Aaanyway.. how about we rewind a bit and start off on a less creepy-stalker-ish note?" he asked, standing up and holding out his hand, unsure if it was to shake the girl's or to help her climb down the fence - maybe both. "I'm Ron." he said with a smile.

Charlie had to chuckle a bit as she shook his hand, the other one seemed quite cute. "Charlie. Nice to meet you, Ron." She said and put her other hand on his shoulder to support herself as she jumped into his backyard (If paps had been watching her, she'd probably get a text in a few minutes. Hm, it'd be interesting to see how he handled her first outing)."You don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all." Ron said and smiled at her - at Charlie. "So..those guys you live with.. is one of them your brother or something?" he asked as he looked around his back yard and pointed at some chairs, "By the way, watch where you walk a little, don't step on Juan." he said and snickered a little.

"Juan?" Charlie asked and chuckled when she spotted the little tortoise. "Oh, hi there, Juan! And no, they're my fathers, but that's an easy mistake." She said with a smile and began walking towards the chairs Ron had pointed at. Having grown up around adults that just never aged, she didn't really find it as odd as mortals probably did. Thinking about it, dad was probably more liberal than they gave him credit, considering he had been a mortal until three months ago.

"Your fathers? How did that happen?" Ron asked as he took a bit of lettuce from Juan's bowl and crouched down to lift the little bugger up, before placing him on the table in front of their chairs and handing Charlie some of the lettuce so she could feed him. "I mean.. it's cool and all, very cool actually, wish my parents would be around my age, but.. I mean, I don't think you're the biological daughter of one of them, since they would have been around five or six when you were born." he said and chuckled a little.

"Eight actually" Charlie chuckled, leaving out the part about paps being a tiny bit older than the rest of them. "They took in my little sister Rosie and me back in December We both used to be orphans." She explained as she fed Juan some lettuce. "Man, his mouth is so cute" She commented with an amused smile.

Ron smiled, "That's nice of them. Glad you and your sister weren't separated then," he said and watched her feed Juan for a moment, "He's older than me, you know. 18 years soon." he said and tickled Juan's chin.

"Really?" Charlie asked with a smile, finding the thought of that endearing. "I'd say he doesn't look his age, but to me he doesn't look any particular age." She said with a chuckle, before opening her camera bag. "Can I take a photo of him?"

"Sure." Ron said and laughed a little, "So.. you like photography then?" he asked and looked at the camera, which seemed to be a rather professional one. "Anything .. erm.. else you like?" he asked, clearing his throat and blushing a bit as he tried to form the question he really wanted to ask, "Or... you know.. any.. one?" he asked, trying to sound casual and keeping his eyes on Juan.

Charlie chuckled and crouched down in front of the table and angled the camera so that she got both Juan and Ron. "I do, but not in the relationship sense." She commented and snapped a pic of them, glad her face was behind her camera. "And I like reading a lot. What about you?"

"I don't think I've ever heard anyone around my own age say he likes to read." Ron said and smiled brightly at her, the information that there apparently wasn't anyone she was in a relationship with had elevated his mood quite a bit. "Other than myself, I mean. What's your favourite book?" he asked curiously.

"Mmh, I really like Sophie's world, Frankenstein, oh and Jane Austen's probably my favourite writer." Charlie told him with a grin and put her camera away again, liking Ron a lot better with that new information. "And the guys at the orphanage think I'm nerdy for it." She said and rolled her eyes. "What are you into?"

"Mostly fantasy. The Hobbit and stuff. And well.. if you promise not to tell anyone.. I do have about every book Jane Austen's ever written. I like the way she's captured the time she's lived in." Ron said and blushed a little, "I don't really think there are girl books and boy books.. I mean.. always depends on the story."

"That's so true though, that distinction just turns you off half the best books." Charlie said with a smile. "And I've actually just read the Hobbit."

"Really?" Ron asked and smiled, "Is that why you're barely going outside though? You read too much?" he asked with a smirk, realising that this was the first time he had seen her walking around outside, rather than just going out of the house and getting into a car, or getting out of a car and into the house.

Charlie chuckled at that. "No, my parents are just the worrying kind that's all. We weren't allowed outside on our own in the orphanage and they didn't really change that rule until I turned 13 two weeks ago." She said with a shrug. "They're more laid back in pretty much every other department though."

"Well probably better that way." Ron said and crossed his legs on his chair, before holding his hand out to block the way off the table where Juan seemed to be heading... slowly. "There are a whole lot of sickos around, especially in such a big city."

"Mmh, I've heard there's some guy drawing pictures of strange girls and a stalker-girl photographing people behind their own fences." Charlie said and gave Ron a smirk.

"Yeah, true I've heard of them." Ron said and chuckled, although he blushed again, "But people say they're rather harmless." he said with a grin, before thinking of something. His drawing was about ready anyway, he thought as he stood up, setting Juan back down on the grass, before he grabbed his sketchbook from the floor and pulled out the page with Charlie's drawing, holding it out for her, "Here. Take it as welcome to the neighbourhood present from a fellow weirdo." he said with a laugh.

"Thanks." Charlie chuckled and folded it neatly to put it safely into her bag. "I've got just the right spot for in on my wall. I could show it to you sometime and then you decide if it does the portrait justice" Charlie suggested, biting back the grin that kept creeping onto her face.

"Yeah, I would definitely like to see the spot of your wall." Ron said, happy to agree with every reason to see her again.

"Awesome." Charlie said and gave him a smile. "Come any day after 4pm." She said and put her camera back into her bag. She still wanted to retain some of the mystery (like her guitar for example) and leave on a good note. "We live on the second floor and my room's on the third one, alright?"

"As much as I'd like to see your room.. you've got two dads.. I'll stick to wherever they want me to be.." Ron said and laughed, "I'm not suicidal." he added with a grin.

"Yeah, better not go straight up there." Charlie said with a chuckle, remembering only too well how they loved jumping to conclusions. "Like in super Mario, you've gotta face the end bosses to get up into the tower." She said with a smirk and got to her feet, before placing a kiss onto Ron's cheek. Come on, asking if she /liked/ people? That was pretty obvious.

Blushing once again (he really needed to get a grip on that one), Ron gave her a smile, standing up himself, "By the way.. just for future reference, there is in fact a gate." he said and chuckled a little, pointing at the gate that led back to the street. "Just make sure to never leave it open because of Juan.. I mean.. he'd probably only get as far as the side walk before we notice he's gone, but still." he chuckled.

"Duly noted." Charlie said with a smile before giving them both a little wave. "Bye Juan and see you, Ron." She said before going to the gate, now finally allowing herself to let that grin spread on her face.

"See you." Ron said and smiled as he watched her walk off, only remembering that he didn't even know her last name, let alone her phone number or anything when she had already left. Well good job that one, he could be such a dork. But at least he knew where she lived so there was still hope.

Charlie grinned brightly and walked back to 221. That had gone /really well/! She'd met a cute boy, fed a tortoise and got his photograph.. She'd/have/ to tell someone about this. A few minutes later, she was unlocking the front door and going up into the living room (was it mean that she didn t want to tell Rosie right off the bat? She just didn't want their entire family to know before their father's had even met him..) "...And I'm back"

Sherlock smiled a little when Charlie walked into the living room, "What's he like then?" he asked casually, glancing up at her.

"Oh come /on/." Charlie snorted after looking at him for two seconds. "I wasn't being /that/ obvious about it. He's awesome, though, so thanks for asking." She said and sat down next to him.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "You weren't, but I saw you hopping into his backyard. You think I didn't check who lives in this street and made sure that neither of them is a reason to be worried, before I let you go out on your own?" he asked and smirked. "Ron, right?" he asked and smiled at his daughter.

"You so watched me!" Charlie exclaimed; admittedly, she'd half expected him to, but at least he hadn't watched her in his garden. "Only through the window, though, right? And I've actually taken a picture of Juan. Do you wanna see?"

"I did yeah, I probably will continue to do that for a while, more to get comfortable about this myself, to be honest. I will however try to hold myself back from doing that if it actually bothers you." Sherlock said and frowned a little as he replayed Charlie's other words in his mind, "Juan's the tortoise isn't it? Or was it a lizard? A reptile in any case."

"Yeah, he's Ron's tortoise. And more transparency on the spying part would be nice." Her adventure actually felt a lot more stupid now that she knew Sherlock had been watching her the whole time and probably still knew more about Ron than herself; and yes, it was stupid and irresponsible of her to think otherwise right now, but still, it just felt like everything she did had been baby-proofed for her. "Ron's coming over sometime the next few days by the way. I can take him upstairs, right?"

"I guess that's one of those things we should talk about with John before giving an answer." Sherlock said and sighed at Charlie's expression, "If it makes you feel better.. I couldn't see anything that happened behind the fence, I just saw that you climbed up the fence and an outstretched hand that helped you down on the other side." he said and bit his lip, "I'm sorry.. I didn't even plan to watch you.. I mean, you know how worried we all are about the situation.."

"Yeah.. I know. I mean, I'm glad you're watching out for me- us. Seriously, that's amazing. And I probably shouldn't be jumping into strangers' backyards either." Charlie said and gave an a shrug. "I mean, I just feel like at the orphanage I've got way more freedom to be stupid and make mistakes. It's just really hard to get used to now that living with you isn't all that new and exciting anymore. I mean, I'm not complaining and I get it, it's just how I feel."

"You're .. still happy here, though, aren't you?" Sherlock asked, suddenly extremely worried she might not be.

"What? Yes! Of course I-" Charlie said quickly, because there was no way in hell she wanted them to send her back again. No, no, no, she didn't want to give them any reason to think differently. "Sorry, I was just being stupid. I'm tired and everything anyway, I should probably take a nap or something." She said and sat up straight to go up stairs.

"Miss Marple." Sherlock said and sat down next to her on the sofa, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, "Don't look so panicky, we're not sending you back.. We told you, that is never, ever going to happen, unless you explicitly say that is what you want. I was just.. worried that you might not like being here anymore now that the excitement doesn't outweigh the fact that with more attention there are more rules as well.." he said and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, "I honestly wasn't even thinking about you going back though... or well, I was.. but in terms of you perhaps wanting to go back.."

"No, I like it here. I like us." Charlie said and began to calm down again. "Sorry. I just had no idea there was something like a 'bad' kind of attention.. the good one far outweighs the bad one though. It's just hard to be held accountable for every little thing or have no actual secrets here anymore. It's just hard to accept that. I mean, I couldn't even hide my period from you even though I asked you to leave my laundry alone. Or the fact you're allowing me to 'sneak' downstairs at night as long as it's before 3am... You know, I do pick up on these things too."

Sherlock couldn't help but smile at that, "Hm.. I kind of figured you would.. but if we still call it sneaking I don't sound all that irresponsible." he said and chuckled a little, "I think to sum it up, we can say that all of us will need some more time fall completely into the family routine. But so far.. I think we're doing a pretty good job." he said and smirked at her, "You know that you can talk to us about rules or whatever else that annoys you, right? I mean.. it still goes, we're all in it for life. There's nothing that'd make us send you back. For John and me you're our daughter. Period." he said and couldn't help but laugh, "No pun intended."

Charlie had to chuckle at that. "Yeah, okay. Sounds good." She said with a smile before remembering her camera and beginning to get it out to show Sherlock her photo of Ron and Juan. "By the way, I always thought tortoises were amphibians?" She asked, turning it on.

"No, they're reptiles. All the descendants of a given ancestor are included in the monophyletic group that contains that ancestor. Turtles, despite being strange or somehow different, are descendants from the same most recent common ancestor of Reptilia... that's why turtles are reptiles which is why birds are reptiles as well." Sherlock explained automatically.

"Ah, interesting." Charlie said with a nod. The next sentence slipped our before she could hold herself back. "I've suppose I just un-locked new information about the animal kingdom then."

Sherlock chuckled and rolled his eyes, "I suppose so." he said and looked at the camera screen again, "You've got a good taste though.." he said and smirked at her, "He does look good and he's nice.. he's offered countless times to carry Mrs Hudson's groceries whenever he's seen her on the street with heavy shopping bags. She usually declines, though." he said and smiled.

"Yeah, sounds like Mrs. Hudson. And it's probably not so much my taste in boys as my taste in fences that's brought us together" She chuckled and made sure the folded up drawing stayed down in her bag. "He said he's read the Hobbit too, you know, and guess which author he said he owned all books by?" Charlie asked him with a grin.

"The way you're asking, I'm guessing Jane Austen?" Sherlock asked and chuckled a little, "Bit unusual for a boy though.. although it does make him sympathetic that he just reads what he likes to read and doesn't really care what people think about it."

"I know, right?" Charlie smiled and sat back. "I think I'm onto something with him. He's nice in all the right ways, you know?”

"He's also 15, I think.. not sure what John's going to think about that.. but I'm fairly sure those 2 years won't bother him that much." Sherlock said and frowned, knowing that John probably wasn't at all fond of the idea of Charlie liking someone who actually liked her back, he wasn't quite sure how he liked the idea himself, but he was sure that openly criticising the idea wouldn't be helpful - especially since he really didn't know how to feel about the possibility of her actually dating someone. Talking about her dating Lowell didn't seem as.. threatening since that were always far in the future scenarios, but this.. this could develop in just a few weeks.

"Good, it'd be a bit hypocritical if he did. I mean, two years is nothing stacked against 222." Charlie commented teasingly. "And anyway I don't know if you've noticed, but 13 year old boys are very immature. I don't know a single one that reads a book, and even if they did, they wouldn't admit." She rolled her eyes a bit.

"Well that situation is a tad different." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I admit it is a huge age difference, yes, but John and I are both adults, you're 13. Now even smaller age differences still matter."

"Well, while I can see your point, the situation with Ron isn't going to improve once I stop ageing in five or six years." Charlie said and pulled a bit of a face. "I mean, two years really isn't the world, but fine, let's wait for dad."

"Well, we'll see about that, who knows, maybe you two will end up like John and me. There's always the option to tell him about it. And if you decide to do that in a few years, you'll have all of us to back you up and assure him that you're telling him the truth, most of us know how difficult it is to convince someone who isn't involved with it that it's not just a made up story." Sherlock said and smiled, "But that's all in the future, for now, you should probably just enjoy it and if he really likes you and treats you well, I don't see how John would have a problem with that."

"Awesome, so you're convincing dad when he comes home?" Charlie asked with a sweet smile and got up again, because it was already ten to seven, so he'd be here any minute now. "Plus, I have the feeling that my asking would involve some talk I that I'm not sure I actually want to hear.."

"Well you'll have to go through that. It's part of the whole teenage experience, also if you don't learn from us, how will you know how to embarrass your kids when it's their turn for that talk?" Sherlock asked and laughed, shaking his head, "But yeah, you're off the hook for today at least. Grab some blood and go up swooning." he said with a wink.

"Thanks, you're the best!" Charlie said with a grin and got a pint of frozen blood, before going up into her room. Disaster averted... and now.. she'd have to face a problem she'd created by lying: She had absolutely no idea where to put the portrait, but she was determined to find a solution.

Sherlock smiled, shaking his head as Charlie walked up the stairs, not sure if they actually had to take that seriously. After all Charlie had changed her crushes two times now since she had moved in.

A few minutes later John arrived at their flat, glad to be done with Uni and any obligations relating to it. "Hey, love" He called with a smile as he got into the living room.

"Hey." Sherlock said and walked over to John, pecking his lips, "How was your day?" he asked, just to test the waters a little, not wanting to talk about that certain subject when he was annoyed anyway.

"It was alright. Just a regular study day." John said and gave him a smile, putting his bag down. "What about you and the girls?

Sherlock smiled, "Well.. Charlie's met a certain boy today she kind of likes and who going by her reaction seems to like her too and oh Rosie's very much enjoyed the next chapter of Harry Potter we read when she went to bed." he said casually as he walked towards the kitchen to grab them both a glass of blood.

John looked after him quite surprised. "Oh already? Are you allowed to tell me how they met or is that classified information?" He asked, following him into the kitchen.

"Well, she climbed over a fence into his backyard.." Sherlock said and laughed a little, "That's about all I know."

"Please tell me she's upstairs and she told you about that event yourself." John said, not really sure what to make of that story.

Sherlock chuckled, "Yeah, don't worry, she's home. It's Ron, though. You know the guy who regularly offers Mrs Hudson to help her carry the groceries?" he asked with a smile, "He's okay. Background check turned out well either when I had the whole neighbourhood checked by Mycroft so.. he's alright as in just a normal boy who's interested in our daughter and not affiliated with any criminal circles."

"Oh, that fellah, yeah he seems decent." John said, liking that turn in the story better than the one he had expected. "He's, what, fourteen, right?"

"Fifteen, actually." Sherlock said and handed John his glass, "But he's only just turned 15, I think."

"Hm, I mean, I've had relationships with younger girls." He commented and took the blood. "You think they're already serious?"

"Well they only just met, so I'd say they aren't serious, but on the way there." Sherlock said and smiled, nipping at his glass.

"Oh, well I'm glad for her even if I think she's a bit young." John said; at least it was someone roughly her age this time. If he still seemed nice after meeting him, John might even be willing to ignore the fact she was two whole years younger. "But I do want to meet him properly before they have the chance get serious."

"Yeah, me too. But he really does seem nice. I mean how many kids do you know that still offer to help their elderly neighbour carry home their shopping bags?" Sherlock asked and chuckled a little.

"Yeah, that's true. And I'll give it to him that she was the one to approach him." John commented and took a sip. "Nevertheless, teenage boys can be absolute brats when it comes to girls, so I'm not saying anything until I've met him."

"In any case, though.. I feel like I should ask my mum to take her to a gynaecologist.. now that she actually starts to go from crushes on people she likely won't have a chance with to being into guys she does have a chance with, I'd really be more comfortable if she would be taking the pill.. or at least discuss that option with a doctor so she can decide, better she takes it in advance so it actually has an effect when it matters.." Sherlock said, even if he didn't like thinking about this too much, it really was a serious thing and truth was these days people had their first times at much younger ages. So it was better for her to be properly protected and educated about it than trying to keep things like that away from her.

"Mmh, true. I'm glad you've changed your mind about that." John said with a nod. "But I think it should completely up to her if she wants to take contraceptives yet. I mean, it's her body and her responsibility in the end. We just have to make sure she can make an informed choice." He said, though he really didn't want to think about her actually becoming pregnant by accident.

"Man normal parents get 13 years to prepare for those things. We only had half a year." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, drinking the rest of his blood, before he poured himself another glass.

"Well, we've got another eight with Rosie before it comes to that again." John said with a shrug. "Anyway, I think I'll go upstairs to talk to her in a few minutes. So Rosie still likes Harry Potter?"

"Uh maybe let her be for tonight at least?" Sherlock said and chuckled a little, taking John's hand to make sure he wouldn't go upstairs, "Just let her enjoy it a little. She's only just met him, she's probably replaying their meeting in her head and staring at the photo she took of him, writing a diary entry.."

"Yeah, I'll hang on to that, but I'm still going to say good night to her." John said with a small chuckle, glancing down at his hand. "I haven't seen her all day, you know."

Sherlock chuckled again, "Sorry, yeah.. I just kind of promised her there won't be any talk about it tonight." he said and smirked, pulling John against him for a moment.

"Oh, I see.. Yeah, I'll spare her that tonight." John said and wrapped an arm around him. "Though, speaking of that, for transparency's sake, is there anything in particular you want me to tell her once I do talk with her?"

"No.. but you might want to make sure you don't label all boys hormone driven monsters and actually scare her." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Although.. I think every man with a daughter thinks that way about teenage boys and especially teenage boys interested in their daughter." he said and smirked.

"Well, I just said that they can be." John said with a smile and pulled away a bit to look at him. "But that doesn't mean it's not true. But the thought that every man thinks so makes me feel better." He commented with a chuckle.

"We should at least give boys that like her a chance though and honestly apart from them treating her badly or a considerable age difference there shouldn't be any reason for us to interfere." Sherlock said with a smile, pecking John's lips.

"No, I agree, we shouldn't." John said and chuckled at that. "But anyway, how was your day?"

"Pretty ordinary, except for Charlie's first trip outside on her own." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Might not even be so bad if they get together, that's only one person more who cares about her safety.. if they get together and we're convinced he's trustworthy I might even tell her the vampire detail stripped version about her being in danger. We can still tell him that we believe the people who murdered her parents are a threat to her as well, just so he'll also be extra careful when it comes to strangers."

"Yeah, that's probably quite sensible once we know him well enough." John said with a nod. "I mean, we can't keep her from making friends, it's not her fault she's at risk." He said and sighed. "By the way, how are those self-defence lessons going with her?"

"Oh great, actually. I actually had a black eye this afternoon. I was showing her how to throw a punch without hurting herself too badly.. and the fact that I let her punch me with full strength also helps to get over any hesitancy about actually hitting someone. That's one part of it most trainers can't do much about." Sherlock said and chuckled.

"Ouch. Should I be worried that she actually agreed to punch you when you told her to?" John asked with a bit of a laugh, because that was a threshold he was only going to cross if Sher lock actually started a fight. Though, he knew of course that Sherlock was teaching her and he couldn't get hurt too badly. "I'm glad she's gaining more confidence in situations like that though."

"Don't worry, I spent the hour before that convincing her that I won't be mad and that she should punch as hard as she can." Sherlock said and smiled lightly, "She was nearly in tears when my eye bruised, but that was settled with a hug and some hot chocolate. It's just really important that she learns to get over qualms like that in an extreme situation, which is also useful if at some point she ends up with a violent boyfriend, she has to learn that even if she loves someone she has to defend herself if someone attacks her. I mean, we will try our best to avoid her getting into such a situation, but truth is.. it can happen to everyone."

"Hm, true, but we can only do so much at home. Actually practising extreme situations would probably be taking it a step to far." John commented with a bit of a smile.

"Obviously, I just want to make sure that she doesn't hesitate to defend herself, even if it's someone she likes and doesn't want to hurt." Sherlock said and smiled a little.

"Well if you think it'll help and not traumatise her." John said with a smile.

"Well she knows what we're trying to accomplish and she did understand what I meant when she realised how hard it actually is to hurt someone she likes, it's not like that's going to be a regular lesson though," Sherlock said and smiled, "I want to teach her not to hesitate when she gets attacked, I do not want to completely remove all hangups about hurting someone else."

"Okay, good. That does sound sensible." John said with a chuckle and pecked his lips.


	104. "Is.. Charlie home?"

Ron was incredibly nervous as he made his way over to Charlie's house the next day - did that seem too eager? It wasn't just seeing her again that made him nervous though, it was also the fact that the place had always seemed somewhat off to him. There was just some sort of mysterious aura around it. Maybe that was just because it was the oldest house in the street, though. Whatever it was, it didn't seem too important right now as he rang the doorbell.

Charlie listened up for the second time today, maybe this time it was Ron! Quickly, she made her way down the stairs, trying to outrun one of her- "It's alright, I'm getting that" John called and went out of the living room and down the last flight of stairs. Damn, that had been a difference of maybe three seconds.. Instead of going all the way down, she just went into the living room hoping for the best. Meanwhile John opened the front door to find the neighbour's boy, presumably Ron. "Hello there. And how can I help you?”

Ron blinked a little when one of her fathers (?) opened the door, right.. they were living there too. "Uh.. hi.." he said and cleared his throat, trying to stand a bit straighter, "I'm Ron.." he said, chewing on his lips, "Is.. Charlie home?" he asked hesitantly.

Ah, that was him then. Quite nervous, was he? Well good, better than some insolent cheek. "Yeah, she's right upstairs. I'm John, her father." He said and offered him his hand with a bit of a smile.

Shaking this John's hand, he smiled a little, "Uhm.. nice to meet you... Sir..." he said, it did feel somewhat strange to think of someone just a few years older than him to be the father of one of his friends.

"Nice to meet you too, Ron." John said and took a step back, gesturing for Ron to come inside. "Let's go upstairs then. I think I've only seen you a few times out on the street since moving in here or have we ever talked?"

"No, I don't think so. But I've talked to your landlady." Ron said as he walked into the house and looked around, "She's very nice." he said and waited for John to lead the way.

John smiled at that and began to walk up the stairs. "Yeah, she's lovely." Charlie perked up when she heard a smaller pair of footsteps following John's and smiled brightly when she saw Ron behind John as they came into the living room.

Ron's smile widened when he spotted Charlie, "Hey!" he said, quite glad only one of her fathers was home, that was until the other one walked out of the kitchen, "Oh, hi, you must be Ron." Sherlock said with a smile, pointedly positioning himself next to Billy - no need for him to feel too comfortable. "Er.. hi." he said, only now spotting the skull on the fireplace - was that a real skull?!

"Hey" Charlie said and followed Ron's gaze. "Oh, that's Billy" She supplied, only now noticing that that was probably a bit weir- nah, the skull totally rocked.

"Billy?" Ron asked as he walked a bit closer to the skull, "He's real, isn't he?" he asked with a grin, looking at Charlie, "Who was he?" he asked and frowned, "I guess it's a he anyway, going by the wells above the eyes. With men they're more apparent than with women." he said and suddenly realised how much of a nerd he sounded like right now. "I mean.. I just saw that on one of those shows where they show mysterious crimes and how they've been solved using new forensic methods and stuff." he said while Sherlock couldn't help smile, "He was a man, yeah. Family heirloom. Used to be a pirate." he said and Ron smiled at that, "Cool." he said, still grinning.

"How about we sit down" John suggested before turning to Charlie. "Could you just go upstairs and fetch that tray I left in your room?" Charlie frowned just slightly before nodding. "Sure, dad." She couldn't recall a single instance where he'd done that, so so she figured he just wanted her to leave for a few minutes. Well, erm, okay. After glancing at Sherlock she she gave Ron a smile and walked upstairs.

"Er.. okay." Ron said and looked after Charlie for a moment as he sat down on the sofa, "Was he really a pirate?" he just couldn't help asking, "Like.. an actual real pirate? Like 17th and 18th century pirate and not a modern one?" he asked and Sherlock laughed, "Yeah.. a real pirate, when it was still somewhat glamorous, rumour has it that my erm.. great great great grandfather got him from a pirate in a cell in return for letting a whole bunch of pirates out of prison." he said and Ron grinned, "Now that's cool."

"So what other kinds of things are you interested in. You seem to share my Sherlock's small passion for pirates." John asked him, still not too sure what to think of him.

"Well.. I like to draw.." Ron said hesitantly, looking back and forth between Sherlock and John, "And I'm playing rugby.. " he added after a moment.

"Oh really? Which position do you play?" John asked curiously, leaning forwards a bit.

"Flanker." Ron said and cleared his throat, "You're playing too then?" he asked and Sherlock chuckled a little, "John's actually coaching his own team."

"Ah, like Michael Jones. Do you prefer open- or blindside?" John asked with a smirk. "And yeah, I do, it's a school team. They're still very motivated, so I'm confident we'll be able to compete in the next season."

"Open." Ron said and smiled a little, "I'm leaner than the others, but a hell of a lot faster." he said with a smirk.

"Nice." John commented with a smirk. "I usually play full-back, though, I used to play more when I was your age. So which team are you playing for?"

"Oh just my school's." Ron said and smiled a little, "Might get me a scholar ship. I mean, it's not like my parent's couldn't afford to get me through uni, but I'd rather work for it, if that makes sense to you."

Ron was getting more and more sympathetic to John. "Oh, it does. Very much so. I've never liked to depend on people financially, though I should say that there is no shame in accepting some help. Uni can be quite tough, if you want to take it from me. Do you already have a specific subject you'd like to study?"

"Medicine. Well medicine and eventually I want to specialise in psychology." Ron said and smiled, "And if I can manage I'd like to study art on the side." he said and Sherlock couldn't hold back a chuckle, this boy was making himself so likeable to John and he didn't even notice, probably.

John smirked a bit at that. "Now that's ambitious. I'm actually studying medicine myself, though, I'll probably specialise in surgery. Trauma surgery is a quite exciting branch." He commented with a chuckle.

"Yeah, but.. no offence, I'm actually more interested in the inside of people's minds than the... well their insides, but medicine is mandatory before you can go there." Ron said and shrugged, "I mean.. I'm not fussy about getting in contact with blood or anything, but.. yeah still not really my kind of thing."

"Yeah, I suppose it's not for everyone." John said with a smile. "Though, if you are more interested in things like talking therapy, going straight for psychology, might be a better way. You wouldn't be able to prescribe a lot of medication, but it'd spare you from learning, well, a lot useless rubbish on the way, if I'm being honest. We actually had some students like that drop out; incidentally at the time we began dissecting corpses."

"Well it isn't useless. I mean after all I'll have some basic knowledge in medicine which will be useful. Even if it just means that I'm not going to be hesitant about first aid as even some people with mandatory regular first aid classes are." Ron said and smiled, "I am interested in it, all I'm saying is that I don't really want to spend my life cutting people open and sewing them back together."

"Trust me, learning the names of all of the bones in the human body, only to regurgitate them in an exam a few weeks later, isn't fun nor particularly practical." John said with a wry smile, though he really quite liked this Ron. "But I don't want to turn you off medicine, it is all worth it in the end. But yeah, I absolutely agree, it's shocking how few people will give first aid. I've been an EMT for almost three years now and I've never seen any bystanders already getting started on CPR." He said and shook his head a bit.

"Makes you wonder what's going wrong with those standard classes." Ron said and tried to be somewhat sneaky as he glanced towards the door Charlie had disappeared into, wondering when she'd be back, before looking back at Sherlock and John.

"Maybe, they don't emphasise enough that really doing something wrong, is harder than you think. And the way you see first aid in pop culture can't be helping either" John commented with a sigh, before glancing at Sherlock and back at Ron. "I'm wondering where Charlie is looking up there. Could you maybe go upstairs and tell her it's not that important?"

"Oh yeah, sure." Ron said with a big smile, quite glad he'd get to talk some more with Charlie. "Erm.. where exactly do I need to go?" he asked eagerly.

"Just out of the living room and right up the stairs. Her room's on the left." John told him, now more kindly than he had in the beginning.

"Okay, thanks." Ron said and dashed up the stairs with a smile, making Sherlock laugh a little, "You like him, don't you?" he asked, looking at John.

"I mean, he couldn't really have made a better impression on me." John said with a chuckle. "What about you?"

"I like him. He seems to be smart.. and able to keep up with her, which .. well, it seems hard to do." Sherlock said and smirked, "And well, he's pretty head over heels for her, did notice that?"

"You mean the way he looked at her? And, well, the door?" John asked with a chuckle. "Yeah, I noticed. And he does seem like a decent fellah."

"He does, she's got a good taste." Sherlock said and smiled, looking at John, "Actually.. he's a lot like you." he chuckled, standing up to grab a glass of blood.

"You think?" John asked with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, apart from medicine, rugby, that scholarship thing,- okay I think I see what you mean."

"Well you know what they say, most girls end up dating men like their dads." Sherlock said and chuckled, pouring John a glass as well, before handing it to him.

"Have I been her dad for long enough for that to apply? Oh, thanks, love." John said with a chuckle and took the blood. "I can actually still remember when she started calling me dad." He commented with a smile.

"Well, who knows, maybe it's just a coincidence, but at least he's a good guy." Sherlock said and smiled, "I'm just a little worried about how she's going to keep the whole vampire thing secret. I mean.. you know how it is with first loves... they'll want to spend every free minute together.. which makes it kind of difficult to hide your diet habits.."

"Hm, true. Well, she'll have to start using mouth wash for one thing and timing her blood intake. Yeah, that's going to be difficult for her. I think you managed.. an hour? Roughly?"

Sherlock chuckled a little at that, "Oh shut up that was hardly carelessness on my part." he said and rolled his eyes, remembering Mycroft's intervention there. "I have to admit, I'm glad you knew from the start. It made things much easier."

"Well, yes, that was much better than lying. But you can be glad I'm such an incredibly trustworthy person that you could tell me right away." John teased with a smirk and pulled Sherlock down to sit on his lap.

"It's not about trust with this.. even if you trust the other person to keep it secret.. it still doesn't mean they can handle it." Sherlock said and wrapped his arms around John's middle. "You had a hard time with it too at first."

"I still think that one evening of disbelief is appropriate for someone who isn't very gullible." John commented. "But that's true, I'm still grateful your mum had that talk with my parents."

"Apart from the big secret he can't know about issue.. it's also quite a relief that he didn't seem to be at all disturbed about us being together and raising kids." Sherlock said and smiled, "Gives one hope that in a few generations it'll just be daily business."

"Yeah, it's crazy our grandchildren might get to see that. And I hope his parents think so too. I wouldn't want Charlie to hear people insulting us or anything like that." John said with a sigh. "I'm actually surprised by how rarely that happens to us in public. Though if we lived on the country-side or just anywhere outside London, I suppose things would be different."

"John..." Sherlock said slowly and looked up at his fiancé with a grin, "You do realise that along with our grand and great grandchildren.. we're also going to get to see that?"

John frowned a little at that. "Hm, what- oh. Right. I forgot." He said and chuckled a bit. "That bit's still weird, I guess."

Sherlock smiled, "Well.. you'll get used to it after the first 100 years." he said jokingly, resting his head on John's shoulder, "You know what really surprised me though? The fact that you allow them to be alone upstairs in her room." he teased, quite sure that Charlie wouldn't do anything stupid.

John huffed a laugh at that. "You know, I do trust our daughter enough not to jump at the first opportunities she has. Right above our heads." He rolled his eyes and pressed a kiss onto Sherlock's neck. "But good thing you mention it, I've got to have that talk with her tonight."

"She's not going to like it." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "But yeah, I suppose it's time for that." he said and sighed, "You sure you want to do this? I mean.. we could do it together."

"I mean, if you'd like to, sure we could do it together." John said with a smile. "But we should probably decide what to tell her beforehand. I was going to talk about what's okay when having sex and what's not, consent, how protection works and where to educate herself more, pregnancy, abortion.. yeah, I think these are the most important ones. I mean, she should've learned about the biology in sex ed at school by now. Anything to add or best leave out in your opinion?"

"Most of it sounds reasonable.. although.. the what’s okay and what's not.. that's not really our place to tell her, is it? Consent is definitely important, but it's up to her and .. well whoever she ends up doing it with what's okay and what not as long as everything that happens is consensual." Sherlock said, reaching for his glass and taking another sip.

"Well, I was mostly thinking things like sex on drugs or alcohol when people are unable to give consent, not telling a partner about your own STDs or STIs, sex as payment. You know, things that should be obvious, but that I want her to have heard at least once."

"Oh, yeah, okay you have a point there, although for me that was all included in consent," Sherlock said and sighed, "I mean in the end your consent there is never valid, if it's forced as payment or one of you lied about being healthy."

"Hm, that's true. Well, that's that then." John said and drank some blood. "I'm glad we're on the same page here."

Ron was really quite nervous when he arrived upstairs at the door of Charlie's room, biting his lip as he knocked at the door (because just walking in would be kinda rude, wouldn't it?)

Oh? Could she come downstairs again? "Yeah?" Charlie called, looking up from her bed. Which of them was it? She wasn't even sure who she'd rather leave with Ron.

"Uh.. hey." Ron said as he opened the door and poked his head in with a smile, "Don't worry I've got permission to be up here and all." he said and chuckled a little, "Is it okay if I come in?" he asked, just to be sure, he really didn't want to mess this up.

"Oh, hi" Charlie smiled and sat up, feeling quite proud her dads were already trusting them enough to be alone in her room. "Sure, come in. Mi casa es tu casa."

Ron smiled at that and walked into the room, closing the door behind himself, "You have a great room." he said, looking around, smiling a little wider spotting his drawing on the wall. So she actually did hang it up at the wall.

"I hope you like the spot I've picked." Charlie said with a chuckle, glancing up at the sketch at the wall. "And thanks. I got to choose everything from the wallpaper to the furniture."

"That's cool." Ron said and sat down on the floor, sitting down on the bed would probably give some weird signals. "So you got cool parents who are also rich.. sounds like the jackpot." he said and chuckled a little.

"Yeah, pretty much." Charlie said with a grin. "I mean, there are some annoying bits, but overall it's pretty awesome." She said and lay back down on her stomach so that they were on roughly the same eye-level. "What is your family like?"

"Well my mum's a fire-fighter." Ron said and grinned, he was actually quite proud of her. "And my dad's got his own café." he added, "Which is cool because he tends to bring some goodies home with him he didn't sell that day. His chocolate buns are great."

"A fire-fighter? That sounds so lit." Charlie told him with a smile. "And is your dad's café in walking distance? Maybe I've already been in there"

"It's around the corner, actually." Ron said, leaning back and pushing himself up on his hands, "Puzzles. Their signature dish is an apple pie and the have these things.. they're like large cookie cutters in different puzzle piece shapes and they use those to cut the pieces." he said and chuckled a little, "It's totally stupid, but it sells well."

"That sounds really cool actually." Charlie said with a smile. "Maybe you could take me there sometime." Well, self do, self have; no reason to wait for another reason to go on a date if there was one (plus, that location was totally safe and her dads would probably not even have to spy on her)

"Sure anytime!" Ron replied maybe a bit too quickly, but well, so what. "We could go.. tomorrow.. I mean.. it's a Saturday, then my dad isn't working, which is probably better, he's a bit weird when I bring new friends."

"Awesome." Charlie smiled (omfg, she had a date! An actual date!!) "Speaking of, I hope my dads weren't too weird when I wasn't around."

"No they're cool actually. Like your dad.. I mean.. Sherlock. He told me how his great great grandfather let a whole bunch of pirates out of prison when he was a kid and got that skull in return." Ron said with a giggle, "I wish my family had that kind of family trivia."

Charlie grinned a bit when Ron began to giggle. For one thing, it was a cute giggle, plus she wouldn't have thought that someone with a family like Ron's would think her own family was cooler in some ways. And the actual story behind that skull was even cooler. "Yeah, paps got a lot of good stories to tell. You know, I can just go up to him to ask something really simple and just like that, suddenly two hours have passed."

"That's cool though." Ron said and giggled again, "John is cool too, though. We talked a bit about rugby.. do you think he'd mind if I'd ask him a bit more about med school?" he asked as suddenly the door opened and a little blond girl walked in, holding a Harry potter book that looked comically big in her hands. "Charlie, I can't read a word, can you help?" she asked and pretty much ignored the boy in the room as she walked around him towards her sisters bed and climbed up on it, before she opened the book where her yellow bookmark which was covered with little bee stickers (they were glittering) marked the page, "There.. what's.. a.. monks.. monk.. shood?" she asked, looking up at Charlie.

Charlie bit her lip when Rosie walked in and shot Ron an apologetic look, before turning back to her sister. "Oh, 'monks-hood' is a plant. It's also called aconite or wolfsbane, though, those names have different connotations. It's used to make poisons." She explained to her with a smile. "Any questions?"

"Oh!" Rosie said and grinned, looking into her book, "Monkshood." she read again now in the pronunciation, "What's the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" she read again and smiled up at her sister, "Thank you." she chirped and only now noticed the boy in the room, "Who are you?" she asked frowning a bit, which made Ron smile even wider, "I'm Ron. I'm Charlie's friend. And who are you?" he asked, giving her the same frowny look which made Rosie giggle, "I'm Rosie! I'm Charlie's sister!" she said with a decisive nod, "Are you a hombophob?" she asked, because really, it would be good to know that right away before she'd start to like him. "A.. what?" he asked with a laugh and looked at Charlie for a translation.

"She means if you've got something against gay people." Charlie supplied with a chuckle, not wanting to correct Rosie on that word (like ever). "And no, he's not. Ron's really nice company, you know."

"Oh! No, no, I really don't have anything against it." Ron said with a smile and Rosie smiled back, "You can read really well you know, how old are you? 10?" he asked and Rosie giggled happily, "I'm only five!" Rosie said and held out all the fingers of her right hand and her thumb. "Oooh, I wouldn't have guessed, you seem much more grown up." he said and Rosie chuckled again, "Really? Cool!" she said and stopped suddenly, frowning again as she looked at her book and back at Ron, "Is your last name Weasley?" she asked, feeling very sneaky about the question because she didn't outright ask if he was a wizard because he wouldn't be allowed to tell a muggle. But if she only asked for his last name...

Charlie chuckled fondly at that and shot Ron a smirk; it was cute how blissfully unaware Rosie was how popular the Harry Potter series was. "Actually, his last name is just Weasel. Why are you asking?"

Rosie's eyes widened at that as she looked back down at her book before looking back at Ron, maybe they just wrote his name wrong in the books. "Hm.. just wondering." she said and grinned smugly about the secret she'd found out there.

Charlie couldn't suppress a smirk, having a rough idea what Rosie was thinking right now. "So you're already reading the next chapter on your own? Maybe you could read it to daddy so he doesn't miss out on it."

"I just practice so I can read better when we read it together." Rosie said and chuckled a little, which made Ron smile, who had obviously picked up on Rosie's thoughts as well, "You know, I happen to know quite a lot about those books." he said, giving her an a little exaggerated wink, "So if you have any questions about Hogwarts, you can ask me." he said and Rosie nodded happily.

"Thanks, Ron, that's really nice of you." Charlie said with a smile to get Rosie to say it too. She really liked that Ron was this nice to her sister; she'd really have him over more often.

"It's no problem." Ron said and Rosie grinned at him again, "Thank you." she said, because she knew the look Charlie gave her meant she should say thank you. "You're welcome." he said as Rosie hopped up on the bed, "I'll get some tomato juice. Do you want tomato juice too?" she asked, looking back and forth between Ron and Charlie.

Charlie jumped in immediately before Rosie could get Ron a glass of blood... "We're good here, Rosie, but thanks" She said purposely calm, even though she would've actually fancied a glass. Best case scenario, Ron would think that Rosie had an odd pallet and that Charlie wanted Rosie to stay out of her room for a while.

"Okay." Rosie said and gave a little shrug, hugging her book tightly so she wouldn't drop it on the way as she walked out of the room, "Bye Ron!" she chirped as she headed for the stairs. "Bye Rosie!" he called after her with a laugh. "Man your sister is adorable." he said, turning to Charlie.

"Yeah, she's just great." Charlie said with a bright smile. "But be warned, once she's got started on the second book she'll probably expect you to arrive via flea powder." She joked with a chuckle.

"Maybe I'll let my dad teach me some of his magic tricks after all." Ron said and chuckled a little, "I've so far successfully avoided that, but if it makes Rosie happy to see a few magic tricks from Ron Weasel then she shall have it." he said and smiled, he really didn't mind playing along for Rosie though. After all his plan B if the med school plan would fall through would be to become a kindergarten teacher.

"I think she'd really love that." Charlie said with a smile, before lying down, looking at Ron from her side. "But with your last name, your parents really saw a chance and took it." She chuckled.

"Aw yeah don't remind me." Ron said and laughed, "My mum's fault entirely, she still has a Harry Potter fan blog on tumblr." he said and rolled his eyes, "She even does fanart, she taught me how to draw, actually."

"Really? Your mum sounds cool." Charlie chuckled. "I think in all the time I've known my dads, they've gone to the cinema maybe like once or twice.. Anyway, on a more serious note: which Hogwarts house do you belong to?" She asked him with a grin.

"Oh Gryffindor, definitely, I think my mum would disown me if I'd give any other answer to that question." Ron joked and shook his head, "Though.. while we're talking privately.. I do think I'm more of a Ravenclaw." he said and chuckled again.

"Really?" Charlie asked with a chuckle. "I always thought I was one but then I took the test on pottermore when Rosie got started on HP; and turns out I'm actually a Hufflepuff." She said with a smile.

Ron laughed, "Hm.. maybe I need to have a word with the hat so we can be in the same team, of course you'll have to call yourself Hermione and we need a guy called Harry who's wearing glasses."

"Ooor I stick with Charlie and take you with me to show you the dragons in Egypt." Charlie giggled. "I've wanted to do something with my hair anyway. Short doesn't sound too bad."

"Hm, nah you're pretty perfect the way you are." Ron said and gave her a shy little smile.

Charlie blushed at that, smiling back instead of glancing away. "Thanks. And so are you."

"You realise you're saying to a person his fangirl mother called Ron because their name is Weasel?" Ron asked with a laugh.

"Well, first of all, that one's on your mum, and second of all, that's awesome in my book." She said and smiled. "With your name you'll always carry a bit of her passion with you; I mean, that's special."

"Wish my classmates had that attitude." Ron said and chuckled again, looking at his phone to check the time, "Oh.. I need to head home, promised mum I'd be home for dinner. She really takes that seriously since she can only be home for dinner half the time. So when she is, she wants us all home." he said and started to stand up.”

Charlie bit back a sigh and got out of her bed. "Oh sure, well, it was nice having you over. See you sometime then." She said and gave him a smile.

"See you tomorrow." Ron said with a grin, "What time though?" he asked and frowned, "Oh and should I pick you up?"

"Yeah, you should; pick me up at two." Charlie said with a smirk.

"Alright. See you then." Ron said and walked towards the door, still smiling to himself as he left Charlie's room and walked back downstairs, poking his head into the living room, "Bye John, bye Sherlock." he said and smiled politely (at least he hoped so, though perhaps he was still smiling like a smitten fool rather).

"Bye Ron" John said and watched him leave with a slight frown. "He looked a bit too happy. You think they've kissed?" He asked and turned his head to look at Sherlock when a few moments later Charlie joined them. "Heya" She said, a smile on her face that she'd failed to suppress.

"Don't think so." Sherlock said quietly in reply to John's previous question, not wanting to wake up Rosie who had dozed off on the sofa, using her book as a pillow, before he turned to look at Charlie. "Why did he leave so soon?" he asked, he had actually thought they would have to eventually drag him out of their house.

"Ron had to go home for dinner. His mum can't make it every day so when she does she wants the whole family to eat together. His dad owns a café by the way." Charlie said and sat down on the ground since the sofa was already full with Rosie lying there.

"Oh well it's nice that he sticks to that." Sherlock said and looked at her for a moment, "Okay, what do you want to ask?" he asked, because there clearly was something.

"So.. yeah, Ron's dad owns the puzzles around the corner and John- I mean Ron, would like to show it to me." Charlie said and bit her lip. "Could I please go with him there tomorrow? Alone, I mean." She asked, looking up at them (and leaving puppy-dog eyes in the closet since this was serious business and she wanted to seem trustworthy.) John smiled a bit before looking over to Sherlock. "Actually, I've seen the café and I don't really see a reason not to let her go in the middle of the day. Or when did you want to go there?" Charlie's eyes lit up and she shook her head. "No, we wanted to go in the early afternoon." She said eagerly, looking at them both questioningly.

"Hm.. yeah I think that's alright." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "So.. he asked you out then?" he asked, he was actually quite happy for her (and yeah for him as well since she said yes, he wouldn't have wanted to imagine the poor sod's expression if she hadn't, after all he did still remember how nervous he was asking John out, so he did feel for him).

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, can you believe it?" She said with a grin. "He's really cool, you know. He draws, likes Harry Potter and he's been really sweet with Rosie." She told them. "He even wants to practice some magic tricks for her."

Sherlock smiled at that, "Yeah that does sound quite sweet, but as a fatherly figure I have to remark that you should still be careful, not all boys who seem nice are nice."

"Yeah, sure, but if he turns out to be a dick in a while, I'll be crushed anyway." Charlie said with a shrug. "I don't think I've that much to lose yet so I'm just enjoying it."

"True, but it's still not a nice feeling. Just maybe try and keep the stakes low in the beginning so you wouldn't be too crushed, hm?" John said with a smile. "Yeah.. I'm not really one to trust people quickly anyway. But I'll keep that in mind."

"I beg to differ, you did trust John and me quite quickly." Sherlock said and chuckled softly as Rosie whipped her arm around in her sleep which did look suspiciously like she was waving a wand in her dreams, murmuring something unintelligible.

Charlie frowned at that. She'd actually wanted to be careful and she hadn't trusted Sherlock right off the bat. "But that's different. I really wanted to be able to trust- oh." She broke off mid-sentence. At the time she had had a feeling they were in danger, but as a result she'd moved in with strangers; and why had she done that? Probably mostly because they'd been nice to Rosie if she was being honest. Well, and herself. Oh, damn. How had she not thought about that in almost eight months? "Do you think I'd have gone home with anyone who seemed nice?"

"Probably not anyone.. but yeah, I kind of think so, but mostly because.. well you wanted a family, that's nothing anyone would blame you for. You also had my mother as a reference.. I mean, you knew her before." Sherlock said and gave her a reassuring smile, "What I'm saying is.. when it comes to total strangers.. just be a little careful. Not too careful, I mean... fall in love, have fun, but don't let people treat you badly in any way, just because you like them. It might break your heart then, but it's still better to have your heart broken once, than being in a constant horrible situation."

"Right, yeah." Charlie nodded because that did make sense. Though, really taking that advice to heart was probably harder than just remembering it. "But anyway, we're not even in a relationship yet. I'll hang on to that though." Charlie said with a smile, before getting up. "I'll go and practice a bit on my guitar. I might want to show off soon."

"Well you better be ready for showing off, because John and I were talking about you playing an acoustic song for our wedding dance." Sherlock said and smirked at her, "If you're comfortable with that, that is. We're not going to drag you on stage in front of everyone."

"Hang on, /really/?" Charlie asked immediately, gaping a bit at them. John chuckled softly at that kind of a reaction. "We really do. It would be an honour for us." He said and Charlie outright grinned at them. "Of course I'll do it. I'd love to" She said and got up to hug them both.

"Great!" Sherlock said and smiled at her, "Now John and I only have to agree on a song. I still think 'Bleeding in Love' would be funny." he said teasingly.

"First off all, eww. Secondly, that would imply that everyone at the wedding were against the whole thing in the first place." Charlie deadpanned and John laughed, though he did so quietly since Rosie was still next to them. "I'm still all for 'A thousand years'."

"Too Twilight, Bella." Sherlock said dryly, giving John a smirk, "How about... 'All of me'?"

"Yeah, I like that one." John said with a smile and Charlie nodded. "Me too, it's only got four chords in it so I can totally do the karaoke version of that. Unless you want me to play the melody because then I should start practising some time soon."

"Up to you. We just need the finished version until about two months before the wedding so I can make John fit to dance to it." Sherlock said and smiled, before watching how Rosie did a similar move with her arms as she had done before, murmuring something else. "What is she doing in that dream? Fighting Voldemort?" he asked with a chuckle.

"No she isn't at that point yet." Charlie said and rolled her eyes a bit. "She's just read about Snape though, so maybe she's fighting him." She said with a chuckle before asking suddenly: "Oh! Can you read him? I bet your voice is deep enough to impersonate that actor"

"Maybe next year we'll have to go for a Harry Potter party." Sherlock said and chuckled again. "But yeah, I'll definitely join in. Wouldn't want to miss all the fun, look at how she's grinning."

"I mean, Hufflepuff scarves sort of loom like they're bee-themed so not everything would be completely new." Charlie said with a smile. "I wonder what house Rosie'd be in. My guess is Hufflepuff or Gryffindor." She commented and John smiled, quite proud she seemed to be that much into Harry Potter.

"Yeah I guess that'd make her want to stick to Hufflepuff." Sherlock said and chuckled again, looking at her, "Should we wake her for dinner or should we let her keep dreaming whatever she's dreaming and have some blood later before bedtime?”

"Mmh, maybe let's let her sleep. I just hope she'll still be able to sleep tonight." John said after looking at her for a while; she looked like she was enjoying that dream.

"If she can't we'll do some extra ballet lessons to power her out." Sherlock said and smiled at her, putting a blanket over her, before he turned to walk towards the kitchen.

John smiled and ran his thumb softly over her temple before picking up his own book." What are we having for dinner tonight?" Charlie asked and jumped up to follow Sherlock into the kitchen.

"Well it's Friday, so I was thinking we could order in pizza from Angelo's and have a bit of a movie night." Sherlock said and smiled.

"Yeah, I love pizza. I could genuinely just eat pizza with blood sauce for the rest of my life." Charlie said with a chuckle.


	105. The Puzzles

Ron was really nervous when he was walking the few steps over to Charlie's place - he was wearing a black button up to his black jeans and chucks, he had even ironed it, or well his mum had. However, this was actually quite fancy for him. Holding a sunflower (because roses were cheesy) in one hand, he held a wooden wand in Harry Potter style in his other, his mum had a whole basement full of stuff like that, so he didn't think she'd miss one, she had duplicates of most anyway. He thought Rosie would probably like it, though.

Charlie was quite excited about her first proper date, so she couldn't stop herself from peering out of the window. She even put on her her favourite jacket and blouse with matching shoes and earrings as well as a jeans to keep it casual. Oh, there he was! Quickly she darted down the stairs and to the front door, smiling when she saw him. Oh, he'd even brought a flower! "Hey, Ron"

"Hi," Ron said with a smile, before he cleared his throat, holding out the wand, before noticing his mistake and holding out the sunflower instead, "Sorry... that one's for you, the wand is for Rosie." he explained with a laugh.

"Thank you." Charlie said with a smile and took the flower, before pulling him into a hug (she was a Watson now so that was bon tone). "She'll be thrilled; did you get that from your mum?"

"Yeah, she's got a lot of those." Ron sad and chuckled sheepishly after the hug, "Mind if I quickly give it to her before we go? I'd also rather say hi to your dads first, kind of more polite."

"Yeah, I'm sure they'll appreciate that." Charlie smiled and walked inside, waiting for him to follow her up the stairs.

Walking after Charlie, he couldn't help but smile to himself, he felt really lucky right now. When he had first seen her, he really hadn't expected that a girl like her would want to go out with him, but here they were!

"Hey, guys. Ron's here." Charlie said with a smile as she led him inside the living room. "Oh, hello again" John said with a smile and put his phone away. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Ron said and smiled as Rosie ran up to him, "Hi Ron!" she chirped held out her black and yellow striped scarf, "Look, it looks like a Hufflepuff scarf!" she said and looked suspiciously at him, "Doesn't it?" she asked, the tone making Ron chuckle, "Oh yeah it does!" he confirmed and knelt down to be on eye-level with her, "And of course as a future wizard, you need this too." he said, handing Rosie the wand, "Whoa." she said and looked back and fourth between John and Sherlock, "Look what Ron brought for me!" she said, holding the wand up.

"Wow, that's really nice of him." John said, frowning just a little; he knew those could cost over thirty pounds. That was quite a gift for the sister of a friend. "Did you buy that yourself?"

"Oh, no, my mum has quite a few of those.." Ron said and didn't mention that his mother had every version of wands that have been in the series – twice.

Probably, she was giving them away these days, now that it had been seven years since the last film. "Ah, I see. Well, what do we say, Rosie?"

"Thank you, Ron." Rosie said, quite busy inspecting her new toy, "But you have to promise to be careful, alright, no running with that in your hand, because it's really pointy and you might hurt yourself." he said and Rosie nodded dutifully, "Promise!" she said starting to wave the wand around. "Oh and always be careful when you're waving it, you wouldn't want to hit someone with it," he said as he stood up, watching Rosie for a moment longer, before turning to Charlie. "Shall we?" he asked, his smile turning back into the smitten one she tended to bring out.

"Yeah, let's go." Charlie said with a smile and grabbed her clutch from the coffee table, before turning back to him with a smile. "See you." She said over her shoulder and John said "Be back before dusk, okay?" "Yes, dad. Bye" She said before beginning to walk outside with Ron.

"I think John was a little annoyed that I brought the wand for Rosie..." Ron said as soon as they were out of earshot, "At least he looked that way."

"I don't think he was annoyed, but he might've looked like that because of the price of it." Charlie said and casually slipped her hand into his. "He's more, I don't know.. aware of money, like just in general. Like, he hates accepting it, even from my paps, so maybe he was a bit suspicious why you got some thing like that for her."

"Oh.. okay then." Ron said, smiling as he felt Charlie's hand in his own, "I thought he was maybe freaked out that I get along with Rosie like that.. like there are people sometimes that look weirdly at you when you even only smile at their kids when they look at you."

"Nah, he's not like that at all. As long as you're being genuine, I don't think you'll have a problem with either of my parents. Same goes for Rosie and me by the way." Charlie said and chuckled.

Smiling Ron nodded, "Alright. Just didn't want to give the wrong impression." he said as they walked out of the house.

"From all I can tell they like you." Charlie smiled and closed the door. "I actually saw John smile a bit when you gave Rosie those safety instructions."

"Well.. it's important to remind kids of these things." Ron said and chuckled a little. "I mean especially the waving it around is dangerous if they don't make sure no one's in reach."

"True, wouldn't want her to poke anyone's eye out." Charlie said with a chuckle. "Have you got any little siblings too or do you just like children?"

"No siblings. But I do a lot of babysitting for the neighbours." Ron said and smiled, "It's actually my plan B. If I decide I don't like med school after all, I'll go for becoming a kindergarten teacher."

"Yeah, I remember. I could maybe help you with the neighbours' children sometime." She offered with a smile, as the café slowly came in sight. "If the parents and you are alright with that obviously"

Colin was walking down Baker Street, reminded of Ron, when he actually almost ran into him as he walked around the corner. "Oh, hey" He said with a smile. "Haven't seen you in a while"

"Oh." Ron said and smiled, "Hi." he said and blushed a bit, for what reason ever, he really couldn't tell. "Oh erm.. this is Charlie." he said and turned to Charlie, "That's Colin, he's my ex-boyfriend.." he said and was glad he and Colin did get along well, otherwise this would have been awkward.

Aw, come on! No! Of all people, why did /Ron/ have to be gay? ...Oh god, she'd totally been making moves on him. And that's why he hadn't kissed her yet, wasn't it? With Lowell it had taken, what, ten or maybe twenty minutes? So literally all guys were either in a relationship, stupid, gay or Lowell? She cleared her throat and used the moment to let go of Ron's hand and shake Colin's instead. "Hi" She said with a rather tight smile

"Erm.. hi Charlie" Colin replied awkwardly; he'd definitely showered this morning so what was the matter? He cleared his throat too and glanced down, before looking back to Ron. "So Juan's still alright?"

"Oh yeah." Ron said happily, "Still slow and well." he said and chuckled a little, though he did notice the loss of Charlie's hand. "Erm.. you know what, let's talk later? Charlie and I were actually heading to dads café."

"Alright. See ya" Colin said and gave him another smile, walking quickly past them. He'd never understand girls. Charlie began walking too, though she really just wanted to go straight home and vent to dad about how stupid boys were... "He seems nice" She said, putting her hands into her pockets, trying to make it look like she did it because they were cold.

"Yeah, he's a good guy." Ron said and cleared his throat after a few minutes of rather awkward silence, "Are you alright?" he asked, looking over at Charlie, "It.. erm.. it doesn't bother you that I'm bisexual, does it?" he asked, he had thought she'd be the last person to be bothered, but maybe it was different when it wasn't your parents but your boyfriend?

Wait, what? Charlie almost stopped dead in her tracks at hearing that. ...Bisexual? So this was a date after all? "What? No, not at all. I was just taken by surprise a bit." She said, giving him a genuine smile. The game, she thought, was still on.

"Okay.. good. I was a bit worried since you've been so quiet since we've met Colin." Ron said and frowned, "Probably not the best start for a date, is it? Meeting my ex.."

"I second-guessed for a moment if this was a date at all with meeting your *boy"friend and all." Charlie admitted after a moment, a bit embarrassed that that had been her first thought.

"Oh. Oh no, I'm not gay. Still very much interested in you." Ron said, blushing a little, but.. she thought this was a date, he thought it was one.. so that included mutual interest right?

"Good. Good, you had me worried there for a moment." Charlie said with a smiled and slid her hand back into his.

Ron smiled, lacing his fingers with Charlie's, "Sorry." he said and would have face palmed himself if it wouldn't look so stupid, "I didn't really get the idea that you'd misunderstand that for some reason." he said and rolled his eyes about himself.

"Yeah, I mean, I was being a bit stupid there." Charlie said with a shrug.

"No it's totally understandable, I'd probably have been a bit taken aback as well if we'd meet an ex girlfriend of you or something." Ron said and gave her a smile, "Don't worry about it."

Charlie smiled back at him and nodded. "But just for your information, there are no ex-girlfriends on my side."

"And... boyfriends?" Ron asked, blushing a little, still remembering how dull he had been about this.

"I've only had a short fling with a guy once, but that wasn't anything serious." Charlie said and gave a chuckle... but romantic it had been.

"Alright so.. I guess it's good we have that out of the way." Ron said with a laugh, "And.. well Colin was my first boyfriend.. I don't have a string of exes or so.. I mean.. that'd be weird, I'm only fourteen." he laughed.

"Yeah, true." Charlie chuckled and stepped inside the café. "Oh, it's nice here." She commented, glancing around.

"Yeah, my dad's incredibly proud of it." Ron said as he pulled Charlie along with him past the queue at the counter and behind it, "Hi Bob." he said, greeting the chef as he steered towards the cakes.

Charlie went with Ron towards the counter and looked at the different cakes. "Wow, those look so good, if I were you I'd probably already weigh a ton." She said with a chuckle.

"And you'd still be the prettiest and smartest girl I know." Ron said and smiled at her, "We even have tomato flavoured cake. It's a bit like carrot cake, just with tomatoes." he said and scrunched up his face, "I don't really like it, but maybe we can bring a piece for Rosie later. She seems pretty keen on tomato juice."

Charlie beamed at the compliment (he was so sweet!), before quickly coming up with an excuse so neither he nor Rosie would question she liked tomato juice. "She does, but she's actually pretty specific about it; she'll only eat cakes made with Mrs. Turner's secret recipe." She said with a chuckle. "But what is your favourite cake? I really like anything with cinnamon in it."

"Oh we have cinnamon and sugar." Ron said and grabbed a plate, putting one piece of that on it, before taking chocolate for himself, "You want a milkshake too?" he asked, turning around to the drinks station, "Or rather coke or something?"

"A milkshake sounds good." Charlie said with a smile, taking her plate. It was so cool that Ron's dad owned this place.

"What flavour?" Ron asked, really enjoying the impressed expression on Charlie's face. "We can mix them too you know, if you want chocolate and strawberry for instance." he said and took one of the 'double cups' as his dad called them, they were plastic ups with a little wall inside so one could have two flavours in the same cup and the lid had two separate straws as well.

"Mmh.. then I'll take banana and chocolate." Charlie said with a grin; she hadn't even known those cups existed. "What do you normally drink here?"

"Banana and chocolate." Ron said and grinned right back at her, before he started to make the milkshakes.

Yeah, they were so soul mates. Charlie chuckled and leaned back against the counter, feeling quite special to be back here in the first place. "So which school do you go to?"

"I'm going to a private school, actually." Ron said as he put the milkshakes on a tray along with their plates, "Not that it matters, I bet it's as good as any other school, but my parents are really worried about you know.. terror and people running amok and stuff and some security guards walking around makes them feel better."

"You've got security guards at your school?" Charlie asked and followed Ron to a table. "So you've got people watching over you all the time or how does that work?"

"Nah, they're just strolling around the lot and make sure no one who doesn't belong there enters and things like that." Ron said, grabbing two fork from the counter on the way.

"Ah, okay. Doesn't sound bad, though. And what is that school called? Maybe I've heard of it before." Charlie said and sat down at their table.

"Abingdon House." Ron said, placing the tray on the table before sitting down.

"Oh isn't that right around the corner?" Charlie asked and took her milkshake. "My paps and I looked at some schools and I think that one was on the list."

"Yeah it is." Ron said and smiled, "It quite convenient though, I know kids that need 2 hours for their way home."

"Really?" Charlie asked and took a sip. "I can't say the same about my school for obvious reason, but seriously, is it that good a school?"

"It's cool, they've got a lot of clubs and advanced classes for most subjects." Ron said, nipping at his milkshake.

"Really? We've just got compound classes, but also a garden. Oh and a computer, well, sometimes. When it's decided to work." She commented with a snort.

"Where do you go to school anyway?" Ron asked curiously, taking a slow breath and gathering his courage as he reached over the table and took Charlie's free hand, lacing their fingers again and pointedly ignoring the double thumbs up Bob gave him.

Charlie smiled to herself and gave Ron's hand a squeeze. "Our youth care workers at the orphanage are all trained teachers so they teach us in our own building. Right now it's roughly one teacher for every ten students so it kinda works out. We never switched schools after moving here so Rosie and I are still spending half of our days there."

"Oh.. that's cool though if all your friends are there and stuff. But if you want to change schools, our school is really nice and I don't only say that because it'd mean I'd see you much more often." Ron said and chuckled, "Not only because of that anyway."

Charlie chuckled at that. "Well, it does seem like an advantage I should take into account." She said and smirked a bit. "So Abingdon house, is it?"

"Yeah. Sounds more posh than it is. There are a few young teachers, so that's cool." he said with a smile.

"Yeah, can't say the same about our teachers, really." Charlie said with a small chuckle. "I'll definitely have a look into it." She smiled.

 

\-----------------------------

 

Ron smiled happily as they left the café, taking Charlie's hand again once they were outside. This was going great. Really great. And Charlie was awesome (so awesome that probably even his parents would stop nagging at him about trying it with Colin again, they really did love that guy). "So your dads really organised a prom for your birthday?" he asked, continuing their conversation.

"Yeah, they did." Charlie grinned. "We don't really do those or dress up at the orphanage, which made it even greater." She said remembering the whole evening as if it happened yesterday... "Though in hindsight, I could've done with an extra person there." She said and came to a halt in front of their building, giving him a smirk.

 "Well I'll definitely come to your next birthday party." Ron said and chewed on his lips, he'd really like to kiss her, but he didn't know if she would like that, so maybe he shouldn't? Why was this stuff so complicated?

"Awesome" Charlie smiled and glanced at his lips. before cupping his cheek the way she Lowell had done it during her first kiss and brushed her thumb over his cheek (because if a kiss wasn't wanted, she'd screwed up anyway so why not do it properly; but Ron just seemed like he adorably careful, so she was probably safe). Figuring there was no point in waiting any longer, she leaned in two seconds later and softly kissed his lips.

"Sher, I think Charlie's been standing-" John began before seeing what exactly his little twelve-year-old daughter was doing out there with a /teenager/ (!) and turning for the door. "And.. he's dead."

"Whoa, hang on." Sherlock said, rushing over to John and grabbing his wrist, "You can not just.. go out there and interrupt them." he said and laughed, he himself had made peace with the idea that his daughter was kissing boys (not the other stuff though that would still prove a problem when he'd deduce what she had been doing and the awful truth was, he probably would). But kissing was okay.

"But he's-" John began, before realising how he was acting and cooling off. "Right." He said and cleared his throat, before peeling his wrist free. "Just to be clear, I'm not happy. Even if I'm happy for her. I can be both."

Sherlock chuckled at that, pulling John into his arms, "Well you'll have to get used to it." he said and smiled at him.

John sighed and wrapped his arms around him in turn. "I suppose so. You know, when I think about the future, I almost wish Rosie could just stay five and wrinkle her nose at boys forever."

"And always knock at the door at night in the worst moments." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Make that 10 years so she doesn't want to sleep in our bed that often and I'm on board with the idea."

"Good point, ten then. Do want to tell her to stop growing or shall I?" John, before chuckling into Sherlock's shoulder.

"It's a conversation we should have together with her." Sherlock answered and frowned, hearing a small cough before he saw Rosie walking into the living room, sniffing a little, "Papa, daddy, my throat aches." she said and coughed again.

"Oh, have you got a cough, sweetheart?" John asked with a soft frown as he walked over to their daughter and crouched down in front of her. "Do you remember when you started feeling ill?" He asked her and held the back of his hand to her forehead. "Sherlock, could you go and get a thermometer, please?"

"I don't know.. I fell asleep and when I woke up.." Rosie said and coughed again while Sherlock went to get the thermometer, "My throat was all itchy and achy." he said and looked up at her daddy with big eyes. She didn't like how she was feeling at all right now. Returning with the thermometer and a glass of blood with a bit of medicine that'd make her throat hurt a little less, Sherlock crouched down next to John, handing him the thermometer, before he held the glass out to Rosie, "Here, have a few sips of that, that'll help with the pain."

"Mmh, your papa is right there." John said and held the thermometer into her ear. "You'll only hear a small beep." He said and frowned when he saw the temperature appear ten seconds later. "39.5°C" He commented and gave Sherlock a look. "It's normal for children your age to get a fever like that. It might already be gone by tomorrow evening. Is there a flu going around in the orphanage?" He asked and took her pulse, before looking over at Sherlock this time.

"No.." Sherlock said and frowned, "Should I call Paul?" he asked and looked over at John while Rosie sipped her blood-coughing syrup mixture.

"It really is normal for small children to have fevers for a couple of days." John and tried not to look too concerned; this wasn't the first time she'd got sick lately, while John himself hadn't been sick since turning.. or even well before that, really. "Let's wait and see how she feels tomorrow." He told him and took her glass for a moment to be able to pick her gently up without spilling it. "Come here, I'd say it's bedrest for you now. Would you rather like to lie on the sofa or have one of us stay in your room with you until you fall asleep?"

"Can I sleep in your bed?" Rosie asked with big, puppy eyes and Sherlock couldn't fight a little smile at that, remembering their conversation from before. "Of course you can, bee." he said and handed her glass back to her once John had a steady grip on her.

"Let's get you to bed then." John said and gave her a smile, before walking slowly to their bedroom so as not to hake her up too much. "How about I tell you a bedtime story, hm?" He asked her gently. Just as one child disappeared into the bedroom, the other came through the front door, a big smile on her face. "Hey, paps." She said and took her jacket off. "How's life been treating you without me?"

"Well... for a start life or in this case I have been treating /you/ quite well." Sherlock said and laughed, "I've saved you from your dad rushing downstairs and asking your .. Ron .. how he dares to kiss his daughter." he said with a smile, he really was happy for her, "But to get back to how things were at home.. Rosie's got a little fever and an itchy throat."

"You two saw us?" Charlie asked immediately. "And I kissed him, just to be clear on that one." She said with a smirk, quite proud of that; it had been a pretty decent kiss now that she had some practice. "Oh no, she's sick again? Is she already sleep now?"

"Well just on coincidence really, John was just seeing that you're on the way home and then he was wondering why you don't come in." Sherlock said and sighed at her next question, "But yeah, she is. Oh and no, John's just went with her into our bedroom.. she wanted to sleep in our bed, so he's reading her a story."

"I think I'll listen in on that story, just to see how she is." Charlie said and took her shoes off. "Do you wanna come too or rather stare at the bison skull in solitude?"

"Funny." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I'll just quickly make her some tea, I'll be there in a moment."

"Alright, but don't forget the honey." Charlie reminded him with a smirk before going into their fathers' bedroom.

"Oh I wouldn't dare." Sherlock said with a chuckle and went to boil some water.

  


  



	106. Influenza

It was her big day. Not her birthday... a much bigger one: She was getting married. Today! Getting her hair and make-up done for this special day, she sat in the make-up room, already wearing her white puffy dress and waited for Sherlock to finish her up. "Oh man, I'm starting to feel nervous now." She said with a grin, glancing at her Rolex: 14:44; they still had some time left. "How does it feel to be a prospective father in law?"

Sherlock smiled as he did her make up, "Not sure yet.." he said and chuckled a little, before he continued applying eyeshadow, "But you do look very good in my dress." he said with a smile.

"Thanks, paps" Charlie said with a smile and looked down at herself, before turning around a few times to see how the dress moved. "I hope Lowell hasn't forgotten the rings."

"He won't. He's too responsible for that." Sherlock said and started on the rouge. "Rosie is really excited she gets to bring her boyfriend by the way."

"I can believe that,, Juan's really nice." Charlie smiled. "Do you know what Dad is doing?" She asked and closed her eyes.

"Probably giving Ron a list of stuff he is and isn't allowed to do in your marriage." Sherlock said with a laugh.

"Come on, he's probably already done that anyway" Charlie said with a chuckle and rolled her eyes a bit. "Are you sure I'm not supposed to go out soon though? I don't think Ron would like it if I missed half of our wedding."

"You're fine. It's still enough time. I still have to do your hair anyway." Sherlock said and smiled at his daughter.

"Okay, good." Charlie said with a smile, when a few seconds later there was a knock on the door. "Can I come in?" John asked after a moment.

"Oh there he is, if you're lucky, Lowell survived." Sherlock said, starting to wind her hair up on curlers.

"Yeah, what's on, dad?" Charlie asked with a chuckle as her father stepped inside and looked quite rushed. "You look beautiful, but what are you still doing here? Ron's already standing at the altar. Even Rosie's boyfriend has finally arrived at the chapel with her." He said, looking at them expectingly. "Come on, then"

"Oh yeah I guess we're pretty late then, lets go." Sherlock said and helped Charlie out of the chair, "Here, you still need something old." he said and handed her Billy.

"Thanks, paps." She said and took Billy, before taking her fathers' hands. "Are you both gonna walk me up the isle?" She asked.

Sherlock smiled, "Obviously. I like how we all have matching dresses." he said and smiled at his daughter as they started to walk into the church.

Charlie smiled at that and shivered a bit as they entered the cold church, feeling the draught of the closing door on her back. But the loud, dull sound the door made, really startled her. What? Where- with a groan, she opened her eyes to find she wasn't lying on the floor of a church but that of her own room? It took her a few seconds to realise she'd fallen out of her bed and made that noise herself. Was that why everything hurt?

Sherlock was still reading when he heard a loud thump from upstairs, looking over at John with a frown, before he shot out of bed and made his way upstairs, not wanting to take a risk. That thump had been really quite loud. Walking into Charlie's room, he rushed over to her when he spotted her lying on the floor, "Is everything alright?" he asked, crouching down next to his daughter and gently lifting her up from the floor to put her back into the bed.

"I'm fine" Charlie rasped, glad the bed was nice and warm. Hm? Had she caught a cold in church? "Where are our dresses?" She asked, coughing a few times afterwards.

"What dresses?" Sherlock asked with a frown, holding his hand to her forehead, definitely feverish. Pulling out his phone, he quickly shot John a text, 

Come upstairs and bring the thermometer. SH

before he looked back at Charlie.

"The white ones..?" Charlie asked, before clearing her throat again. "Did you forget?" She asked him, looking a bit hurt he didn't seem to remember her wedding day. 

On my way. JW

"You've been dreaming Ms Marple." Sherlock said softly, flicking on her bedside lamp, figuring she dreamed she was getting married or something, "You're in your room, you're 13 years old and definitely not about to get married." he said, gently stroking her arm.

"Oh..." Charlie said with a frown. "I like this you better, I think. Oh, maybe this is the actual dream and I actually passed out in church" She mused, just as John came through the door. "Hey there" He said softly and crouched down next to her bed. "How are you feeling?" Charlie gave him a wry smile. "Bit not good." "I'll just take your temperature, alright?" He asked and Charlie nodded, before letting out another wet cough.

"Charlie, I can assure you, you are not dreaming right now and we weren't in church, nor are you getting married." Sherlock said and gave John a worried look, "You really have been dreaming."

"Yeah, but wouldn't dream-you say the same thing? And I'd rather I could wake up and not have this headache anymore." She commented and closed her eyes again while John took her temperature. "40°C, just like your sister." John said and stroked her hair with his thumb, returning Sherlock's look. "I'll get you something against that headache and the fever, love, okay?" He asked and Charlie hummed in agreement, before chuckling a bit.

"Well there you have it." Sherlock said and stroked her head, "In a dream you don't feel pain." he said and was still a bit worried that she couldn't distinguish dream and reality at the moment.

"Okay, reality. Is Rosie still sick then?" Charlie asked and cracked her eyes open, even though the hair-stroking felt nice. "She is. I think you caught that flu from her. I'll just get you two your medicine." He said and gave her hand a warm squeeze before rising to his feet and leaving again. "Aren't you worried you'll catch my from me too?"

"Doesn't matter to me either way, I'll happily catch a lot of illnesses from you while making sure you get over it as fast as possible, Ms Marple." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "It's a parents thing I think.."

"Nice. Having parents is still rad." Charlie said with a tired grin. "You know, I've been thinking.."

Smiling at that, Sherlock tilted his head a little, "And what have you been thinking about?" he asked, still caressing her sweaty hair.

"I would have gone home with anybody. And Rosie'd have probs followed me if given the choice." Charlie said and tilted her head away to cough. "I'm really glad you came and took us in first. And, like, I mean, before anyone."

"Hm, I'm very glad about that too." Sherlock said and gave her another smile, "This whole being a dad thing.. it used to be scary which is why we struggled a bit with the decision, but it's actually pretty great." he said and chuckled, "Even though we constantly worry about you two and John and I barely have our bed to ourselves anymore."

Charlie chuckled at that. "Well, I don't have a problem either. And you shouldn't have bought a big and comfy bed like that, I guess." She said cheekily as John returned with s blood-medicine cocktail. "There we are" He said and crouched down next to her while she tried to sit up.

Helping Charlie to sit up, Sherlock shuffled a bit on the bed so he could hold her steady in a sitting position while she was drinking, "I do wonder why you two are sick so often, though.. that seems weird." he said, thinking that it was alright to talk openly about this in front of Charlie as she did appreciate truth much more than sugar-coated words. "Maybe Paul should do a few tests.." he said and shrugged, "It can't really be serious, but it'd still be more comfortable for you two if you wouldn't catch the flu every few weeks."

"I wasn't sick that much until like a while ago." Charlie said in between sips. "Maybe it's because we're outside more?" She asked in between sips, leaning into her father. "Hm, I don't know. The air on the streets is a bit polluted, but at the same it's the middle of summer. I think a check-up would really be a good idea, just to be sure." John said and Charlie sighed. "Can we do that on another day, though, please?"

"Well actually, I'd really like if he'd look at the two as soon as possible. But I'm sure he'll come over here, so you can still stay in bed." Sherlock said and gave her a smile, "You want to come downstairs too and sleep in our bed?" he asked, it really would make him feel better to have an eye on both of them, given their condition.

Charlie smiled a bit at that. "Yeah, kinda, but I don't know if can walk all of those stairs.." She said, though it was actually true this time. "The lift is obviously included." John added with a smile, before turning to Sherlock. "Do you want to call Paul or shall I?"

"I'll do it in the morning, for now, we all need some sleep." Sherlock said and took the empty glass from Charlie, before he took her pillow (maybe they should just start to have spare pillows in their bedroom, really).

"Yes, that's true." John said and carefully picked up his daughter, who rested her head happily against his chest. "By the way, I think Rosie's dating Juan, but you didn't get that from me."

Sherlock snorted a laugh at that, "Your sister was dating a turtle in your dream and you didn't think that might be a hint to.. you know.. being a dream?" he asked with a smirk as he followed John and Charlie down the stairs.

"There were a lot of things a little off in hindsight, I guess." Charlie commented with a small giggle and closed her eyes. "Really? What else was weird?" He asked. "Like... oh, I was marrying two guys I think. And Billy was there too."

"But Billy wasn't one of the guys you were marrying, was he?" Sherlock asked with a chuckle, glad the medicine seemed to kick in a bit and she was at least in the mood to giggle.

"No, he was the something old you gave me." Charlie said with a smile. "And dad was lecturing Lowell or Ron." She said and John snorted a laugh.

"Ah, now I can see why you thought it was real." Sherlock said and smirked at John, "Because I can see him lecturing his to be son in law shortly before the wedding."

John rolled his eyes at him in good humour. "And I can see your other father bringing a skull to your wedding." John said with a chuckle, which made Charlie both giggle and then cough as a result. "And I saw you both wearing matching dresses."

"Wait what?" Sherlock asked and raised a brow, "John and I were wearing dresses to your wedding?"

"Well, I was wearing your wedding dress, but then you two suddenly had your own ones too." Charlie said with a smile. "You really didn't look half bad."

Sherlock chuckled again, "You have a strange mind, Ms Marple." he said as he opened the bedroom door for John and Charlie, before he put the pillow down next to Rosie's on the bed.

"Maybe don't do that on my actual wedding." She commented and John chuckled. "Don't worry, I don't think that's going to happen." He said in a hushed voice and laid her down next to Rosie. "Hey, Speedy." Charlie whispered with a smile. "Are you still awake?"

"No.." Rosie murmured tiredly unable to bite back a smile, before she decided being awake was more interesting now, "Are you sleeping here too?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, we're having another sleepover." Charlie whispered. "Are you feeling a bit better?"

"My throat is still itchy." Rosie said and looked up at Charlie as she coughed, "Are you having an itchy throat too?" she asked and sat up, "I get you some tea!"

"Thanks, it's alright." Charlie said and bit back another cough. "That's very kind of you, but all flu-suffering girls should stay in bed and rest. I'll get some tea for the both of you." John said with a smile and laid a hand on Rosie's shoulder to guide her back down. "Can I have peppermint?" Charlie asked hoarsely. "Coming right up. And for you?" He asked Rosie.

"I want peppermint too!" Rosie croaked and nestled up against Charlie, "Is it my fault that you are ill too? Because I know that sometimes when someone is ill and someone else spends time with them they get ill too."

"Yeah, it was more my fault for thinking I wouldn't get sick when I stayed here long." Charlie said and wrapped and arm around her sister. "The only thing I blame you for is making me want to spend time with you in the first place."

"I'm sorry." Rosie said and looked up at Charlie with big eyes, taking this very seriously.

"Definitely not something you should be sorry for, you're just a great little sister." Charlie said and brushed a sweaty strand of hair off her forehead. "And at least now we can get well together." She offered with a smile, before turning around to cough.

"Okay." Rosie said and smiled again, "But I'm still sorry you got ill because of me." she said while Sherlock quietly left the room, leaving the girls to themselves for a moment. "This really isn't normal, you realise that, don't you?" he asked as he entered the kitchen.

"Of course I do." John said and bit his lip. "But I don't think they've caught anything vampire-specific. Something's really wrong with their immune systems.. I mean not even a normal child probably would've come down with the flu that quickly." He said and ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, I mean at least we know it's not life-threatening.." Sherlock said and suddenly wasn't so sure about that anymore either.

"Do we know that for sure?" John asked and looked down and sighed. "Do you think they could've caught something without any other vampire around them catching it too?"

"I don't know.. no. I've never had anything like that and I've lived through catastrophic hygiene standards, that plus one of the other vampires we know would have to have the same thing for them to catch it, which they don't." Sherlock said and shook his head.

John sighed. "Well, we can't wait any longer, as it only gets worse, apparently. They might've got something via the blood blags. Some illnesses can only be detected after a few months, so while it's rare these things do happen.."

"But.. they're vampires." Sherlock said and frowned again, "I'll call Paul right now." he said and looked at his watch, "At least it's not that late yet."

\-----------------------------

The following morning Paul was on his way to his nephew and step-son's house. The phone called the'd had last night had left him concerned, especially since Amy had never shown symptoms like that, nor had any of the children in the orphanage according to Vanessa.. Well, at seven in the morning he rang their doorbell, since he still had to get the results into the lab by nine.

Sherlock had already been waiting for Paul when it finally rang at the door, "There he is." he murmured, standing up from his chair where he had been watching their girls on the sofa, both wrapped into blankets with hot water bottles at their feet and a bucket for their used tissues. Walking downstairs, he opened the door for Paul, giving him a little smile, "Hey." he said, stepping aside to let him in.

"Hello Sherlock." Paul said with a smile and came inside, carrying his doctor's case with him. "So, how has the night been?"

"Quiet, once the girls fell asleep at least." Sherlock said and sighed, "Honestly, you'd think they'd be over the worst by now, but.. they aren't, to be honest, this is more like a regular flu.. it progresses extremely slow for a vampire." he said as he started to walk up the stairs.

"Hm.. with normal children I'd actually expect them to be worse today, if they got sick only just yesterday. Have you already given them anything this morning?" He asked, following him upstairs.

"Just some tea and some drops against their sore throats, I thought it'd be better to wait for you." Sherlock said as they arrived upstairs and walked into the living room.

"Good call." Paul said and walked up to the girls on the sofa. "Hello Rosie, hello Charlie." He said and opened his bag. "Hi Paul" Charlie croaked and watched him. "Sherlock called me last night and told me you two were sick, so I thought I'd have a look at you. Is that okay?" He asked and Charlie nodded.

"Okay." Rosie said and looked up at Paul, "Can I look into your bag?" she asked curiously, though her voice was still raspy.

"Of course you can." Paul said and set it down on the coffee table so she could see. "So this right here is my thermometer, disinfectant, syringes, medication, disinfectant, gloves, blood pressure cuff... all kinds of stuff, really. And this is my stethoscope." He put his gloves on and took it out, before already holding the cold membrane against his own arm. "I use it to listen if your heartbeat and breathing sound alright. Would one of you like to go first?"

"Me! I want!" Rosie said and smiled, "Can you really hear my heart with that?" she asked inspecting the little metal knob Paul was holding against his arm. "Can I hear it too?"

"Yes, you definitely can." Paul said with a smile and took it off. "Here, you just have to place this end onto your chest and then put those eartips into your ears." He said and took the blanket off her shoulders. "Just take your shirt off and I'll show you where to listen."

"Okay." Rosie said and took off her pyjama top, "Okay where?" she asked, already putting the eartips into her ears. "Whoa.. it's really loud when I touch it!" she said fiddling with the metal knob.

"Yes, that's why you've got to be a bit careful with it." Paul said kindly, before pointing to where her heart lay. "Right here. It usually sounds a bit like it's galloping."

"Woah.." Rosie said as she heard her own heartbeat, listening intently, "That's cool! Charlie here!" she said and held out the ear part to her sister, "Listen to my heart!"

Charlie took it carefully, trying to stay under her blanket, before listening to it. "Cool.." She said and smiled a bit before turning around to cough. Afterwards she gave the stethoscope back to Paul, who disinfected the eartips again. "I'll have a listen too then." He said with a smile before beginning to auscultate her. "Can you leave in a minute?" Charlie asked Sherlock while Paul and Rosie where busy.

"Oh yeah, sure." Sherlock said and gave Charlie a smile, "Just call me when I can come back in." he said and frowned, "Or on second thought.. maybe leave the calling to Paul for now." he said, thinking about the state of their throats, before he walked out of the room, "Paul, would you like a coffee?"

"A coffee would be great, thank you." Paul called, before finishing Rosie up and helping her back into her cocoon of blankets. A few minutes later he was done and went on to take their blood pressures and temperatures. "You can come back with that coffee now, Sherlock." Meanwhile Charlie had begun to shiver again and wrapped those blankets tightly around herself.

Sherlock walked back into the living room when Paul called, carrying a tray with one cup of coffee and two cups of tea with honey for the girls to warm up. "So anything unusual so far? Apart from the obvious?" he asked, placing the girl's cups in their reach on the table.

"Well, they've both got the flu, not just the common cold. Fever, chills, sudden onset of the symptoms etc. Are very characteristic symptoms. Apart from that their overall states could be better. I've already told Charlie that her nails aren't as thick and strong as I'd like them to be, some small patches of her skin are scaling and she says she's been sleeping more lately." He said and Charlie looked away, quite embarrassed. "Same thing with Rosie. And has the skin around her nose been red for a while now or is that because of the tissues?" He asked.

"I think that's because of the tissues, she didn't have that before." Sherlock said with a frown and sat down at Charlie's feet, "Why didn't you tell me about the dry skin, Ms Marple?" he asked gently.

Charlie shrugged at that, feeling stupid for not taking good care of herself, apparently. "Dunno. I thought it'd go away again.." Running to Sherlock and John because of small problems like that still felt very weird and usually everything sorted itself out anyway... "Can we talk about that another time?" Because really, Paul and Rosie didn't need to hear that. Like, at all. Meanwhile Paul already prepared the syringes for the blood samples.

"Sure." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "Most important thing now is that you two get well soon." he said and handed Charlie her cup of tea, before helping Rosie with hers, so she wouldn't spill it.

"So, I'll draw some blood and then I'll leave you been again." Paul told them with a smile. "How about we start with you, Charlie?" He asked and she nodded, before holding out her arm bare arm and clenching her fist; she knew the drill from Molly and just wanted to get it over with without making a scene in front of Rosie. Needles just had something about them that made her want to run into her room and lock the door behind herself.

Sherlock chuckled a little as Rosie leant over to look at what Paul was doing with that needle, before she gaped a little as he poked it into Charlie's arm and she didn't look like she liked that. "Hey.. why are you hurting Charlie?" she asked with a frown.

"It pricks a bit and feels strange." Charlie explained, decisively not looking anywhere near her arm as Paul slowly filled a few tubes with her blood.

"I don't think I like that." Rosie said and shook her head, "Can't you listen to my heart again instead?" she asked hopefully and Sherlock chuckled a little, "Honeybee, Paul has to take a bit of your blood, he'll look at it through a microscope to see why you two are getting sick so often." he said and ruffled her hair a bit, "It'll just take a moment and it'll help to get you healthy again more quickly." he explained and Rosie nodded, still not looking happy about it. "Kay..." she mumbled.

"And well done, Charlie." Paul said with a smile and put a plaster onto the puncture. "Press right here for a minute so it won't bruise." He said, before taking the tourniquet and putting it onto Rosie's arm. "Now make a tight fist, please, so I can see your veins more clearly, alright?"

"Mhm.." Rosie said and looked like she was about to start crying as she watched the needle, "Papa can you hold my hand?" she asked and Sherlock smiled, "Of course, bee." he said and took her free hand.

"It's over really quickly." Charlie said and scooted over to her little sister. "Good job, Rosie. Now I'm just cleaning your arm and you can look away now" Paul told her, before supporting her arm and driving the needle inside.

"Okay." Rosie said and squeezed her eyes shut, before cracking one open again a bit to look at what Paul was do- "Ouch." she said and buried her face into Charlie's shirt as the needle pierced her arm.

"You're doing great, Rosie." Paul said with a smile once the blood was flowing and Charlie wrapped an arm softly around her. "You're seriously being so brave right now."

"Is it still in my arm?" Rosie asked, not daring to look at her arm again, but she did open her eyes to look up at Charlie.

"Yeah, but it's almost over." Charlie told her with a smile and rubbed her back. "Just hold your arm still."

"Kay." Rosie murmured and buried her face back into Charlie's shirt.

A few seconds later Paul pulled the needle out against and gave her a plaster. "So, just press down here and that's that. I won't bother you again today." He said with a smile and closed his bag again, before taking his gloves off. "You've got some very patient daughters there." Paul told Sherlock with a chuckle.

"Hm, they're the best." Sherlock said and kissed Rosie's head who looked at her arm with a frown, "Did you really take blood out of me?" she asked and looked over at Paul, "Can I see it?" she asked and Sherlock quickly shook his head at Paul, it really wasn't a good idea to show her blood, much too likely she'd notice the similarity to what she was drinking every day.

"I've already put it into my bag now, so I'd rather keep it in the dark until it's in the lab." Paul fake-explained to her. "But no hard feelings over the blood taking?" He asked her conciliatorily.

"No it's fine." Rosie said and shrugged, "It hurt, but only for a moment, my throat aches the whole time, so it's better if it hurts for a moment if that means my throat will feel better soon." she rasped decidedly and gave Paul a smile.

"Good, I'm glad." Paul said with a smile. "And you've been very pleasant patients, so thank you for that." He said before scribbling down two different prescriptions. "Okay, Sherlock, this one's for Rosie. Give her today and tomorrow half a pill in the morning and half in the evening. Give Charlie a whole each time and stop giving them the medication after five days. If you can go to the chemist's before ten you can already give them their morning dose; the earlier they start, the milder their symptoms tomorrow will be. But after that the worst should be over." He said and handed Sherlock the prescription. "Any questions?"

"A few, let's talk on the way downstairs." Sherlock said and stood up, he really didn't want to talk about those questions in front of the girls. Because apart from the flu, there were still the thin fingernails and skin issues.

"Bye Paul" Charlie said, before turning away to cough. "Bye girls. Get well soon." Paul said with a smile, before taking his bag and going with Sherlock out of the flat.

"So.. about the other issues you mentioned.." Sherlock said once they were on the stairs, "It sounds like vitamin deficiency.." Sherlock said and frowned, "I mean.. I can assure you they get all the blood they need." he mumbled, somehow feeling the need to justify himself. He did feel responsible for whatever it was that was wrong with them.

"Vitamin, mineral and possibly protein deficiency." Paul began in a serious tone. "I'm glad you've started off like this, because I was just about to ask you. If I didn't know their background I'd say they're malnourished and haven't been getting food regularly over the past few months." He said and sighed. "How much are you giving them compared to what they had back in the orphanage?"

"They even have more, really. In the orphanage it's rationed to the minimum everyone of them needs, they have to feed everyone with limited budgets after all and blood is hard to come by.." Sherlock said and frowned, "They really get their two glasses three times a day and additionally a glass every now and the when they want one."

"So you're all drinking the same blood, but only the girls get sick?" Paul asked just to he sure. "

"Yeah." Sherlock said and ran a hand through his hair, "Also this would be the first actual vampire illness I've ever heard of and honestly, I've lived through times where blood bags hadn't been nearly as sterile as they are these days, so if there's an illness a vampire can get I should have had it by now."

"Hm, or maybe you just cope better with deficiencies if something's wrong with your blood supply. They're still growing, every deficiency they have is bound to be more severe." Paul said more to himself. "I could send your blood in too to double-check."

"Go ahead." Sherlock said, already rolling up his sleeve, he had actually been about to suggest that the moment Paul had said it.

"Okay, clench a fist." Paul said, opening his bag again to get everything he needed. Half a minute later he'd prepared Sherlock's arm and hit a vein on his second try. "I've talked to your mother and she hadn't heard of something like that happening at the orphanage either."

"It's just so weird, if anything, they should have a better immune system." Sherlock said and frowned again, "I mean.. even John, Harry and Ally's immune system is above average. And they're just half vampire.. So.. this absolutely doesn't make sense and that scares me."

"We'll have to wait and see if there's anything abnormal about the lab results." Paul said with a sigh. "Do you know how often/severe they'd get sick before they moved in with you?"

"Barely ever.." Sherlock said, looking up at Paul as he pulled his sleeve down, "You think.. it's something.. here? An allergy or something? Maybe allergies affect vampires differently."

"That's a possibility, but to someone who was trained in human medicine their symptoms don't look like allergic reactions." Paul said with the frown. "I wouldn't try any drastic changes in your lifestyle right now." Paul said and closed his bag again. "I wish there was more I could tell you right now."

"Yeah.. me too." Sherlock said with a sigh, "Anyway, thanks for looking into this though, I appreciate it."

"You're very welcome. Good luck with your girls and please tell John I said hello." Paul said before nodding and turning to leave.

"I will." Sherlock said and turned to walk back up the stairs, hoping Mrs Hudson would have time to keep an eye on the girls for a few minutes while he'd go to get their medicine.


	107. Affection & Emotion

Wondering who might be at the door, John stood up and walked down the stairs. He couldn't help smile a bit when he saw what Ron had brought; it wasn't that hard to guess what was in that pot. At least he really seemed to care about her. Good. "Hello Ron. How can I help you?"

"I erm.. I wanted to see Charlie and Rosie.. Charlie texted me that they are ill.. so I thought they might be bored.. and uh.. could use some soup." Ron said, holding the pot up a little higher (but damn the thing was heavy).

"I see. Well, I'm sure that'll cheer them up." John said before stepping inside. "Come on up then. I'll close the door behind you. Just be careful, especially around Rosie. They're still both infectious so you wouldn't want to get coughed at."

"I don't mind, I don't get ill very often.. almost never actually." Ron said, starting to carefully walk up the stairs with the pot, not wanting to spill anything.

John frowned a little... that sounded familiar. "Nevertheless, prevention is better than cure. But it's nice of you to come."

"Well it's what friends do, isn't it?" Ron said and paused on the stairs to adjust his grip on the pot - perhaps a smaller one would have done as well, but then he'd have had to agree with his mum that it was too much and .. no.

"Well, I think that depends on- you know, you can just give that here." John said and took the pot from him with relative ease before anything could spill or fall.. It was quite a lot of soup, so he'd rather avoid that. "I'll find a nice place for it in the kitchen." He said and continued to walk up the stairs behind Ron.

"Oh.. okay thanks." Ron said and blushed a little, but it was probably better that way, not being strong enough to carry a pot was less embarrassing than spilling a large pot of soup on the staircase.

"No problem. I carry heavy stuff for a living." John said with a smile before opening the door the living room with his elbow and letting them both inside. "Charlie's upstairs in her room. I think Rosie might be with her too."

"Can I maybe already take bowls with soup and two cups with me?" Ron asked and smiled, "I also have ginger tea in my backpack." he said and blushed again, maybe it was a little too much after all.

"That's alright. I'll heat the soup up and bring it up in a few minutes." John said with a smile before nodding inside so that he'd follow him. "But cups are in the drawer next to the fridge. You can already take those upstairs."

"Alright." Ron said and walked over to that drawer, before noticing a rather large bloodstain on the counter, "Oh.. are you all aright.. that looks it's from a nasty wound.." he said, looking at John as he pointed at the bloodstain.

"Oh, damn." John said with a frown and set the pot down on the stove. "That must've happened this morning in a hurry. I hope Sher hasn't hurt himself too badly." He said and already reached for a cleaning fluid.

"Hm yeah, I hope so too." Ron said and shrugged it off, grabbing the cups, "See you in a minute then." he said and walked upstairs.

"See you" John said and began to clean up... A minute later he shot Sherlock a text.

We've got to be more careful with bloodstains in the kitchen now that we've got a regular visitor. I told him you must've cut yourself over breakfast. JW

'

'

'

I'll make sure to come home with a large plaster on my palm. SH

'

'

Ron smiled as he knocked at Charlie's door, "It's me! Can I come in?" he called through the closed door.

Charlie grinned when she heard Ron's voice and nodded before croaking. "Yeah, come in" Even though she already felt better, nobody had apparently bothered to tell her voice.

"Hi!" Ron said and smiled when he spotted Rosie dozing at Charlie's feet. "Sorry." he said more quietly, not wanting to wake her, "How are you feeling?" he asked, setting his backpack down and pulling out the small stuffed bee key ring he had picked up for Rosie in a pound shop around the corner (leaving the one that was a stuffed heart in his backpack, not quite having the guts to give it to Charlie yet), before he pulled out the thermos flask with tea. "I brought you soup and tea.. the soup is downstairs, John wanted to reheat it first." he said, placing the stuffed bee next to Rosie's head.

Charlie smiled at him; she wouldn't have thought being sick had upsides like that. "Thank you, that s really sweet of you." She said before coughing into the crook of her elbow. "Sorry, I look a bit awful today."

"Nah, you're pretty as always." Ron said and sat down on the floor, before he poured her a cup of ginger tea and handing it to her. After a moment, he gathered his courage and reached for the stuffed heart key ring after all, blushing deeply as he held it out to her. "I.. I brought that for you too.." he mumbled, _please don't think I'm a weirdo_.

Charlie gaped at him for a few seconds, before taking it carefully. Turning the heart in her hands for a few seconds a she felt like she'd drunk fizzy cola that's been sitting in the hot sun for a while. This was probably the single most wonderful feeling in the world. Soon the feeling spread through her whole body and she smiled softly. "I'd really like to be your girlfriend."

Ron blinked a little at her, he hadn't expected that, but.. that didn't mean he didn't like it. "Well.. I'd really like you to be my girlfriend too.." he said and bit his lip to stop himself from smiling like an idiot.

Charlie looked up and gave him a smile, though she tried not to show just how happy she was right now. "And I'd like you to be my boyfriend too, just so we're on the same page." She rasped playfully.

"Well. yeah I thought that was a given." Ron said and chuckled a little, before he reached out to take Charlie's free hand.

Charlie pulled her hand back and blushed, looking quite embarrassed. "I haven't exactly washed my hands and I don't want you to get sick too."

"I'll make sure not touch my face before I washed my hands, promise." Ron said and reached for her hand again, lacing their fingers, "I don't really get sick often anyway."

"Kay" Charlie said with a smile, giving his hand a warm squeeze. This moment was so pure... "Thanks for bringing tea today."

"You're welcome." Ron said and smiled at her, before looking over at Rosie as she stirred and slowly opened her eyes, coughing a little, "Hi Ron.." she said and gaped when she spotted the little stuffed bee next to her, "Woah.. is that for me?" she asked, looking back and forth between Charlie and Ron.

"Yeah, it's a gift from Ron." Charlie said with a chuckle. "Do you like it?" Discreetly , she slid her own one under her blanket, before realising that she didn't at all want to keep this a secret, and pulling it back out just as casually.

"Thank you, Ron." Rosie said while Ron poured her a cup of tea as well, "You're welcome. I brought tea too." he said and handed her the cup, "It's ginger, it might be a little hot, but it's really good for your throat." he said and gave her a little smile.

Charlie smiled at how sweet Ron was around her sister when she heard a knock on the door. "Yes, dad?" A moment later, John came inside carrying a tray with two steaming bowls of blood-infused chicken soup. "Hey there. I've warmed up the soup Ron's brought." He said and put the tray onto Charlie's lap, completely ignoring that plush heart she definitely hadn't owned this morning... "Thank you." She told her father with a smile. "You're welcome. Are you two feeling any better?"

"A bit." Rosie rasped and coughed again, "Daddy why is ginger tea good for your throat?" she asked and looked up at John, who was a soon to be doctor, so he should know.

"It's a natural antibiotic. That means that ginger kills the bad little bacteria in your throat that make it sore in the first place." John explained to her with a smile.

"That's cool! So it's superhero tea!" Rosie said and nipped at her tea again, before she place her cup on Charlie's bedside table and picked up her new bee, "Look what Ron brought me." she said and smiled, which made Ron chuckle, "It's a get well bee soon bee, Rosie. Because people get healthy much faster when they are happy and Charlie told me that bees make you happy."

Charlie grinned to herself when she saw a reluctant smile spread on John's face. "Well, it's a very cute bee. Anyway, I'm back downstairs. Text or call me if you need anything." John told them, before leaving again.

"Oh, I can play the butler for a while. I've got all my homework done and my mum said since I'm just across the road, I can stay until evening that's alright with you. So you can relax a bit too." Ron said and gave John a smile.

Right. "I think we'll manage, but still thank you. I wouldn't want to have to have to explain to your mother why I let you catch the flu over here." John told him, because really, that kind of an answer had made him a bit wary. He didn't know Ron long enough to be able to tell if he was just very polite and nice or putting it on to gain their trust quickly. ..He just didn't want to take any chances when it came to her.

"Okay." Ron said and looked a bit sheepish, "Is it okay if I stay that long then?" he asked, just wanting to make sure because he didn't want to annoy her dads by staying too long.

"How about we make that two hours?" John said, partly because Charlie really needed her rest and if this was a more aggressive strand of influenza, he really didn't want Ron to contract it after several hours in a room with Rosie and Charlie.

"Oh alright." Ron said and turned back to Charlie, "Do you have some board games or so? Or cards? We could play something together." Ron suggested.

"Erm... we've got a Cluedo board downstairs." Charlie said, a smile playing on her lips at the thought of that story (good thing John was already on his way downstairs. "I've also got a deck of cards in that drawer over there. We're not that big on boardgames."

"Can we play I spy?" Rosie asked and fiddling around with her bee, "Because I'm really good at that." she said with a smile.

"Sure thing." Charlie said with a smile. "Let's see... okay, I spy with my little eye something beginning with the letter... C"

"Is it you?" Ron asked with a smirk, "Because that would be clever, wouldn't it, Rosie?" he asked and Rosie chuckled, "But it's not clever, because you thought of it really fast." she said and Ron laughed, "You have a point there." he admitted.

"Nah, it's not me, Rosie's right there." Charlie said with a chuckle and drank some soup. "Your turn, Speedy. Mmh, that soup is really good." She gave Ron a smile.

"Yeah.. I'll let my mum know." Ron admitted with a chuckle, blushing a little as Rosie thought. "Erm.. is it the couch?" she asked after a moment.

"Nope." Charlie said with a chuckle. "It's much smaller. And maybe your mum can show us the recipe. I really like cooking." She said with a smile and took another sip.

 

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A few days later Paul came back with the test results and knocked on the door of 221 Baker Street. It wasn't even noon yet, but the results had just come in and he wanted to discuss them with Sherlock and/or John as soon as possible.

Sherlock frowned as he walked down the stairs, wondering who that might be as he opened the door, "Oh.. hey," he said and instantly had a bad feeling. It was something serious, right? If it wouldn't have been anything important, Paul could have called. "What's wrong?"

"The results have come back." Paul said seriously, holding up an already opened envelope. "We've got to talk."

"Alright.. come in." Sherlock said and didn't bother to wait as he started up the stairs, glad that the girls were in bed upstairs, they were a good deal better, but still not quite fit to be up.

Paul nodded and closed the door behind himself, before following Sherlock into the living room. "They're still in bed?"

"Yeah they're feeling better, but I thought it would be good for them to spend some extra time in bed with tea and soup." Sherlock said and poured Paul a cup of tea.

"Yes, that's a good idea." Paul said, before glancing back at the results. "Though, we need to discuss their intake apart from tea and soup."

"Hm?" Sherlock asked and handed Paul his tea, "I told you they're getting enough blood, so that can't be it."

"You're either lying to me for some reason or they need to be on supplementation. Urgently." Paul said and took the tea, before sitting down at the kitchen table. "Their results are characteristic of malnutrition. Several minerals, B vitamins, essential amino acids, and the list goes on." Paul said and held out the girls' results to him.

"Wait what?" Sherlock asked and sat down across Paul, "Are you sure? I mean, we do skip meals, but we always at least have the blood. And they have free access to it, there even is a plastic bottle in the fridge so Rosie can get blood whenever she wants without having to ask us."

" _Your_ results are perfectly fine. The iodine count is a bit low, but practically everyone has that around here." Paul said and got out the last few pages of paperwork. "Judging from what I'm seeing, they're either not drinking for some reason or being actively starved. Are 100% you sure that they're drinking enough?"

"Yes, I am. What do you think? That we took them in to starve them?" Sherlock asked, feeling defensive again, they were getting enough blood for god's sake.

"I'm thinking something is wrong with their nutrition here, otherwise they wouldn't be malnourished after just eight months here." Paul said and leaned onto the table. "Look, I genuinely don't think you would've called me if this were intentional, but things have to change and we have to figure out what. Do you agree?"

"The only thing I can think of that's different here is that we don't have actual food with every meal." Sherlock said and sighed, hating that they apparently weren't good for their daughters.

"Well, at home we are feeding Amy and Ally the exact same things, apart from their drinks." Paul paused for a moment. "Their blood levels are practically identical apart from Ally's higher vitamin C levels because of all of the apple juice..."

"So.. you think it might be the food? I mean.. they're still growing.. it would make sense that they do need food to stay healthy.. up to a certain age at least.. or perhaps all their lives?" Sherlock mused, more to himself, really.

"I've actually never thought about that, but Charlie and Rosie are the only vampire children that aren't eating properly..." Paul said with a frown. "Vanessa was actually still breastfeeding Amy after she turned, she didn't like pure blood back then." He commented. "Do you know how they do that in the orphanage?"

"Well they have regular meals.. food, I mean to keep up the appearance for the mortal kids." Sherlock said and frowned a little. "Can you do regular blood tests on them while we start to have actual food meals again?" he asked, really wanting to keep track of that.

"Sure, I think monthly would make sense." Paul said with a nod. "But I've written out a list of the supplements they should take for to get them back on track quickly." He said and pulled out a sheet of paper. "I hope that that's the problem"

"Me too." Sherlock said and gave a small smile, "Well on the bright side, if that really is a problem, we'll have learnt something very useful for both our families." he said and frowned a little as he for the first time actually realised that Paul was.. his stepfather. Well.. that felt a little weird.

"Well, for _our_ family." Paul corrected him with a chuckle. "I'm still John's uncle if that feels like less of an odd descriptor." He said, finding it still a bit strange himself that he had two step-sons (who were much older than him at that).

"We should probably make an actual study about it.." Sherlock said after a moment and nipped at his own cup of tea, "I mean.. that's knowledge all vampires should have."

"Well, a database would be a good thing, but the only vampire-run organisation I know is the orphanage." Paul commented and took a sip too. "But I'm knew to this anyway. My practical knowledge doesn't go far beyond my own daughter; Vanessa told me some people there are collecting information for the students; I mean, that'd be a start if we go about it scientifically."

"Who knows maybe we'll be funding the first uni degree concerning vampire paediatrics.." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes, "At least we don't have to start from scratch since it's all very similar to normal mortal medicine."

"Well, if you make any ground-breaking discoveries, you've got my number." Paul said and stood up. "I'll check in on the girls and then I'll be off."

 

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Ron was (as usual) over the moon as he picked Charlie up to go to his dad's café.. which was basically where they were going all the time since her dads wouldn't allow her to go much further. But that was okay. Everything was okay with Charlie anyway. "So what cake do you want to try today?" he asked and chuckled a little as they started to walk, "Maybe we can start mixing them and create our own flavour." he said with a grin.

"We could replace the inside of a pie with chocolate cake." Charlie giggled after a moment and took Ron's hand as they began to walk down Baker Street. She felt so light when she was with him...

"Ooooh and fresh strawberries on top."Ron said and chuckled before he was suddenly pushed to the ground by a tall but skinny girl.

Within a second, someone had slung an arm around Charlie's upper body, covering her mouth with the other. Charlie's arms were trapped in the hold and immediately began to scream, even though it was muffled. Kicking and squirming, she tried to stop the other person from dragging her towards the street, her heart practically beating out of her chest.

"Oh no, you don't!" Ron said and stood up quickly pulling the rubikscube he had brought for Rosie to give her later out of his pocked and throwing it as hard as he could at the back of that bitches head as she tried to drag Charlie away, before he grabbed Charlie's wrist and pulled her behind himself, "Get your dads! I'll distract her!" he called without looking back at her, already trying to block the girls way as she tried to get Charlie back, "Go!" he added when he didn't hear her running.

Quite startled at first, Charlie turned around and ran back when Ron told her too. She didn't look back and just sprinted towards their house, not second-guessing Ron now.

Man that girl was _strong_. Much stronger than he would think since she seemed not much older than himself. Maybe two or three years, four tops. And she could throw good punches, but somehow Ron managed to keep her busy and unable to follow Charlie. Maybe it was adrenalin or something. Though he wasn't sure how long he could keep this up with a bleeding lip and his eye quite possibly starting to bruise as she suddenly turned and made a run for it.

It had only taken Charlie's dads a few seconds to come outside. John was the fastest of the three though and dashed after the girl when she saw him coming; Ron was still standing and didn't need his help right now. She was only a few years younger than him, he noticed as he got closer. Meanwhile Charlie rushed after Sherlock, anxious to see how Ron was.

"Are you alright?" Sherlock asked once he had reached Ron who just looking dumbfoundedly after the girl before turning to look at Sherlock and Charlie who was right after him, "I.. yeah.. I think." he said and only now actually realised that someone had just tried to kidnap Charlie. What the hell?!

"Oh god, thank you so much." Charlie said and pulled him into a hug, only now calming down again as the fear was wearing off. She'd be gone now if it hadn't been for him. Shit...

"You're welcome.." Ron said and wrapped his arms around her as well, "Just.. what the hell was that?" he asked as he untangled himself from Charlie, "We'll explain that in a moment, are you really alright? You're .. looking pretty beat up. I think your nose might be fractured." Sherlock said and Ron frowned, "You sure? It doesn't even hurt." he said and Sherlock gave a weak smile. "Well... it will."

"Let's go back into the flat." Charlie suggested after a moment. "We can give you some ice for your nose and dad knows where we are anyway." "You two go inside, I'll look for John." Sherlock said and looked into the direction John had been running before. "And lock the doors." he said and picked up the rubiks cube on the ground with a frown, "Did she drop that?" he asked and Ron smiled a little, taking the toy, "No.. I kind of threw that against her head.. I actually meant to give it to Rosie. Good thing it didn't break." he said and Sherlock chuckled a little, "Well.. that's going to keep her busy for a couple of hours." he said and handed the cube over to Ron.

"Come on, then." Charlie said and walked with Ron back to 221B; even with Mr. Chatterjee and Mrs. Hudson around, she didn't like the fact Rosie was all by herself. Meanwhile John cursed as she got lost in the crowd, eventually giving up and walking back home.

Sherlock waited until he saw the door fall shut behind Ron and Charlie, before he walked into the direction he had seen John go, sighing in relief once he finally spotted him, he had admittedly been a little worried about him, although logic told him he could easily take on a teenage girl. "No luck?" he asked unnecessarily, John's expression already told him that he didn't find her.

"No, she got away." John said with a frustrated sigh. "I didn't even get a look at her face." He said and walked back. "How are Charlie and Ron?"

"Charlie is startled but alright and Ron is a little beat up.. you need to patch him up I think, but he'll live. Although I think we owe him an explanation.. and a huge thank you." Sherlock said, taking John's hand. "I've told them to lock themselves into the flat."

John nodded at that glad they were fine. However, after his fiancé's words had sunk in, his eyes suddenly widened with dread at the sudden realisation. "Sherlock, we left Rosie in an open flat."

"Yeah.. we did." Sherlock said and sighed, "We need to make plans for situations like this, coordinate it better. Because apparently we need to have those plans. I didn't think they'd do anything in bright daylight.."

"Neither did I and that's what they were counting on, apparently." John said, biting down his anger. _Damn_ those bastards for coming after their children. "If it had been two, she'd be gone now."

"On the other hand.. it _was_ just one. Meaning they're after Charlie, not Rosie.. which is good to know.. and awful because that's going to limit her freetime even more.. and with free time I mean parent free time.. she needs that, she's a teenager." Sherlock said and sighed.

"Doesn't she already feel caged in as things are right now?" John said and ran a hand through his hair. "But even if they're just after Charlie; next time they'll try to get her it will be two."

Sherlock nodded, "We need to ask Mycroft for some extra security 24/7." Sherlock said and took John's hand, giving it a squeeze, "Now come on, let's hurry up a bit, you really should take a look at Ron."

"Right, of course." John nodded walked a bit faster. A minute later, they got back into the flat and John closed the door behind them. Charlie had already given him the frozen split peas they had in the fridge to hold against the swelling. "How are you two holding up?" He asked and Charlie shrugged. "I'm fine, Ron's the one who got beat- got into a fight. Where is she anyway?" Charlie asked and John shook his head with a sigh. "I lost her after two blocks. So Ron, how are you feeling?" He asked and walked over to them.

"I'm good.. I'm just glad that she didn't hurt Charlie." Ron said, still holding the peas carefully against his nose, because Sherlock had been right, it did hurt. "Can I have a sheet of paper and a pencil? I think I can draw that girl, if that helps.. I've had her right in front of me for a few minutes."

"Oh, that would be great." John said and went over to the desk to give Ron both paper and a pencil. He had definitely a lot more respect for this boy. "Can I still have a look at your nose and lip?"

"Yeah, let me just do a quick sketch while her face is still fresh in my mind," Ron said and started to draw, "Then you can patch me up all you want."

John nodded and went into the bathroom to get their first aid kit ans some antiseptic. Meanwhile Charlie looked over Ron's shoulder as he drew. She'd only seen the girl's face for maybe two or three seconds, but the drawing did look similar to what she remembered of her.

"I think that's about isn't it?" Ron asked, holding the sketch up for Charlie to see, "Have you seen her before by the way? I mean.. there's got to be a reason for trying to kidnap you.." he mumbled with a frown.

"Yeah, looks like her. But no, I don't know her at all." Charlie said and glanced away, beginning to feel a bit guilty about the whole thing. Should she have told him beforehand?

"You look like there's more to it though.." Ron said and gave her a little smile, wanting to cheer her up a bit, "Does that have anything to do with you dads not wanting to let you out of their sight for too long?"

"Yeah, kind of.. But this is the first time anything like this has ever happened." Charlie said and bit her lip when John returned into the living room.

"Hm.." Ron said and looked up at John when he returned, "Sherlock is teaching her judo, isn't he?" he asked, setting the drawing down, "Do you think he would teach me too? I want to be better prepared in case something like this is happening again." he said earnestly.

"I'm sure he'd agree to teach you and it's very honourable of you to want to protect Charlie" John began, sitting down next to him and putting the guter aid kit onto the coffee table. "Nevertheless we owe you an explanation. You're probably wondering what just happened and why we don't like Charlie leaving the house on her own."

"Well.. I'm not wondering anymore if you've been afraid of something like this.." Ron said and frowned, "Is this a sort of .. witness protection thing or something?" he asked as John began to treat his wounds.

"Well, we did take them in mainly for protection. I mean, at first at least." John said and shot Charlie a smile. "Sherlock and I found some evidence that there's- actually, I think Charlie's the best person to tell you about this." He said, figuring it was better to let her decide how much to tell her boyfriend about her own lifestory. Charlie felt a little blindsided there, but at least she got to be the one to tell Ron. It was probably better anyway to come clean with him now that she'd dragged him into this mess in the first place. "But you have to swear not to tell anyone else. Not even your parents or the police." She said after a few seconds.

"Er... okay." Ron said and frowned, "But.. I'll need a good excuse for the black eye and the broken nose... because they'll definitely ask about that."

"You could tell them that I wanted to try out a short-cut to the café and we ended up getting mugged in a small alley. You tried to fight the girl off, but got punched instead, but we ended up getting away." Charlie offered after a moment, as John took a closer look at Ron's nose.

"That's close enough, I guess." Ron said and gave her a smile, "Okay shoot then, what's the story?" he asked, getting a little curious about it at this point.

  


"Okay, so back in December, I, erm, _found_ some things out about what happened to Rosie's and my parents. Our and another kid's parents had been killed almost exactly the same way. It kind of looked like a scheme, so I talked to Sherlock who'd just begun teaching at our orphanage and he did some research on it. Turns out this pattern has been existing for a few decades now, with the children of those victims getting adopted by people just old enough to adopt themselves, which basically means there have been little to none actual adoptions going on; well, until we moved here that is. Nothing has actually happened in the past year, except that we found some more clues, but apparently, they've noticed we're not up for adoption or foster care anymore." Charlie summarised, slightly anxiously. Obviously she'd left out that vampire bit and the high IQ bit, mostly because both of those sounded very weird (well, and because she couldn't spill the beans about the biggest secret in their lives).

"Wow.." Ron said with wide eyes, "So... they're like after you now?" he asked and frowned, "And after Rosie?" he asked and flinched a litte when John touched his nose.

"Just Charlie, or so it seems. The children usually get adopted in their early teens." John answered that one, before frowning. "That nose is broken. You should definitely get to the A&E today to have it set straight."

"I guess.. any chance you can give me a ride tho?" Ron asked and shrugged, "Mum and dad are both at work, so it might be a bit of a challenge to get there and anyway they usually want to talk to an adult."

"Sure, I'll drive you there." John said with a nod. "That's the least I can do. I'll just go upstairs for a minute and check if Rosie and Sherlock are okay." He said and stood up, wondering what they were doing up there. Charlie gave Ron his peas back. "You know you.. don't have to meet up with me anymore now that you know what you're getting yourself into."

Ron gave her a little smile, "You're worth it." he said, placing the peas aside since he rather wanted to continue the drawing while he waited for John, "If that was all just a trick to get rid of me, you really have to come up with something better." he joked, trying to make her feel a bit better about it. He didn't love the situation, but that wasn't enough to scare him away.

Charlie smiled a bit at that and wrapped an arm around his side. Hell, she was lucky. "Good, I'm glad." She said before pecking his cheek.

"Me too." Ron said and chuckled a little, "Though maybe we should be more careful when we go out.. I mean.. we could tell my parents eventually.. like maybe after Sherlock and John met them and think it's okay? Mum and her colleagues get around a lot so they could help find that girl and dad could keep an eye out if he sees her around the neighbourhood." he said and smiled, "I won't tell them anything unless you're okay with it though, I promise."

"Thank you." Charlie said with a smile, wondering at the back of her mind if she'd just got really lucky with him or if he was in on it... then again, Sherlock hadn't objected so there was that. "And I don't have much of a choice but to leave most of the security questions to my dads. After today, I also think they have some new going-out rules in the making."

"That's okay." Ron said, his eyes on the drawing as he worked on a few details, "Maybe they'll allow you to come over to my place sometimes though, at least there we could be outside safely in the backyard."

"Mmh" Charlie hummed and watched him quietly as he drew. She wondered how he'd become this good at drawing... Oh, she was staring again. But it was fine, Ron probably didn't notice anyway. A minute later, John came back down the stairs and grabbed his coat and their car keys. "Okay, let's go to the A&E"

"Are you coming along? I mean.. we could go and grab some cake and milkshakes on the way back and eat it here." Ron offered, looking at Charlie, that was almost as good as the date they had planned, wasn't it?

"Yeah, sure thing." Charlie said with a smile and got up, taking his hand. "We can do that, right?" She asked her dad who nodded. "I don't see why not."

Ron smiled, lacing his fingers with hers, "Alright then.. let's go."

 


	108. Chapter 108

Charlie stopped pacing her room and let out a breath. She'd do it. She'd thought about this for days now and it sounded like a good idea. She'd be safer, together with Ron and even meet new people... With a nod, she walked out of her room and downstairs into the living room. "Hey.. we need to talk." She began somewhat seriously as she stood in front of Sherlock, not really knowing how to start this conversation.

"Alright... is there any reason you look ready to hold your speech in which you state you're going to stand for prime minister?" Sherlock asked, shutting his laptop to focus on his daughter properly.

Charlie rolled her eyes a bit and sat down on the chair opposite him. "Well, it's kind of important. So I've been talking to Ron about the school he goes to and apparently there's a lot of security, it's right around the corner, they've got different extracurriculars."

"So basically you want to change schools?" Sherlock summarised with a smile, "Is it far away?" he asked, though security did sound good in the current situation, he was still with Greg in the primary grades, so he didn't have his eye on her all day long anyway.

"Yeah... and it's just five minutes walking distance from here. "And the they've got their own tech club that takes care of the computer maintenance..." Charlie added after a moment. "And a rugby club."

"Well we can't really decide anything without John.. but it doesn't sound bad." Sherlock said and frowned, "Do you really want to go there though? I mean for more reasons than the fact that Ron is going there?" he asked and smiled a little, because she really was so adorably infatuated with the boy, "It is a long term decision if you do change schools, if you and Ron break up at some point you can't just change schools again, you know that, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. And I don't really know what my friends are going to say, but I think it's the right decision for me right now." She said with a nod. "I'm really not taking this lightly, but if this IT guy can just keep waltzing into my life and school and you two were just able to take us in in under four days... I just don't think the orphanage is the best place for me anymore."

"Well that was mainly because we had my mum to put in a good word for us, but I agree.. I think the whole vampire thing lures us into trusting other vampires just because they're vampires as well..." Sherlock said and sighed, "You know what, how about we make this a little project, you look up the school and make a little presentation out of it until John comes home from work. You write up the reasons why you would like to go there, which of their extracurriculars you are interested and so on." he said, figuring that wouldn't be too much to ask if she was really serious about going to that school.

"Oh, I've prepared a power point, just in case you weren't convinced yet." Charlie said with a smirk; knowing her paps and what he did whenever he wanted to introduce her to something new. (Jesus, she'd never forget this last talk dad had given her that paps had rounded up with a presentation and print outs and stuff... They just were wayy too movitated sometimes.) "It's even got two graphs I made just for you."

"Oh.. good." Sherlock said, wondering for a moment if he was becoming too predictable, "Well, let's wait for John anyway." he said and smiled, "What the school's name though?" he asked since that hadn't come up yet.

"It's called Abingdon house school." Charlie told him with a smile, glad this was working out so well. "Do you think my friends are gonna be mad though? I mean, I'm going to see them even less often now." She said, because that was the only thing that bugged her about this. "I mean, we used to be together every single day and now that'd become only a few times a week at most."

"Not necessarily... I'm going there everyday, I can give them a ride to come around every now and then and whoever has got the night shift at the orphanage can pick them up to bring them back on their way to work." Sherlock said and smiled at her, "And I don't think they'll be mad, maybe a little jealous, but in general.. most of them were happy for you and Rosie when it was clear we'd take you in.. I don't see why they would be mad about this. It only gives them a reason to get out more often after all."

"Hm, I guess you're right." Charlie said after thinking about it for a moment and gave him a smile. "Thanks, paps."

"You're welcome." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Though I feel like I should try to become a little less predictable." he said and rolled his eyes about himself, though he still thought it was a sound parental technique to have her make a presentation about bigger things she wanted, explaining why she wanted them, if she wasn't willing to put the time and effort into that, her wish to have or a do a thing couldn't be that substantial.

"I'm sure Rosie would still be surprised if you asked her to put together a presentation." She offered with a giggle, before pulling out a USB stick out of her pocket and handing it Sherlock.

Sherlock smiled as he took the stick, "Well anyway can you get Rosie and yourself ready to go out? We're out of literally everything again." he said, having made it one of his top priorities to be stocked up on vegetables and fruit and do regular cooking lately, though it did slip his mind every now and then that they actually had to go shopping. He hadn't told the girls about the actual reason they suddenly had regular meals though, until he was sure that was the issue he didn't want to worry them that there maybe was some mysterious vampire illness they might be suffering from.

"Sure. It's nice we've been having more meals together lately, you know." Charlie commented and got to her feet to get Rosie. She didn't really know if they were running short on blood and that's why they were eating more solid food or if Sherlock was just trying to get them to spent even more time together. Either way, it tasted much better that way, so that was cool.

"Yeah.. I like that too." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "It's also nice that it's a forced break for John. With work, the rugby team, uni and now trying to find this girl.. even for a vampire that's exhausting."

"Yeah... apparently, he's got a lower boredom-tolerance than Rosie. It's crazy to think he was just a mortal back when you took us in." Charlie said and shook her head, before heading upstairs.

\----------------------------

Sherlock was glad when both kids were finally ready to go and in the car, it was already a little later than their usual lunchtime and he really wanted to strictly stick to the meal schedule at least for now. When it was clear that was the issue he would be a little more relaxed about it probably, but for documentation a proper schedule was necessary. "Alright then, off we go." he said as he started the engine.

"What are we having for lunch today anyway?" Charlie asked him from the back. Their fridge was literally almost empty so there was technically no reason to cook one of their favourites.

"Hm.. I don't know. You two can choose something." Sherlock said and smiled, "The condition being, it has to include at least one type of vegetable." he said, glancing at Rosie in the rearview mirror, just as usual doublechecking that she hadn't undone her seatbelt which she had done a few times, he truly hoped that was as far as her rebellious phase would go.

"Hm, alright." Maybe John wanted their food to be reminiscent of healthy stuff again because of reasons? Sounded like something he'd come up with. "Maybe we could have shepherd's pie. That's got peas in it. And potatoes if those count." She suggested, well aware that was one of John's favourite dishes (she figured he'd be more inclined to get him to agree to that school change this way) looked over at Rosie with a smile. "I bet daddy'd be happy if we made that or what do you think?"

"So we'll have bribery for dinner." Sherlock said with a little chuckle, giving Charlie a short smirk before looking straight ahead again, he was a bit proud of her thinking in that area, not that he'd encourage it, since that probably wasn't appropriate parental behaviour.

 

Charlie rolled her eyes a bit and looked out of the window again, suppressing a smile; fair enough. But well, it could've worked. "Fine, but we haven't had black pudding in a while either. Or bangers and mash."

"Thinking about it, Shepard's pie doesn't sounds so bad after all." Sherlock said and chuckled a little.

"Well, what would you like to eat, Speedy? You've been a bit quiet." Charlie asked and turned to look at her sister.

"I want ice cream for dinner!" Rosie announced before she looked back out of the window, continuing to quietly read all the words she saw on all the shops they were passing, just to see if she could.

"I second that." Charlie said with a chuckle. "We could get Neapolitan ice cream. That's a kind berry and two kinds of beans right there in one bowl." She said, feeling kind of clever about being cheeky there.

"How about we'll have Shepard's pie for dinner and ice cream for desert?" Sherlock suggested and Rosie nodded, "Mhm.. that's okay too."

"And I could try to make stuffed peppers for us tomorrow." Charlie offered after a moment, figuring now that they were going to the store anyway they could already get that too.

"Sure that sounds good." Sherlock said as they arrived at the shop, "We need toilet paper too. And shampoo." he added to their mental shopping list.

"Oh, and I need a new toothbrush." Charlie added, mainly so she wouldn't forget in the supermarket, and unbuckled her seatbelt. "Paps, can I ask you something random?"

While Charlie and Sherlock were busy talking about something that seemed rather boring, Rosie was looking out of the car window, frowning as she saw a man sitting in front of the supermarket who looked like really poor. His clothes were dirty and had holes and in front of him was a sign that said that he was really hungry. She didn't like that. She didn't want him to be hungry, she didn't want anyone to be hungry!   
"Really?" Charlie asked with an amused chuckle and got out of the car, holding the door open for her sister. "I didn't even know these were an actual thing." She commented. "Are you coming, Speedy?"

"Uh-huh." Rosie said dragging her gaze away from the man as she got out of the car and followed Charlie and Papa into the shop, while she looked into her wallet, frowning as she counted the coins and looked at the prices of the different foods, it didn't look like she had enough money to buy anything, not even an apple. But if she'd find something cheap and give the cashier all the money she had maybe they would allow her to pay the rest later.

Keeping a bit of an eye on her little sister just to make sure she didn't suddenly disappear when Sherlock wasn't looking (she'd just seen a film about exactly that happening and there was no way that was gonna be their new reality), Charlie went to a different aisle to get a new toothbrush.

Rosie waited a bit until Charlie and Papa were busy, because they both didn't like her talking to strangers, but that stranger was really hungry and she had to help him, right? Good people did that, she was sure. So when Papa was busy comparing tomatoes and Charlie was looking at toothbrushes, before she walked over to the sandwiches and grabbed two of them. He surely needed two if he hadn't had enough money to buy food for a while. Walking to the counter she was a bit disappointed when there was no cashier in sight, she couldn't just walk out with the sandwiches, that would be stealing. Luckily she spotted a pencil and some paper, reaching for it, she quickly wrote a note,   
"I took two sandwiches, one tuna and one with eggs. I don't have enough money but I'll pay the rest on monday when I get my next pocket money, I promise. They are for the hungry man outside. He can't wait that long. - Rosie." She placed the note on the counter along with all the coins she had, before she took the sandwiches and walked out of the shop.


	109. Chapter 109

Once Charlie had decided on the slightly firmer model (because why not?), she turned around to go back to Sherlock and Rosie. Except, where was she? She could've sworn she had been looking at apples just a moment ago. "Rosie?" She asked and quickly checked the nearest aisles when no answer came. Feeling her stomach drop, she ran back to the groceries, this time calling loud enough for the better half of the shop to hear it.

Sherlock ran immediately over to Charlie - was easy enough to find with how loud she had been shouting, "What.. what happened? Where's Rosie?" he asked, oh god not again. "I'm here!" Rosie called, poking her head in after she heard Charlie call for her, "I found a new friend!" she added and crouched down to pet the man's (Viktor as she knew now) dog, his name was Scout! And he was really cute, especially how he chewed on one of the egg slices Viktor had given him.

Charlie sagged in relief and ran over to her little sister, completely forgetting about anything else. "You really, really scared me." She said, once she was crouching in front of her and wrapped her arms around her. Slowly taking in the homeless man and the sandwich packaging, she got an idea what she'd been doing. Meanwhile Viktor simply sat on the ground and watched them with a kind expression. "If your parents are still inside, you both might want to go back to them."

"Already here." Sherlock said and raised an eyebrow at the man and the sandwiches, before looking at Rosie, "Did you buy those? I didn't know you had so much of your pocket money left over." he said and Rosie looked a bit bashful, but she was still convinced she did the right thing, "Well... I didn't.. but I left all the money I had and a note on the counter that I will pay the rest of it on monday when I get my next pocket money."

"I don't think that the shop is alright with waiting that long." Charlie said, glancing back at Scout and the man. Getting him a sandwich was the least they could do... she felt bad about not even thinking twice when walking past him. "But I've got you covered. I'll just be inside."

"Thank you!" Rosie said with a smile, before turning back to Sherlock, "Papa this is Viktor! And his dog's name is Scout! Viktor says it's because ever since he was a puppy he was really good at scouting for food!" she said with a snicker and Sherlock smiled, really he couldn't even be mad at his girl for something like this, "Well you still should have told us what you were doing." he said as he crouched down next to her, giving Viktor a smile, scanning him, "Ex military?" he asked after a moment.

Viktor looked quite surprised at that; that's not what most people guessed. "Royal Navy" He said with a nod. "How could you tell?" He asked and patted Scout's back, who thoroughly enjoyed how much attention he was getting today.

"The way you're holding yourself, mainly. That and .. I've met a fair share of military people, eventually one gets an eye for it." Sherlock said and thought of Viktor for a moment, "My fiance is actually going to join the service soon too." he said and sighed, "Not that I'm a fan of that idea." he said and shrugged.

"You wouldn't think it, but the ladies can be the feistiest ones out there." Viktor told him with a bit of a chuckle to reassure the young man a bit. "Didn't believe it myself until I started worked with them back in 93, but they are more than capable of holding a candle to the men."

  


The deep frown on Rosie's face at hearing her daddy being called a 'lady' made Sherlock laugh a bit, "Oh, well I'm sure they are.. but.. my fiance's name is John actually.." he said with a little smirk, "Yeah he's a boy! I hope you're not a hombophob, because I think you're really nice! But if you're a hombophob, I don't want to be your friend anymore." Rosie said with a fierce expression and stared him down and honestly, Sherlock couldn't be more proud of her.

"Oh, I see, apologies. And no, rest assured I'm not. I decide if I like someone based on what's in their heart." Viktor offered with a smile. He hadn't known gays could adopt these days, though. Well, good for them, it had probably been about time.

"Good." Rosie said with an appreciative nod, "Because daddy and papa are great!" she said and Sherlock smiled at her, before looking back at Viktor, "I swear we're not paying her to say things like that." he joked and Rosie frowned at him, "What do you mean?" she asked puzzled and Sherlock chuckled again, "Never mind, bee, it was just a joke." he said and looked around for Charlie, wondering what she was doing in the shop so long, "Papa can we invite Viktor over for dinner, now we know that he's not a hombophob?"

"It's alright, young lady, I don't think your father would like to invite strangers to your home. And I'm already very grateful for the sandwiches." Viktor said just as Charlie returned and gave him a smile. "Oh, you're welcome."

"Actually, I don't mind." Sherlock said and smiled, "You do look like you could use some of Charlie's Shepard's pie." he said with a friendly smile, "And so does Scout." he added, they both looked too thin. "So.. we'll be done with the shopping soon, you can make up your mind about joining us meanwhile." offered as he stood up.

"Thank you very much for that for that offer." Viktor said, visibly surprised, since the lad didn t look like he was joking. And it wasn't even Boxing Day. Meanwhile Charlie gave handed Him a smoothie she'd got while she'd been inside, figuring he was probably thirsty too; and it looked less 'shady' in front of the cashier if she didn't just pay for her sister's theft.

"Well see you in a minute." Sherlock said and lifted Rosie up on his arm, just to make sure she wouldn't run off again, "Charlie? You coming?" he asked as he started to go in, "See you soon Viktor!" she said and waved at him over Papa's shoulder, giving him a broad grin.

Viktor thanked Charlie and gave Rosie a little wave before they disappeared back inside. Charlie followed them and quickly caught up with them. "So we're having him over for dinner?"

  


Viktor thanked Charlie and gave Rosie a little wave before they disappeared back inside. Charlie followed them and quickly caught up with them. "So we're having him over for dinner?"

"Well.. only if you're comfortable with it." Sherlock said and looked over at Charlie, figuring that since Rosie was the one who invited him she was quite alright with it.

"Yeah, sure. He seems nice enough." Charlie said with a smile. "Scout's invited too, though, right? If so we should get him some dinner as well."

"True. Let's grab some dog food then. Grab a bunch of it, we can give him some extra, I guess." Sherlock said and chuckled, looking at Rosie and pressing a kiss to her cheek, which she wiped off with a giggle, "Seems like we can still learn something from you, bee." he said with a smile.

"Yeah, thank you." Charlie told her with a nod, before scanning the shop for the dog food. "But you can stop showing us that you're good at disappearing. We already know you're a fine detective."

"But I didn't go far!" Rosie complained and Sherlock rolled his eyes a bit, "Yes, but you have to stay where we can see you. If you want to go further away, you have to tell us and one of us needs to come with you." he said and Rosie pouted, "Okay..." she mumbled, but perked up again as she saw some dog treats that said they were good for cleaning dogs teeth. "Can we take those for Scout? They are treats /and/ good for his teeth!" she said with a smile.

"Hang on" Charlie said and looked at the back of the package. "Those dental sticks have little to no calories so we have to get some other food for him too." She informed them after a moment, already beginning to compare different vrands of dog food.

"But we can get those too right? Because it's really important to take care of your teeth. Even dog teeth." Rosie said and Sherlock was so not going to say anything else, he didn't want to risk her rebellious phase spreading to teeth brushing. "Yeah, we can get them." he said and put them into his basket.

Charlie eventually settled for the bag of food that contained the most ingredients she knew. "What exactly are animal by-products?" She asked, lifting the heavy bag into their trolley.

  


"That's everything a butcher can't sell to humans." Sherlock said and frowned, "Grab some light tupperware too.. he can hardly carry the whole bag around at once." he said as he walked with Rosie still on his arm over to grab a few half litre water bottles.

"Should we get him a new backpack too?" Charlie asked following him to the end of the aisle to see where the tupperware was.

"No. He has one.. and I feel like he would feel weird about that much help at once." Sherlock said with a frown, if he was homeless he would be appreciative of help, but there was still human pride and maybe he would be embarrassed if they'd do too much for him just yet. Though if he turned out to be as decent of a guy he seemed to be, they could help him bit by bit every now and again.

"Oh yeah, that makes sense." Charlie nodded and went off to get some tupperware and the other stuff left on their shopping list.

"Can we get him sweets too? It's not fair if only Scout gets treats!" Rosie said and Sherlock chuckled, "That's true. What do you want to get him then?" he asked with a smile and Rosie thought, "Hm.. cookies! Everyone likes cookies." she said and Sherlock smiled, "Cookies it is then." he chuckled.

A few minutes later Charlie came bag and put some vegetables, tupperware and shampoo into their trolley. "Do we have everything?" She asked and smirked a bit when she saw the cookies; she hadn't forgotten about the ice cream, but they probably didn't have to overdo it.

"Hm.. maybe some energy bars wouldn't hurt." Sherlock said and frowned, looking around for some, "They are light, so he can carry a good deal around with him."

"They've got those right there at the counter." Charlie said, before remembering something. "But he probably shouldn't eat too much at once. I saw a youtube video about a woman that had been close to starving for a year and then ate forty cookies at once and then she almost- erm, I mean she got hospitalised." Charlie said and glanced over at Rosie. "I think it's called 'refeeding syndrom' or something like that. Dunno just a thought. Better ask Paps."

"Well I think he'll know what he can handle.. But we could tip John off to giving him a few tips." Sherlock said, hoping that John would be alright finding a stranger at their dinner table. But honestly, Rosie was right, it wouldn't be right not to help him. That, he knew would be John's opinion too.

"Yeah, you're right." Charlie nodded and began walking with them to the cashier. "How are we gonna get him home anyway? Just tell him our address, take him home right now, or?"

"I guess we'll give him a ride.. He might want to take a shower and throw his clothes into the washer since he has the chance." Sherlock said and shrugged, "He can borrow some of John's clothes meanwhile I think. Mine probably wouldn't fit him."

"Yeah, sounds good." Charlie nodded before chuckling a bit. "If we don't tell paps, it'll look a little bit like we've replaced him with another guy from the military." She commented. "What's his name anyway, I didn't catch it."

"It's Viktor." Sherlock said and wondered briefly if that was what was making him want to help the guy, but no, he'd keep his girls away from him if he'd seen anything that was off about the man. "Reminds me that I didn't actually introduce myself. Hope he doesn't think my first name is Papa." he chuckled.

"I think at this point he should've gathered you're our father. Nevertheless, I'd laugh tears if he called you Papa." She chuckled and began to put their stuff onto the conveyor belt. "You haven't met a 'Scout' before too though, have you?"

"Yeah I think I'll let him know what my actual name is before that happens." Sherlock said and chuckled again, sitting Rosie down into the shopping cart, before he helped Charlie.

Thinking about it, the fact he had a dog, was called 'Viktor' and had been in the military too probably played a role in why Paps was inviting him home. "You could tell him your second middle name. That almost sounds like 'Scout'." She said and laughed about her own bad pun.

"Funny." Sherlock said with a chuckle, rolling his eyes as he pulled out his wallet to pay, "Actually Charlie, can you quickly go and grab a dog bowl? One of those that hold both, water and food?"

"Sure, I'll be back in a sec" Charlie said before turning around and dashing off back to the pet aisle.

Sherlock nodded at that, before starting to put the goods back into the shopping cart, "Papa.. do you think we can go for a walk with Scout later?" Rosie asked, arranging everything Sherlock put into the cart differently.

Having hurried back, Charlie returned just in time to catch that. "Yeah, I've never walked a dog before." She said and put the dog dish onto the conveyor belt. "I'm sure that could be fun if Viktor's alright with it."

"Well.. yeah, it might be fun.. but you know why it would be difficult." Sherlock said, thinking of that attempted kidnap in broad daylight, he didn't want that to happen again, "Maybe John or I can join you if Viktor is alright with letting us take him for a round. One of us has to go with and definitely one of us has to stay at home, so.. all I can give you is a maybe."

"Yeah, I understand. But a'maybe' is still better than a definite 'no'." Charlie said with a shrug. She couldn't really blame him for their situation and the dog wasn't even theirs, so yeah, at least Sherlock was being honest with them.

Sherlock gave Charlie a little smile, "I would like that myself though." he admitted with a smirk, wasn't a secret that he did like dogs. He was still thinking about getting an own one. "However, let's hurry a little, looks like it's going to rain soon." he said, looking at the clouds outside through the large windows of the shop.

"Oh yeah" Charlie said and glanced outside, beginning to bag the last few things up. "When's Dad coming home today?" She asked, waiting for Sherlock pay and come pick Viktor up.

After paying everything, Sherlock moved the shopping cart with the bags (and Rosie) out of the shop, glad that Rosie was still sitting in the cart because at least like that, she couldn't run off. "Oh you're still there." he said with a smile as he spotted Viktor, he had half expected him to have left meanwhile, figuring some people were indeed too proud to accept help.

"I am." Viktor said and gave him a smile in return, though he was unsure if that invitation still stood. "Our car's just over there." Charlie supplied when he seemed hesitant to stand up.

"We're just unloading and we can go." Sherlock said and lifted Rosie out of the cart, "And you, stay in sight, understood?" he asked, before setting the girl down on the floor, "Okay." Rosie said, nodding though Sherlock had heard that before.

Charlie went over to the car with Sherlock and began helping to put the groceries into the boot of the car. Meanwhile Viktor got to his feet and made sure everything was packed up properly, keeping an eye on the little girl who apparently liked to run off a lot.

Rosie watched Charlie and Papa unload the shopping cart for a moment, before it became rather boring, so she turned and walked over to Viktor (it _was_ in sight so she wouldn't get in trouble for that). "Did you really already have Scout since he was a puppy?" she asked, looking intently at the dog, trying to figure out how old he was, but she didn't know how people found that out.

"That's right. A friend of mine had a dog who had just had a litter of puppies. Thing is, he couldn't look after all of them, so I adopted one of them." Viktor said and patted Scout's head. "That was almost six years ago now."

"Papa really wants a dog, but daddy says that we don't have enough time for one just yet." Rosie mused, giggling when Scout held up his paw like he wanted to shake her hand, before taking it. "Do you really need a lot of time to care for a dog? Because it seems really easy. You only have to feed him, go with him for walks and play with him right?"7

Viktor chuckled a bit at that. "Well, you've also got to make sure he can go to the pet doctor and unfortunately puppies aren't very well behaved." He said and smirked at Scout. "And you can't just ignore them when you don't feel like playing with them, you know. So yes, you need a lot of time and patience with dogs."

"Hm..." Rosie said and looked down (or rather straight ahead) at Scout. "Papa said you can shower at our place if you want... can we bathe Scout too? I bet it's a whole lot of fun!" she said with a broad grin.

"I don't think you've bathed a dog before, young lady." Viktor said with a chuckle, though the prospect of getting a shower was nice. "They don't have to get washed very often, but when they do, your whole bathroom is dirty."

"I don't mind, daddy usually cleans it!" Rosie said with a happy grin as Scout gave her his other paw too, "I think he wants to dance!" she chirped.

Viktor couldn't help chuckling at that kind of a statement. "He seems to like you" he said, keeping an eye on Scout to make sure he wasn't too rough with her. "Okay, you can come inside." Charlie said after a moment, already pushing the trolley back into the store (okay, mainly because she got to keep the change)

"You and Scout can sit next to me!" Rosie said as she walked back to the car, before frowning and turning around to Viktor, "Do dogs need carseats?"

"No, he can just sit in front of my legs for the short ride." Viktor said, following her with Scout. That way their car wouldn't get too dirty; it looked like they'd just bought it new.

  


"But isn't that dangerous?" Rosie asked as she climbed into the car and sat down in her car seat, "Because I once asked if I can sit there where you put your feet in the car and daddy said no because it's dangerous if we have an accident or he has to stop suddenly."

"Well, he's a dog and not a girl and he doesn't drive a lot. In the worst case he'll hit his head." Viktor said and got Scout inside the car, before getting in after him. Meanwhile Charlie returned and got into the front of the car next to Sherlock.

"Alright then, everyone buckled up?" Sherlock asked and Rosie looked at her loose seatbelts, considering a white lie for a moment because she didn't like the seat belts but then sighed, "I'm not!" she said and reached for the seatbelt.

"You know, back when I learned how to drive, cars didn't have any seatbelts at all." Viktor said, since she seemed reluctant to use it; though in fairness, he only buckled up himself because of the children. "That's why people used to get hurt much more often when they would drive."

"But they're uncomfortable." Rosie said as she finished buckling up and threw herself forward, "See when I do that it kind of blocks me and I don't like that." she said and Sherlock frowned at her, wondering when exactly she felt the need to throw herself forward in a car. "That's the point of them, though, bee. They're supposed to stop sudden movements so you can't be thrown against parts of the car and hit your head."

"You know, people break their bones or even wind up dead, just because they think seatbelts are uncomfortable. Isn't that a stupid reason to get hurt, if it can be prevented that easily?" Viktor asked the girl with a raised eyebrow. hhh

"Hm.. yeah but when I get hurt, it heals like really quickly! I once broke my finger when I fell off a swing and it healed in three.." Rosie began, but was quickly cut off by Sherlock, "Weeks. It was completely healed in 3 weeks." he said and Rosie frowned, "No, I mean..." she began again.

"And that's only because you're so young." Charlie interrupted her quickly before she could go on any further. "The older you get, the slower your bones and everything heal. And there are some injuries that never heal, like a broken back, so you should really listen to Paps."

"Alright.." Rosie murmured but still didn't look happy about being interrupted like that, "Can we go home now? I want to see how Scout eats!" she said and held her hand out to Scout, giggling when he licked it.

"You shouldn't touch your face or scratch your eyes until you've washed your hands." Viktor said, figuring the last thing anyone here wanted was for Rosie to catch anything from Scout today.

"Okay." Rosie said and smiled again as Scout poked her leg with his nose. "Viktor...?" Rosie began with in full puppy eye mode as Sherlock started the car, "Can Charlie and I take Scout for a walk later? I've never walked a dog!"

"I don't have a problem with that, he's very calm around strangers." Viktor told her with a smile, because how were you supposed to say no? "But you have to ask your father too before you can take him out."

"Papa said it's okay if he or daddy comes along and you are okay with it." Rosie said happily and grinned at Viktor. "You do know that you have to pick up his poo when you walk him, though, right?" Sherlock asked, glancing at Rosie through the rearview mirror, seeing her face fall, "What?" she asked, blinking dumbfoundedly.

"Well, imagine what the streets would look like if dog owners would just leave it there." Viktor told her, wondering if someone had ever talked to her about keeping a dog. "It would be quite disgusting, wouldn't it?"

"Well.. yes." Rosie said thoughtfully and looked at Scout again, "There are tools for that, though." Sherlock said to ease her a little, after all he didn't want to put her off getting a dog (he wanted one himself, mind you) but just for now it would be better if she wasn't too eager for it, they already had enough on their plates even without training a puppy. "So I don't really have to touch it?" she asked and Sherlock smiled, "Not necessarily, there are all sorts of tools for it now, but most people use a bag as a glove and then just pull the bag over the poo, so it's bagged up."

"Yeah, there are free plastic bag dispensers all across town." Charlie said, since she'd already seen a couple of those.

"That's okay, I think." Rosie said with a frown, "Can you promise not to make poo poo when we walk you?" she asked, looking at Scout who looked back at her with a look that basically said 'I have no idea what you're talking about'.


	110. How To Cook A Bribe

Twenty minutes later they arrived at home. Once the car stopped Charlie unbuckled her seatbelt and got carefully out of the car to help Sherlock with the groceries while Viktor gathered his backpack and dog, looking at the neighbourhood for a while after he got out.

Standing with the key and bags in front of the door after getting Rosie out of the car, Sherlock frowned, realising that he still hadn't introduced himself to Viktor, "My name is Sherlock by the way." he said and gave Viktor a smile, "Sherlock Holmes." he said and chuckled a little, "Just so you know my name is not in fact Papa." he added.

Viktor laughed a bit at that. "Yes, I figured. Viktor 'addock." He said with a nod, mildly surprised by how strange it felt to say his full name again. It had been quite a while since he'd done that the last time.

"Nice to meet you." Sherlock said and unlocked the door, waiting for Rosie and Charlie to get in first, just to be safe.

Carrying two bags, Charlie followed Rosie up the stairs to their flat. "Scout's really cute, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he's awesome! But I don't know if I like the poop thing." Rosie mused as walked upstairs which made Sherlock chuckle, "Well I guess that put her off of the idea of an own dog for a while." he said with a small smile as he waited for Viktor to go in after them, before he walked in and locked the door, "We're not some weirdos, by the way, I'm definitely not locking you in, it's just.. well Rosie has this tendency to walk off on a whim, so better safe than sorry. It's become routine since she decided to go get cake for us one sunday morning before anyone else was up." he said with a roll of his eyes, not really wanting to mention their other safety concerns yet.

That made Viktor chuckle a bit. "Ah, well I've already seen some of that. You've got two sweet little daughters there." He said and held his dog right by his side so he wouldn't run to the top of the stairs before he'd reached it himself.

"Yeah, they've got two sweet little independent heads too." Sherlock said and smiled, "And while that's a very good thing, it's also not coming without side effects." he said as he started to walk up the stairs.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Charlie asked from the top of the stairs, watching their Paps and their guest come up.

Sherlock laughed at that, shaking his head, "You know exactly what that means, Ms Marple." he said and smirked at Charlie.

Charlie grinned at that and rolled her eyes a bit, before stepping aside to let Sherlock open the door. "No idea"

Sherlock smiled, unlocking the door for all of them, "Right so.. just ignore our usual chaos and make yourself comfortable." he said with a chuckle, gesturing to the sofa, before he carried the bags into the kitchen.

"Isn't that Dad's usual line?" Charlie snickered and followed Sherlock with the bags she was carrying. Viktor closed the door behind himself and set the backpack down next to the sofa before sitting down.

Pulling the dogbowl out of one of the bags, Rosie stepped on her little stool and filled it with water, before she carefully carried it into the living room, "Here!" she said and set the bowl down on the floor for Scout, "I bet you're thirsty Scout." she said and crouched down, really wanting to see how he'd drink.

Scout smelled the new plastic curiously, before beginning to drink the water thirstily, which made Viktor feel a bit guilty. "Have you never seen a dog drink before?" He asked Rosie since she was watching Scout so intently.

Rosie shook her head, still watching Scout, "It doesn't look like he's drinking... he just dips his tongue into the water." she observed and looked questioningly up at Viktor, clearly expecting and explanation.

"He uses it like a shovel to get water inside his mouth." Viktor said and held his hand as if to use it to cup water. "In a minute or so the bowl will be half empty"

"Cool!" Rosie said and smiled, before remembering that they also bought food for Scout. "Oh! Wait!" she said and dashed back into the kitchen, before she returned a minute later with two hands full of dog food, putting into the bowl on the other side. "There." she said and gently patted Scout's head, before she crawled on the sofa to sit down next to Viktor. "Papa has bought a whole bag of food and plastic boxes so you can take some with you!" she said with a smile, her eyes still on Scout.

"Really?" Viktor asked and watched as Scout practically devoured the food in front of him. "Thank you. Scout and I are both very thankful for that." He said, giving her a smile, quite surprised by it all.

Rosie shrugged, "Papa is always like that. He has a lot of money and he always buys stuff for people, like for Charlie's friends at the orphanage we've lived and he gave the orphanage a lot of money too for books and computers. He says that he doesn't see the point of keeping money to yourself if he has way too much he could even spend in his life and that there are always people who need the money that would just sit on his bank account otherwise." she rambled with a smile.

Viktor's eyes widened a little at that, though he tried to keep the utter shock from his face. 'he has way too much he could even spend in his life'...? "You know, Rosie, something tells me your father would rather you didn't talk to people about money. Adults just usually don't really like that."

"But I like that about him, he's right! People should share their money more!" Rosie said and wiggling her legs a little, which were not yet long enough to reach the floor when she was sitting on the sofa.

"Yeah, you're right about that." Viktor said and pattes Scout's head before sitting back. "So you've been living with your fathers for a long time now?" He asked, figuring that was a neutral topic, since she'd already talked about that orphanage.

"Uh huh." Rosie said with a nod, "Papa was the first one who didn't think I was weird! Because everyone else did and they all treated me like I was stupid but I'm not, papa and daddy told them that I'm even much smarter than other kids my age are! But I forgot what that's called."

"Highly gifted?" Viktor offered with a smile. This family was becoming more and more likeable in his opinion. They surely weren't ordinary, though, he could tell.

"Yeah that! And so is Charlie." Rosie said and smiled, "And they even helped me to learn to read! My cousins can read a lot of words already and they're only three years old! They're Papa's sisters, they're highly gifted too and papa is, and Vanessa is too, she's papa's mummy. Papa says it's running in the family." she babbled on with a grin when Sherlock returned into the living room with a steaming cup of coffee for Viktor, figuring he could use that since it was still rather cold outside. "I see she's telling you her as of yet quite short lifestory?" he asked Viktor with a smirk and chuckled a little as he set the cup down on the table.

"But quite excitinging it is nevertheless." Viktor said with a chuckle. "And thanks for the coffee." He said and picked the steaming cup up.

"You're welcome." Sherlock said with a smile and crouched down to Scout, "And you are too." he said, patting the dog's head, "Papa did you know that dogs use their tongue like a shovel when they drink?" she asked excitedly and made the same motion with her hand that Viktor had showed her, "Like this!" she chirped and Sherlock chuckled, "Oh really? That's exciting, bee." he said, though he had actually known that, but Rosie loved to tell them things they hadn't known yet, so.. it didn't hurt anyone if he feigned ignorance about some things once in a while.

Charlie came into the room too after downing two glasses of blood while she still could and came to stand next to Sherlock (who was somehow still taller than her...) and Scout. "What's exciting?" She asked curiously.

"Rosie just explained to me that when dog's drink, they use their tongues like a shovel." Sherlock said, giving Charlie a smirk, quite sure she knew that too.

"Really?" Charlie asked Rosie with a smile, happy to play along. "Is that why they use bowls and not glasses?" Meanwhile Viktor chuckled fondly at how happy Rosie looked to get to explain things to her family.

"No, I think they don't use glasses because they don't have hands to hold the glasses." Rosie said and chuckled a little, "If they had hands, they wouldn't have had to come up with the tongue shovel trick!" she said and Sherlock nodded appreciatively, "Oh true." he said and looked thoughtfully at Charlie, trying very hard not to laugh.

Charlie bit back a laugh of her own. "Yeah, that makes sense. And would they be able to use straws?" She asked her little sister as if seriously pondering that question.

"I don't know..." Rosie said and thought hard about it, before looking at Scout who looked up to her as well and Sherlock could have sworn he was wearing an equally thoughtful expression, but maybe that was just his imagination, "I don't think so.. because they wouldn't know how to use them... _Oh!_ and it's not good if they chew on plastic that's not made for them to chew on and they could choke..

"Yeah, that's actually possible. Good thinking there." Viktor, the actual dog-owner, said with a nod. "But I think Scout here would just be annoyed by the plastic we'd have put in his drink and sip around it." He said with a chuckle.

Rosie giggled at that, looking at Scout, "Don't worry, we won't put any annoying plastic in your drink." she said, gingerly patting his head.

Scout glanced up at her and, as if happy with that promise, positioned himself under her feet and rested his head on his front paws. "I think someone likes you." Viktor commented with a chuckle.

"I like him too!" Rosie said and grinned while Sherlock smiled at the two, she really did seem to enjoy having a dog around, maybe they could work out some foster dog thing with someone else's dog which she could be in charge for a day a week so she could get an idea what it's like to care about a dog. "Right then, Charlie how about you go cooking your bribe pie before John comes home?" he asked with a smirk, "Sorry, Shepard's pie." he added with a small chuckle.

Charlie rolled her eyes a bit at that and got to her feet. "How about you come and help me? You can mash the potatoes and decide which funny shape we carve on the top." She said with a smirk, figuring that was intriguing enough to get her sister to follow her. It wasn't even that she didn't want to do all the work (you could actually argue that making sure Rosie was busy and not about to touch the hot stove made for more work in total), she just didn't like cooking on her own.

"Okay!" Rosie said and made sure not to accidentally step on Scout as she stood up, "We're going to make human food now." she told him, before she walked after her sister into the kitchen, making Sherlock chuckle quietly to himself.

"You've got a lovely family from what I can tell." Viktor commented. "I don't think many people your age can claim that. Well, not people at all, I suppose."

"Yeah, I guess we got lucky. Though really.. sometimes I don't think there's luck involved. We were all sort of connected 'around a few corners', my brother and I didn't have a lot of contact to the rest of my family for quite a while, when I met John it turned out that my mother is married to his uncle, my cousin married his sister and that's how we met Charlie and Rosie, my mum had been working at the orphanage for a while." he said and chuckled a little.

"Ah, alright. Well, you surely got lucky with your family" Viktor said with a smile. "Can I ask what your fiancé does for a living?" he asked, figuring he was the one who worked with him wanting to join the services and being out. From what Rosie had said it quite sounded like Sherlock didn't have to work and spent most of his time with the children and looking after the household.

"Better ask what he doesn't do." Sherlock asked with a chuckle, "He's a med student, he works as a paramedic and he's coaching a rugby team at the orphanage's school, my students are actually big fans of him." he said and was a bit surprised how weird it sounded to say 'my students', he hadn't thought of them that way yet, but.. it was true, wasn't it? **S** herlock said with a chuckle

"Wow, that is very impressive." Viktor said with a chuckle, already quite curious to meet this young man. "My niece is a teacher too, though, she's a bit older than you. She just completed her training six years ago." He said, unable not to look proud. "What got you interested in the job?"

"Rosie." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I was studying chemistry before, but then I surprisingly noticed that I get along well with kids.. so that happened." he said and shrugged, "I'm actually just at the beginning, but I work there as my brother's boyfriend's teacher's aid until I got the degree."

"Sounds almost like a family business." Viktor said with a chuckle. "So then you're going to be a chemistry teacher?"

"That and multiple foreign languages, physics, biology and maths." Sherlock said and decided it was probably better not to mention vampire studies here. "Tried to add more, but that would have conflicted with my schedule, I already have to take online classes for half of those to make it work with the hours at the orphanage."

"I've never been very good at academics but you and your fiancé sound like quite the over-achievers." Viktor said. "I remember that Catherine studied three different school subjects at once for her degree and that had already been a lot for her. Hm, different times, different countries. What a difference that can make."

"Well it's actually rather easy for me. The time management is a bit of a struggle. But the academics are simple. I mean... from what I gathered Rosie's already told you that we're all a bit.. unusual." Sherlock said and chuckled a little.

"Yes, she has. It's good you've found a job where you can use both your talent for children and your talent for books." Viktor commented with a smile.

"Yeah.." Sherlock said and smiled, "Also quite useful that I'll be teaching Rosie's class next year." he said and cleared his throat, "So.. you were in the Navy then?" he asked, quite curious how he ended up on the street.

"I was until just a few years ago." Viktor said with a bit of a sigh. "Always wanted to serve the country and felt like the Navy was the right way to do it. Mind you, I had the best of times there, but that's not the complete job description, especially not if you rise in rank. Well, long story short I disagreed with a Colonel on an order and that was that for me. They don't like disobedience, which is why I was cashiered with practically no pension."

"Oh.. yeah I can see how that would be a problem. Though.. for what it's worth, I have more respect for people thinking for themselves than those that are blindly following orders." Sherlock said and gave Viktor a smile.

"We've got something in common then." Viktor said and returned the smile. "And I don't regret it. In the end, what's left of us are our greater values, so I don't know what else I should stand up for if not those."

Sherlock smiled at that, "That's very true." he said and gave him another smile, "All of that shouldn't negate the years you did serve the country though. It's ridiculous that you don't get a proper pension."

"Well, it's frustrating to say the least." Viktor said and sighed. "But what can you do? I've just accepted it and tried to move on."

"It still doesn't seem fair though." Sherlock said with a frown, shaking his head.

"That's life for you right there, son." Viktor said and gave him a wry smile. "None of us plan to end up out there."

"I suppose." Sherlock said with a sigh. "It still doesn't feel right. Well if the country doesn't support you, doesn't mean we can't help you at least a bit, we bought some extra dog food, a few bottles of water and a few packs of granola bars.. you're welcome to take of much of it with you as you can fit into your backpack." he said with a smile.

"I truly appreciate it." Viktor said and gave him a genuine smile, thankful for that bit of support that'd give Scout and himself an easier time during the next few days.

"You're very welcome." Sherlock said as Rosie suddenly appeared in the living room again, holding her my little pony shampoo and her shower gel in the other hand, along with towel she was holding under her arm, "Here you can shower now Viktor!" she said (still hoping she'd maybe get to bathe Scout after all later), "You can use my shampoo and showergel, my shampoo smells like strawberries!" she said excitedly.

At least this felt only half as embarrassing now. And Sherlock would have said something if she had made it up. And he had to chuckle a bit at how sweet she looked with her strawberry shampoo. "That's very kind of you, but I've got my own. But could you maybe look after Scout while I'm away?" He asked her, before glancing questioningly over at Sherlock, who had seemed fine with her being around the dog.

"Okay! I can." Rosie said dutifully and moved over to Scout sitting down next to him,"You can use the washing machine too if you like, you can borrow some of my fiance's clothes meanwhile, you two should have the same size and we have a dryer so your clothes should be dry within an hour or so. They're both in the bathroom, so if you like I can give you a set of clothes already." Sherlock offered.

"I'd like to take you up on that offer if you don't think he'll mind." Viktor said and got to his feet.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "As long as no one touches his favourite jumpers I think we're good." he said as he started to walk towards the bedroom, quickly getting out some sweat pants and a simple jumper John basically never wore, before he returned to Viktor and handed him the clothes, "The bathroom is the door on the left in the small corridor." he said with a smile.

"Thanks" Viktor said and returned the smile, before walking into the corridor Sherlock had pointed at and into the bathroom, his backpack over his shoulder. Meanwhile Scout had looked curiously up when his owner left the room, but stayed where he was since he had been told to. He rested his snout on Rosie's lap while he waited and licked his lips.

"Papa, look! I think Scout wants to sleep on my lap!" Rosie chirped, trying to keep her voice down so she wouldn't disturb Scout, but it was difficult because she was so excited! "That's sweet, bee. Then you make sure he doesn't feel lonely and I'll help Charlie with the pie, okay?"

 

\-------------------------

 

Glad to finally come into their warm flat again, John opened the door to their flat and was immediately welcomed by the smell of food. It even kind of smelled like Shepherd's pie, he noted with a smile and closed the door quietly behind himself before spotting Rosie sitting in front of the couch. And a dog sleeping on her lap. Oh, no... Well; that explained the food. Come on, people.. "Hey Rosie" He said after two seconds of shock followed by reluctant resignation. "Who's your new friend?"

"His name is Scout!" Rosie said in a quiet but noticeably excited voice. "But shhh.." she said, holding a finger to her lips, "He's sleeping!" she said, continuing to pet his head.

"I'll just be in the kitchen, sweetheart." John said, still finding it unbelievable that Sherlock had actually gone out and got them a dog (though he had to admit that Rosie and Scout looked adorable.. but that justified nothing in the long run) He didn't care if he was s rescue dog, he could've at /least/ sent a text. And he'd thought they'd talked about communication... "Okay, explain." He said, looking at Sherlock as if he was daring him to tell him there was also a pony in the cellar.

"It's not ours." Sherlock said with a chuckle, knowing exactly what John was on about. "It's Viktor's." he said as he got out plates and cutlery.

"Oh, so now we've got a time-travelling dog in the living room?" John asked with a raised eyebrow, not having expected anything like that happening again anytime soon. Or was Sherlock just being sarcastic? "Set that bribery aside for a minute and look at me, please."

  


Sherlock couldn't help but laugh at that, "Okay for the record, that's Charlie's bribery for you." he said and smirked, "Also, not that Viktor. We've met him at Tesco's today. Or rather in front of it, he's homeless, Rosie bought sandwiches for him from her pocket money and scared us to death when we couldn't find her. She had the idea to invite him over for dinner and.. it seemed like the least we can do. Basically we've all learnt a lesson from Rosie today."

"Oh... okay." John said, visibly relieved they didn't have to deal with a pet anytime soon. "And where is Viktor right now?"

"Showering." Sherlock said and shrugged, "He's a interesting guy, though. Ex Navy."

"Really?" John asked, wondering how a vet had ended up on the street. "Well, I'm already curious to meet him." He said and looked over to the bathroom. "So Rosie just got him a sandwich out of the blue?" He asked with a smile.

"Yeah.. she saw him on the street.. quite embarrassing for Charlie and me that we barely even noticed him at first." Sherlock said and sighed, "I'm really proud of her."

"Yeah, so am I." Charlie chimed in from across the room as she put glasses onto the table. "I think we all have good reason to." John nodded and glanced over to the living room.

"Can't believe you thought I'd get a dog without telling you anything about it." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Also.. I'd have better ways to bribe you than Shepard's pie." he said and walked over to peck John's lips, before he continued to set the table.

"Ew.. but keep it down, I live directly above you." Charlie commented from across the stove, which made John roll his eyes a bit a bit. "Yes, we will. And In my defence, I never actually accused you of anything."

"You didn't have to. Your expression did." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "You were totally thinking that we picked up a dog somewhere and I couldn't resist."

"Alright, I wouldn't put it past you given the right circumstances." John said. "And I don't even know anyone who owns a dog and would have a reason to come over."

"Well now you do. I allowed him to wash his clothes too and borrow some of you meanwhile, by the way, just so you're not too surprised if his clothes seem familiar to you." Sherlock said and chuckled while Rosie walked into the kitchen with Scout, "He's awake!" she said and smiled up at her daddy, "Now you can say hi to him."

"I'd love to." John said and crouched down in front of the dog who looked up at him with a curious expression, as if he was surprised another human had appeared. "Would you like to introduce us?" He asked his daughter with a smile, holding his hand out for the dog so he could already smell him and come closer.

Rosie nodded, "Okay, Scout this is my daddy, his name is John." she said and looked at her daddy, "Daddy this is Scout."

"Hello Scout, very nice to meet you." John chuckled as Scout had gone from sniffing his hand to holding his forehead against John's open palm so he would start stroking his head already. Obviously John picked up on this and was quick to oblige. "Am I doing it right?" He asked their little dog whisperer with a smile.

"Uh huh." Rosie said with a nod, "He'd show you if he wouldn't like it." she said and smiled, "I know that because I asked Viktor if I was doing it right and he told me that he would nudge me away or pull his head away if I was doing something he doesn't like."

"Ah, good thing I've got you to tell me." John said and gave her a smile, before standing up. "How about you go and wash your hands over the sink for dinner now? I don't think Scout is going to go anywhere"

"Alright!" Rosie said and gave Scout's head a last pat, before she walked over to the sink and stood on her stool again to wash her hands. "We have to wait for Viktor though." she said, reaching for a towel to dry her hands.

"That's true, we can't start eating without our guest." John said and went over to the sink to wash his hands too. "By the way, Charlie, what exactly do-" He began just before he heard the bsthroom door open. Quite relieved she didn't have to get out her PowerPoint right now, Charlie sat down with a smile.

"Oh hey there you are." Sherlock said and gave Viktor a smile, "Erm, this is the fiance I mentioned." he said with a small laugh, "John, this is Viktor."

"Hello Viktor, pleasure to meet you." John said with a smile and Viktor gained some respect for the other man after the firm handshake they shared. "Likewise. Thank you for letting me borrow these for the time being." He said, and John gave him a smile. "You're welcome. Please, sit down. We wouldn't want Charlie's delicious food to get cold." He said, which made her grin a bit; she had, after all, put a lot of effort into it.

Sherlock smiled as he put a cushion on Rosie's chair and lifted her on top of it, so she'd have a little height boost, "Viktor, Scout fell asleep _on my lap_!" she said excitedly, grinning widely as she looked over at Scout who seemed equally excited, though Sherlock assumed it was the smell of food getting him excited, rather than Rosie's story.

"He did?" Viktor asked with a chuckle. "Well, he doesn't just do that with anyone. " He said and Charlie helped herself to a portion of pie, since no one else was. After that she began to slowly fill Rosie's plate. "Say stop when it's enough"

Eyeing her plate, Rosie eventually called, "Stop!", before she looked at Scout with a frown and slid off her chair, "I'll be right back!" she said and dashed off towards the living room, returning a second later, carefully carrying Scout's bowl with food and water, "It's not fair if we have food but he doesn't." she stated, setting the bowl down.

Viktor smiled at that and Scout trotted over to the bowl, wagging his tail happily and expecting to get something of the food on the table too. Meanwhile Charlie had gone on to fill Viktor's plate too now that she was standing anyway, which only gave Scout more ground to look at him expectantly.

Lifting Rosie back onto her chair, Sherlock gave her a smile, "You can't just give him some of your food without asking Viktor first, okay?" he asked and Rosie frowned, "Why?" she asked and thought that giving him some food would be a nice thing to do, so she didn't know why she had to ask, "Because some human foods aren't healthy for dogs." Sherlock explained as he sat down, "For instance, you might think if you had chocolate, you might think it would be nice to share it with him, but chocolate is very unhealthy for a dog, but he would still eat it because he doesn't know. So we humans have to make sure dogs don't eat what's not good for them."

"That's right, but I do end up sharing the foods with him that we can both eat. But he can't eat for example onions." Viktor explained kindly to Rosie. Meanwhile John remembered that this was there first completely blood free meal in... months. Or was it? "Did you by any chance put tomatoes into-" He began to ask Charlie who shook her head. "No no, I used the traditional recipe."

The moment Rosie had finished her pie, she couldn't wait anymore, "Can we go with Scout for a walk now?" she asked, before even dropping her fork. She really really wanted to take Scout for a walk before Viktor would leave.

"No objections from my side." Viktor said with a John looked over at Sherlock before standing up. "I'll come with you then, if you then if it's that urgent. And if it's just to avoid the washing up." He teased and gave Sherlock a smirk, before turning to Charlie. "Are you joining us?" "Yup" She said and was already on her feet.

"It is urgent!" Rosie said and watched Scout, "He's looks ... wiggly. I think he has to pee." she said and looked at Viktor for confirmation.

"I should think so." Viktor's said with a nod and Charlie already tugged Rosie along to get her dressed. "Come on, let's get our jackets and boots."

Sherlock chuckled as the two of them disappeared into the living room to grab their things, before Rosie walked back into the kitchen, only one arm in her jacket yet, "Daddy, can you please pick up his poo poo when we're outside?" she asked, turning on her puppy eyes.

John raised an eyebrow at that, because she should know him well enough to guess the answer to that question. "I'm just accompanying you, sweetheart. The rest is your responsibility. Come here, there are plastic bags in that shelf right here." He told her, though not unkindly.

"Charlie! Daddy says you should take the plastic bags with you for Scouts poo poo!" Rosie called and Sherlock gave her a look, "Bee.. that's not exactly what daddy said." he said and Rosie pouted, "Okay..." she mumbled and scuffed over to the shelf to get the bags.

"Good girl" John said with a smile, before he pecked Sherlock's lips and walked out of the kitchen to fetch his own coat. Meanwhile Charlie put the leash into Scout's collar. "Thanks, Viktor." "No problem at all" With a smile she walked him out of the room. "Bye"

"See you later." Sherlock called after them and chuckled, still amazed at John's ability to ignore the puppy eyes. "I'm never sure if I should be mad or proud when she tries things like that." he said and chuckled as he turned back to Viktor.

A few moments later there was the sound of keys being stuffed into a coat pocket, before the door was closed. "Well, she's a young child. Take it as s sign she's doing well." Viktor said with a chuckle.

"You made their day letting them take Scout for a walk by the way." Sherlock said and stood up, collecting the empty plates.

"You made my day by inviting us in the first place." Viktor said and gave him a smile.

"Well I've got to admit you have to thank Rosie for that." Sherlock said and smiled, "It's easy to forget about people like you in every day life. So I'm glad Rosie taught us a lesson there." he said as he put the dishes in the sink.

"Yeah, she's got her heart in the right place." Viktor said with a nod. "So, do you think you'll end up getting a dog after all?" He asked with a chuckle. "By all means, you don't seem like the kind to say no to them."

"I'm generally not puppy eye resistant." Sherlock said and laughed, "And that goes for kids and actual puppies." he added with a smirk, "But we've got a lot stuff going on. Safety issues too.. Charlie was nearly abducted a while ago and we still haven't had any news on that, so we're not very eager to have her go out alone. So one of us would have to come along every time she walks the dog and we barely have time to accompany her everywhere as it is."

"Yes, your youngest mentioned something about possible reasons for that." Viktor said, remembering how openly she'd talked about her family's financial situation. "Maybe you want to have a talk with her about that, I mean, I'm still a stranger to her."

"Yeah it's just very difficult to make her understand why she isn't supposed to talk about things like that." Sherlock said and sighed, "Would you believe when we met her the people at the orphanage described her as introverted and quiet?" he asked, humming a laugh.

"Her?" Viktor asked with a raised eyebrow. "I've either caught her at the wrong time or they were talking about a different girl."

"No it's just.. they've kind of unintentionally treated her to be that way. They weren't taking her seriously, so she stopped saying things." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes, "I wish IQ tests were taken more frequently instead of just labelling some kids as weird. She surprised all of them with how cheery and open she was around John and me."

"Hm, good thing you adopted them." Viktor said with a smile. He didn't know to much about highly gifted children, less so that there were even IQ tests for children. Apparent they did serve a proper purpose.

"It's like everything else, if you're mocked about it, you try to hide it. Sometimes highly gifted kids even end up on special needs schools because they tend to become introverted or even just simply bored and people think they aren't smart enough for normal schools." Sherlock said and sighed, "Anyway I'm glad things turned out the way they did. But can I ask you something? I mean, I don't want to be intrusive or something, but you mentioned your niece.. so I'm guessing you have family.. how come they don't support you and help you get back on track?"

"Well, I've got a brother, Catherine's father, with who I haven't spoken to each other in years after a particularly bad argument." Viktor said and let out a sigh. "And how these things go, they only get messier with time. My nieve lives in New Zealand and is working hard to establish a life over there. I wouldn't ask anything like that of her."

"Well.. yeah I get that brothers can be a struggle." Sherlock said and gave him a little smile, "Anyway.. well, if you like.. I mean we're rather busy during the week, but you could come over on Saturday again. I'm sure Charlie and Rosie would love to see you and Scout again and John would probably like to get a glimpse into actual military life from someone who's been through it, rather than the it's all sunshine and roses and we're all friends propaganda you get from said military."

"Sure, I'd love to come over again." Viktor said with a smile. "And I'm not sure how similar the Royal navy and RAMC are, but I'll gladly talk to him." He said and frowned a bit. "Is he really that naive about it?"

"Well I wouldn't call it naive." Sherlock said and frowned a bit, "But.. I'd be lying if I'd say I wouldn't hope he'll change his mind about it at some point."

"Well, I won't talk him out of it, but I can tell him a bit about my experience there. And well, after." Viktor said, before standing up. "I think I'll just go and pack up my clothes. I'm sure your girls will be back soon."

"Yeah they should be dry now, if you got some more laundry, you can leave it here until Saturday then we can wash them along with our clothes." Sherlock said and stood up to start packing up some dog food and granola bars.

"Thanks, but that's it." Viktor said and went back into the bathroom where he'd left his heavy backpack."

Alright." Sherlock said as he filled a couple of tupper boxes with dog food (figuring that would be enough until saturday and it wouldn't make sense for him to carry more than necessary), once he was done with those he took out a plastic bag and put in the granola bars, water bottles. He left the dog treats out, probably better if Viktor would keep them in his pocket, since the water bottles were more important.

A few minutes later, Viktor returned into the kitchen to find packed food and water. Setting his backpack down, he asked. "This is for me?" He asked after a moment.

"Well.. yeah, I mean.. we don't have dog." Sherlock said with a small smile, "I didn't pack up all we got so you don't have to carry all of it, but it's should be enough to tide the both of you over until Saturday. Then you can take the rest." he said and grabbed the pack of teeth cleaning dog treats, "Oh and the credit for those goes to Rosie. She figured it's important for dogs to clean their teeth too." he said with a chuckle.

"Well, she's right. I'll certainly give her my thanks." Viktor said with a smile, before beginning to fill his backpack.

Sherlock smiled a little, before turning to the door when he heard footsteps on the stairs along with giggles, before the door opened, "Papa! I did it! I picked up Scouts poo poo and it wasn't even as icky as I thought!" she said as she basically hopped into the room. Well.. so much for that dampening her wish to get a dog.

Charlie ans John followed behind, Charlie still holding onto the leash; well, until she was in the kitchen and saw Viktor was already putting on his jacket and backpack, at which point she also gave him Scout. "Thanks again, for letting us walk him." Viktor chuckled a bit at that. "Don't worry about it."

"Did you give Viktor the teeth brush treats?" Rosie asked and Sherlock chuckled, "As if I'd forget," he said lifting Rosie up on his arm.

"I'm sure he'll like shinier teeth." Viktor told her with a chuckle, before saying. "I'll be on my way then. I had a very nice evening." He said and John stepped towards the living room. "I'll just bring you to the door."

"Bye Viktor! Bye Scout!" Rosie said, waving after him until he was out of sight, "Right then.. how about we go wash your hands? And I'm sure you'd like some tomato juice." he said as he carried her over to the kitchen. Sherlock said.

  



	111. Chapter 111

After they'd said goodbye, John returned into the flat and walked into the kitchen. "Oh, could you pour me a glass too, I'm starving. Don't you want some juice too?" He asked Charlie, who shrugged. "I chugged down like half a pint when Viktor was still in the living room, so I'm good."

"Oh don't do that." Sherlock said and laughed, "Seriously, do not try to down loads of juice in advance because you won't get to drink the whole day. I did that when John introduced me to his parents. Didn't go down so well." he said with a laugh as he got out three glasses.

"Yeah, I remember, you looked at all green when you came back into the cab." John said and shook his head with a snort. "How did that go by the way? When you met Emma and David, I mean."

"Well it was an interesting day to be sure." Sherlock said and chuckled, "But that's a story for another time." he said as he handed Rosie her glass, "You want to go watch some cartoons before going to bed?" he asked and Rosie nodded happily, standing up and carrying her glass over to the living room, while she was eagerly nipping on it every few steps. "Shouldn't you explain why you made bribe pie today?" he asked, once Rosie was out of the room.

"Yeah, I'm already anxious to hear it." John said and sat down at the table, when Charlie motioned for them to sit down. "So, okay... as you know, I'm apparently in danger" She began, figuring that was her most convincing argument. "Which is why you've taken us in in the first place, I guess." She said with a frown, and John was just holding himself back from asking if this was about the navel piercing again. "And I've talked with Ron and apparently security's important to them zo no one can just walk inside like in the orphanage... And they've got a lot of extracurriculars. Oh and it's right around the corner, Ron has shown me." She said, hoping this was somewhat convincing, and looked over at Sherlock for some back-up.

"She's made a power point." Sherlock added helpfully, giving John a smile, "And some extra graphs for me." he chuckled.

John chuckled a bit at that. "Well, you've definitely learned how to play us right." He said and Charlie smirked a little, though she was still looking at him pleadingly. "Is that a yes?" "Are you absolutely sure you want to change schools?" "Yes, absolutely. And not just because Ron. And I know I can't just change back to my old school." She added quickly, remembering her conversation with Sherlock. John smiled a bit at that. "Care to show me the presentation?" He asked with a smile and Charlie darted off with a grin to get her laptop. They could see how much thought she'd put into all of this. "Back in a sec!"

"I still think that Ron is a major part of this though." Sherlock said once Charlie was out of earshot, giving John a smile, "But.. the fact that the school has security people does sound good."

"True. And she really is head over heels with him, isn't she?" John said with a chuckle, before adding. "But we should drop her off at that school instead of letting her walk. Even if it's just a few blocks, a routine like that would defy the whole security aspect."

"Well it is in the direction I drive to the orphanage anyway, so I can still drop her off there." Sherlock said, it might feel stupid to drive her with that short a distance, but that way it would work best with their schedules.

"Well, that's that then. I mean, I don't have any objections and neither do you, do you?" John said and peered over into the living room. "But let's not tell her immediately, I think she's quite keen on convincing me."

Sherlock chuckled at that, "Yeah she is, you know I didn't even need to tell her to make that power point. I mean, I did, but she had already made it." he said with a roll of his eyes, "I'm becoming predictable."

"I think we just know you a lot better at this point. And I really can't see how that's a bad thing." John said and pecked his cheek. "And by all means, you're still surprising and resourceful." He said, hearing footsteps hurry down the stairs.

Sherlock smiled at that, "So.. how long until we tell her that we're alright with it?" he asked with a smirk. "20 minutes more?"

"Sounds fair." John chuckled just before Charlie set the laptop down in front of them. "Soo.."She began, before the first flow chart popped up. **"Mood development in the household after a school change"**

After 20 minutes had passed and Charlie was still not done with her presentation (she seemed to be really eager for this given the length and detail of this power point), Sherlock cleared his throat, "Alright, I don't know about John, but I've heard enough." he said and gave John a smirk, "You want to tell her, or should I?"

"Tell me what?" Charlie asked. Sherlock wouldn't smirk if John was gonna say no, right? They wouldn't let her show them the whole presentation just for nothing, right? Right?? "Right, I think I'll tell her so I get to be the one who says yes first once in a while" He said with a chuckle and Charlie beamed. "So I get to change to Ron's school?"

"Yes." Sherlock said and chuckled at her expression, "But.. just how long is this presentation? Were you hoping that we'd eventually say yes around midnight just to get to go to bed?" he asked jokingly.

Charlie cleared her throat; was she really that predictable? "It's enough to fill almost a period in school, given we watch the introductory video on the school's homepage. .And I was really just aiming for past Rosie's bedtime.."

Sherlock chuckled at that, "You know this is one of the times, I don't know if I should be appalled at or proud of your sneakiness." he said and smiled at her.

Charlie grinned, because that was the best kind of praise. Kind of like when they'd broken into Mrs. Hope's office twice. "Having been bribed like that, I'll have to go with proud here." John said with a chuckle.

"Oh speaking of the pie, I invited Viktor over again for Saturday, I hope that's alright with you two. There was no way he could take all the dog food with him at once." Sherlock said as he stood up to empty and rinse the dog bowl.

"That's fine with me" Charlie said from the table and John rose to his feet. "Same with me, I quite liked him. I'll bring Rosie to bed now, though. It really has gotten a bit late." He said, walking back into the living room.

"Okay, Charlie and I will come up in a moment to say goodnight." Sherlock said as he turned on the faucet.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Later that evening, when everybody had retired to their bedrooms, John pulled his shirt over his head, appreciating the comfortable silence. When he finally sunk into bed, he let out a contented sigh and rolled lazily on to his side to face Sherlock; or spoon him , alternatively, if he'd already fallen asleep.

"Finally." Sherlock murmured and shuffled up closer to John instantly, smiling at him. "You've taken your time in the bathroom, were you hoping I'm asleep already?" he asked with a chuckle.

"No, no just taking some time to think." John said with a chuckle and reached out to brush his thumb over Sherlock's cheek.

"About Charlie's new school?" Sherlock asked, leaning a bit into John's touch, they really didn't have enough alone time, then again, there was nothing they could do about it right now. Leaving the girls with their family for a few days might be safe, but they probably both wouldn't feel good about it.

"That would've been a good transition to talk about that new development, wouldn't it?" John said and began to run his fingers through Sherlock's curls. "No, I think, I was actually just enjoying not having to think much at all for a bit." The corner of his mouth quirked and he looked at Sherlock for a moment as if he were star-gazing at his eyes (he could so easily get lost in those, before going on. "But yes, I'm proud that she takes initiative like that. Even if it's verging on being outright manipulative." He smirked a bit.

"You have to admit feeding us dry facts for nearly an hour would have probably made us crack eventually if didn't know her that well." Sherlock said and chuckled, "My personal favourite was her graph about how difficult and moody she'd become if we wouldn't say yes."

"Yes, today Charlie has taught us a quite elegant way to make threats." John said with a chuckle. "I wonder how she's going to orchestrate those talks in just a few years time."

"Well, actually it just makes me feel more at ease about her and Ron." Sherlock said and chuckled, "She's definitely the boss there too." he said with a smile.

"Yeah, true." John agreed. "They're both so bright though. It's a shame I wasn't in there in the supermarket too."

"Oh don't worry, what you actually missed was once again panicking about Rosie disappearing." Sherlock said and sighed, "She actually didn't completely pay the sandwiches.. she didn't have enough pocket money so she wrote the cashier a note that she would come back on monday and pay the rest and left all her money on the counter, before she just walked out of the shop."

"Aw, that's sweet. Actually, there's nothing about that story that doesn't make me proud." John said with a smile. "Except for the running off bit; and we've got to talk to her about stranger danger." He said and shook his head with a sigh. "You know, I don't doubt for a second that she would've gone back there on Monday."

"Me neither." Sherlock said and chuckled, before giving a small sigh, "Though you might be right about us having to talk to her, not only about the running off, Viktor wasn't specific, but I mentioned that Charlie was nearly kidnapped a while ago, no details don't worry, but Viktor told me that Rosie had mentioned a possible reason for it.. that does sound like she was quite open about our financial situation.. and that's definitely a problem, we don't need more reasons for them to be in danger."

John sighed. "No, we really don't. I didn't even really think about the fact she knows about our financial situation in the first place." He said, though, despite the fact close to a year had passed, it still felt a little odd to call it 'their' money. "Since we can't keep all our secrets hidden from her, we reallt have to talk about boundaries."

"Well at least the fact that Viktor let me know about that makes me feel better about him." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "I'm almost thinking about hiring him for security, he might be a little rusty, but he still looks like he could still kick major ass.." he said with a smirk, "I was thinking about asking him about changing his.. I don't know.. area? It would be nice if he would be around here mainly, Mycroft's men are well enough, but just someone who doesn't attract attention would be good to have around."

"Yeah, that really can't hurt. But I'd like to talk to him a couple more times before hiring him is on the table." John said with a chuckle, brushing some loose strands of hair out of Sherlock's face.

"Well anyway, not that I don't appreciate Ron getting beat up to save Charlie, but I'd really like to have more between Charlie and a kidnapper than a fourteen year old artist." Sherlock said with a little smile.

"A fourteen-year old flanker." John corrected with a smirk. "But yes, the point still stands. And besides, I genuinely wouldn't appreciate Ron getting beat up anymore because of this. It's really not responsibility to protect her like that and I genuinely don't want him thinking it is."

"But it is good that he doesn't hesitate to do so." Sherlock said and leant in to peck John's lips, "I agree that it isn't his responsibility, but knowing that he reacts like that in an extreme situation does make me feel better."

"Yeah, that's true." John said and let out a sigh. "Anyway, I haven't even asked you how your morning at the orphanage was." He said, since he was interested in how his day without the girls had been.

"As usual, except everyone in your team couldn't stop fawning over their first practice yesterday." Sherlock said and chuckled, "Your their new hero." he said with a grin.

John smirked at that. "Well, it was a lot of fun yesterday. I'm glad they agree." He said, but left it at that; Sherlock didn't need to know just how pleased he was it had gone that well. Hopefully they kept at it.

"Don't be so modest." Sherlock said and chuckled, "I've always wanted to date the hottest guy in school." he said with a laugh.

John chuckled a bit and pecked his lips. "I hope none of the actual students agree. But good that you mention it, we need to go on another date sometime. Just the two of us."

"That sounds great.." Sherlock said and smiled, "I'm just not sure where to leave Charlie and Rosie for the evening.. I mean, I know we can't do more to protect them than mum and Paul can, or David and Emma.. but still."

"We could ask Harry and Clara; they're two vampires and they've never babysat them on their own. If anything a few hours with them would be so unusual, they'd be momentarily safer." John reasoned. During the day he usually didn't get to be close to or protect either of them in contrast to Sherlock; he's had to try and make piece with the thought that even though he was there, Sherlock could be overwhelmed relatively easy with the right people. A night out wasn't all that different, though of course he trusted Sherlock most with them.

Sherlock nodded, "True, the safety of the building and the fact that it's the top floor makes it perfect actually." he said, running his hand over John's chest. "Maybe it'd even be safe enough for them to stay overnight." he said, though he wasn't really sure how to feel about that, but dreaming was allowed, wasn't it.

"Mmh, we can see and ask them if they're alright with babysitting for the first time." John said, humming a bit at the touch.

Sherlock smiled at that, "A night without interruptions and without being so exhausted from the day that we fall asleep instantly... that does sound really, really good." he said with a smirk. "How about Friday? Having them spontaneously stay somewhere else increases their safety too."

"Friday it is." John smiled and pulled him into a slow kiss (because of his passion, obviously, not tiredness or anything like that.)

"Hm. Friday." Sherlock murmured against John's lips, wrapping his leg around him.

John almost yawned into the kiss but held hims- nope, he ended up yawning against Sherlock's lips. Good thing his heavy eyelids blocked Sherlock's expression. As a gesture of good will, he ran a hand up Sherlock's back.

Sherlock chuckled lightly at the yawn, "Charming." he murmured, biting back a sigh, but cuddled up against John so that John was spooning him, "Friday." he repeated.

John pulled Sherlock closer towards himself, his hand resting on Sherlock's sternum. Shuffling a bit, his head came to rest just behind his fiancé's "Love you."

"I love you too." Sherlock murmured and yawned himself, he wasn't much more awake than John if he was honest.


	112. Chapter 112

**T** he following Friday, the four of them drove through London to have the girls stay at Clara and Harry's flat that night. John was a bit uneasy about not having them near him for a while, but then again reason told him that fear was unfounded. Charlie on the other hand was excited to see a penthouse for the first time. And she really liked Clara and Harry; she doubted they were particularly strict. "So what are you gonna do now? Watch a film again?"

Sherlock smiled at that, "Probably yes. We'll check if there's something interesting on, if not, we'll just go to for dinner somewhere." he said and glanced over at John with a smirk.

"You'll only end up going to Angelo's anyway." Charlie said with a laugh and John hid his smirk from the girls. "Well, we don't/always/ go there, but I guess we often end up doing the same thing"

"Yeah.. that we do." Sherlock said, biting back another smirk as he pulled up in front of the massive building Clara and Harry lived in. "There we are."

"Whoa, that's huge." Charlie said and gaped a bit. "You must be able to look over the whole district up there." She said and unbuckled her seatbelt. "Wake up, Rosie, where there."

Blinking her eyes open, Rosie rubbed at her left eye, "I wasn't sleeping." she said and looked out of the car window. "Whoa is that where Aunt Clara and aunt Harry live?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Yes, they live right up there at the very top." John said with a smile. "Let's go then, shall we." He said and unbuckled his seatbelt. "Both of you, get out on Rosie's side, yeah?" "Kay"

"Do we have to walk all the way up, daddy?" Rosie asked as Sherlock walked around the car to get Charlie's and Rosie's overnight bags out of the boot.

"Oh no, they've got a lift that goes straight into their living room." John said and opened the car door.

" _Really_?!" Rosie asked and gaped a little, "Can we get one too?" she asked and Sherlock chuckled, handing her her bee backpack, "Well, I really don't think we've got enough space for one in our living room."

"And then we wouldn't even see Mrs. Hudson if we walked inside." Charlie comnented.b

"Then I don't want an elevator in the living room." Rosie said as she put on her backpack, holding out her hand for one of her family to take it, it was a new rule that she had to hold one of their hands on the street now, daddy and papa had told her yesterday.

John took her hand, glad she was sticking to the new rule and walked with her towards the next zebra crossing. "Yeah, me neither. But maybe when Mrs. Hudson's older she'll install one of those chair-stair lift thingies." Charlie said with a chuckle, having put on her backpack and following walking next to them.

"Well I'll doubt she'll be needing one of them anytime soon." Sherlock said with a chuckle as he followed John and Rosie, making sure to have an eye on Charlie, Mrs Hudson wouldn't get older after all. Well at least not physically.

"Oh right" Charlie said; she'd only just got her official vampire-talk in school (which was just as pointless as sex-ed because at this point almost everyone had a hunch that something was up) and she'd known about it for years prior to that, but it was still weird to think people didn't age; she was probably too young to hqve actually noticed that in adults. "Bit speaking of, where is she at the moment?"

"She and Mrs Turner are having a girls night out." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "I'm still considering to send out a warning to all men in the area." he joked.

John snorted at that and walked across the street. "I noticed she was dating Mr. Chatterjee four months ago." Charlie said casually, trying to show off her deduction skills a bit. "Do you know if they're still seeing each other?"

"I think it's more an on and off thing with them." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Good eye though." he said, giving Charlie a smile.

Charlie smirked at that. "Thanks" Once they were on the other side of the road Charlie took Rosie's hand and walked with her towards the building and lifted her up to be able to read the names on the bell. "Can you figure out where we have to ring?"

"Woah how many people live here?" Rosie asked, looking at all the names, grinning when she spotted Harry's and Clara's names. "There, that one!" she announced proudly.

"Yeah, brilliant." Charlie said with a grin. "Go ahead and ring the doorbell if you want to." John said with a chuckle.

Rosie grinned, pressing the little silver button next to the sign with Harry's and Clara's names.

Charlie kissed the top of Rosie's head and let her down, pushing the door open when a few seconds later they were buzzed in.

"Can you get me spaghetti with meatballs from Angelo's if you go there?" Rosie asked as they all walked into the building and over to the elevator, "For tomorrow?" she asked and Sherlock hesitated for a moment, because really.. if things were going his way, they would not set a foot outside all night. "Well, we can get spaghetti on the way home tomorrow after we pick you up." he offered and Rosie jumped on it, "Okay!" she chirped, watching all the buttons in the elevator.

Charlie proceeded to push the top button (which was more satisfying than she'd care to admit, plus: Rosie had already rung the bell and she literally couldn't reach the top buttons). "Have Clara and Harry told you if they had a plan for tonight or anything?" She asked after a moment.

"Not that I know of." Sherlock said and looked at John, who had been the one calling them, "Did they mention something?" he asked.

"They did ask me about your favourite pizza toppings so they could get them, but I guess that could mean a whole lot of things.." John said with a chuckle, which made grin a bit, before he continued to tease. "But of /course/ I said spinach, broccoli and goat cheese"

"Ew! Did you really?" Rosie asked and looked up at John with wide eyes while Sherlock tried very hard not to laugh.

  


"No, don't worry, I'm just kidding. I wouldn't go that far." John said and chuckled. "You still like ham and pineapple, right?"

Rosie nodded with a relieved smile, "Yeah." she said and frowned, "But I won't eat it if Charlie gets spinach broccoli and goat cheese. I'll eat that too then."

"Aw.. I love you too." Charlie said and wrapped an arm around her. "But you won't make me eat that either, will you?" She asked after a moment, just to be sure.. "No, it's alright; I said you like mushrooms." John said with a bit of a laugh and Charlie gave an appreciative nod.

  


"I don't think mushrooms are better than goat cheese.." Rosie pondered as the elevator doors opened and was quickly distracted then, "It really does lead into their living room!" she gasped.

"Cool..." Charlie said and walked inside after John, taking Rosie's hand. The one thing about the flat that was amazing was the large window front. The view was even /better/ th an she'd thought... "Oh, I think we've got guests" Clara said from the kitchen and walked to the entryway. "Hello, nice ti have you all over."

"Hi Clara! Hi Harry!" Rosie said and looked around with big eyes, "Hey little one." Harry said and gave Rosie a smile, "And hey not so little one." he said with a wink to Charlie, "I've heard you've got yourself a brave knight.. I want to hear all about him." she said, really curious about this Ron guy John had told her about a while ago.

Charlie grinned at that, happy to talk to another woman about boys. This was gonna be great. "Yeah, definitely, he's amazing!" "You can put your bags down in the living room. We've already made your makeshift beds." Clara said with a smile. They were rather piles of blankets and pillows on the fluffy carpet than actual beds, but they should do.

"Cool!" Rosie said and walked over to their beds, "It's like camping!" she said and chuckled, "Can we roast marshmallows in the fireplace?" she asked hopefully and Harry laughed, "I don't know." she said and pointed in the direction of the kitchen, "Maybe you should go and look through the shopping bags in the kitchen if we brought some." she said and Rosie nodded happily, "Okay! Charlie, come!" she said, dropping her backpack, before taking Charlie's hand and pulling her into the direction Harry had gestured to.

Charlie followed her sister with a giggle, tossing her backpack onto one of the beds. "Hey Clara, hey Harry" John smiled and pulled his sister into a Watson-hug. "Thanks for looking after them tonight."

"You're welcome." Harry said and chuckled a little, "Was about time that we get to know our nieces properly anyway." she said with a smile, "So any rules you're very strict about? Or are we free to be the cool aunts who let most things slide?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Just don't let them watch horror films or anything like that." John said with a smile. "Just a fair warning, Rosie can't sleep for about two hours after she's had sweets."

"Noted." Harry said with and laughed as Rosie triumphantly returned with a large bag of marshmallows, holding it up above her head,"Found them!" she announced with a grin.

Charlie followed behind, pleased to have found absolutely no traces of goat cheese or any other lethal substances. "We could make smores. You seem to have everything there for that." Charlie said and Clara frowned a bit. "Smore what? We actually thought we could have pizza tonight."

"Smores are two crackers with chocolate and a roasted marshmallow inbetween, so more a dessert." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "The things you learn when you have children." he added with a grin.

"Ah, I see. We can definitely do that." Clara told Charlie with a smile ("Yass!"), before remsmbering. "Oh la, do you remember how my father would sometimes buy chocolate and I'd sneak some over to you and we'd melt in on the oven?" Clara said with a snicker; she still found that no modern chocolate came close to the taste of their old burnt one.

Sherlock chuckled a little, "Oh yeah, but would you maybe not give the girls any ideas?" he joked, playfully moving to cover Charlie's ears with his hands.

"Hey!" Charlie laughed and ducked away under his hands. "Just to be clear, I've never set the kitchen on fire once." She said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, grinning a bit. John snorted a bit. "Yeah, I guess you're technically right." "And that's the best kind of right." She commented with a smirk.

"Well to be fair, Charlie probably is the best chef in the flat." Sherlock said with a smile, "But still.. maybe don't try to melt chocolate on your own, thank you very much."

"Does it like actually burn?" Charlie asked curiously and Clara nodded with a laugh. "It does if you go about ut the wrong way, I really can't recommend it. It's a nightmare to get rid of the smell." She said with a chuckle. "Anyway, you two probably want to get going soon." Clara said and winked at her little cousin.

"Want to get rid of us so you can get this party started?" Sherlock asked with a smirk, before turning to John, "But we should probably head off.. wouldn't want to be late at the cinema." he said, giving his fiance a smile.

John suppressed a smirk. "True, wouldn't want the film to start without us." "But don't go to the new Avengers film just yet, maybe we can watch that together" Charlie said and John chuckled a bit. "Duly noted. In the meantime behave yourselves." He said with a smile. "Kay"

"See you two tomorrow then." Sherlock said with a smile, before turning back to the elevator to call it already.

"Bye, have fun!" Charlie said with a smile and John took Sherlock's hand to walk with him outside. "You too. Sleep well."

Sherlock smiled as he entered the elevator, letting out a breath when the doors had closed, "I think I need a moment to realise that we nearly have 24 hours to ourselves now." he said with a chuckle.

John just grinned and pulled Sherlock into a kiss, because this moment was practically begging for a snogstop. They hadn't had nearly this much time since... June? And that had only been half a day. It may have sounded ridiculous, but John had /missed/ having Sherlock all to himself.

Sherlock was just a little startled, but within a second, melted into John's embrace, eventually looking up when he heard the ding of the elelvator when it arrived downstairs, "Wanna drive up and down again one more time?" he asked with a chuckle.

"I'd think about it, if we didn't end up in Clara and Harry's living room again." John chuckled and took Sherlock's hand, leading him outside. "But I can't wait to drive home again to watch a film." He said with a smirk.

"Oh yes, that's a film I would not want to miss." Sherlock said as he walked towards the car with John, "Better tell me now if you need to stop somewhere, supermarket, drugstore.. whatever, but until tomorrow afternoon, I will not leave the flat until tomorrow afternoon, and neither will you for that matter." he said and chuckled.

"So as a matter of prudence, I've already bought everything we need." John said with a chuckle. "Wouldn't want to waste our time in a queue."

"Good thinking." Sherlock said and stole himself another kiss, before he walked around the car to get in.

  


Several hours later, John rolled off Sherlock and gave him a contented smile. It was great to just lie there and not have to worry about anyone (not even Mrs. Hudson) coming in. "You're amazing" He said and let out a sigh.

Sherlock smiled tiredly at that, rolling on his side to look at John, "So are you.." he mumured, cuddling up against his fiance, before giving a small chuckle, "You think we'll make it to the bedroom at some point today?" he asked with a laugh, it was a valid question, given that they were now lying on the carpet in front of the sofa and the first round had taken place at the foot of the stairs, they hadn't even made it up to flat (good thing John had left the drugstore bag in the boot of the car...).

John chuckled at that and wrapped an arm around Sherlock's back. "Not sure if I can manage a walk that long without getting distracted." He said with a smirk and placed kiss in the crook of Sherlock's neck. "But I'm sure we'll get there eventually."

"Well if we stop by at the kitchen we should pause for a glass of blood." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Pretty sure we need a lot of energy for the rest of the night."

"Good idea." John said and sighed. "A whole interruption-free night... Be warned I'm not planning to let you sleep a lot.:

"Don't worry, I wasn't planning to sleep a lot in the first place." Sherlock said and smirked as he leant in for another kiss.

When they had finally made to the bedroom after the sixth (or as Bill Clinton would count - fifth) round, Sherlock was lying flat on his back on the bed, too exhausted to move, but still too awake to sleep just yet, "We need a plan what to do with the girls in our wedding night by the way." he said, only now realising that he'd much rather make that a night like this one, instead of having both girls between them while they read the next Harry Potter book to Rosie together..

John rolled onto his side (okay, turned his head) to look at Sherlock. "Yeah, as much as I love them, I'd rather share our bed with only you that night." He said with a weak chuckle. "If it goes well tonight we could ask Harry and Clara again." He suggested atter a mom ent; ugh, they still had so much to plan.

  


"That sounds like a reasonable plan.." Sherlock said and lazily rolled over to rest his head on John's chest, "That only leaves a gazillion other things to plan then." he said with a chuckle, "We should really start to work on that."

"I mean, we've already got the girls' dresses, so at least we've got something." John said with a wry smiled and carded a hand through Sherlock's hair. "Do we want a ceremony in church by the way? Hang on, are you even a Christian?" He asked after a moment; not that it mattered, it was just interesting how they'd apparently never talked about that before.

"I grew up in the regency era, obviously I'm a christian." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "Protestant." he added with a roll of his eyes, "Not that anyone had much of a choice on that matter back then."

"Well, yeah, but I'm guessing you left church at some point without reentering it. I was raised Roman Catholic for that matter." John commented. "Good thing we're getting married these days."

"What being a vampire makes me a heathen?" Sherlock asked with a laugh, "Well to be honest, there's no proof for or against the existence of a higher power." he said and shrugged, "I am in fact still a member of the church though."

"Really? Well, that makes two of us." John said before asking. "So do we want a church wedding? According to Harry a lot of priests wouldn't do it." He said, and really he couldn't be bothered with people like that when thinking about their wedding.

"Then we'll find someone who does." Sherlock said and shrugged, "This is going to be my first and only wedding.. might as well go all the way now that we can. And it shouldn't be hard to find someone to do it online." he said with a smile.

"If that's what you want, I'll be the last person to object. Just why would we want a priest to wed us over Skype?" John asked with a frown (blame it on Sherlock's saliva). "But I appreciate that you didn't just leave it at 'first wedding'."

"Find a person online who will do it for us in real life.." Sherlock said with a chuckle, leaning up to peck John's lips.

"Oh, right, that makes more sense." John chuckled and pulled the duvet over both of them. "Still can't believe we're getting married.." He smiled and brushed his thumb over Sherlock's ring.

"Better start believing it, because I'm not letting you off that particular hook." Sherlock said with a chuckle, "You're in for life." he said with a smirk.

"And a long life at that." John said and kissed the top of his head. "I don't know how it is for you, but to me it doesn't feel daunting, making a commitment like that. I mean, it feels like it should, but it somehow isn't. And I'm way past the point where it just hasn't dawned on me that this is a big deal." He said and look at the ceiling. "I'm just... happy to make it official and celebrate with our family."

"Me too." Sherlock murmured, glancing up at John, "You know.. I just realised that this will only be the first of many weddings.." he said with a laugh. "We will eventually have to do it again, if we want to keep it official." he said and frowned, despite the many times he had gotten a new identity he had never thought about that before. "Well only when we want to pass ourselves off as underage, that is.. if we pretend to be older than 18 we can simply fake marriage papers along with the rest."

"Not our only wedding after all then." John chuckled. "I'm pretty sure we'll figure something out." He said with a smile. "But I can't get used to the idea that Rosie will eventually look our age."

Sherlock chuckled, "It's the one that counts though." he said and frowned at John's remark about Rosie. "Yeah.. it's weird to think about it, but I think all parents find the idea weird that their young kids will eventually be adults.. it's a tad weirder to know that we'll look the same age as her, but in general, it's the same thing."

"She might even be a year or two older than you, biologically speaking I mean." John said and shook his head; he'd wrap his head around that one when the time came. For now he closed his eyes, perfectly contented right now.

  


"I think every parent has a hard time to imagine that their kids will be adults eventually." Sherlock said and chuckled, "It's a bit weirder for us since we'll all look about the same age, but in general, I think it's the same thing." he said and paused for a moment, "You know..." he began after a moment, "We could hire Viktor as security on our wedding.. like an undercover guest, he could sit on the same table with Charlie and Rosie.. having an eye on them.."

"Yeah, I think that's generally a good idea. I'd just like to have met him more than twice counting tomorrow before we invite him to our wedding." John said, figuring that was more than reasonable, given that it was still almost half a year until then.

"True, but having that idea in the back of our mind will probably make us focus more on qualities that would make him a good security or not." Sherlock said, pulling the blanket a bit higher up over his shoulders.

"Definitely." John nodded and trailed his fingertips lightly over Sherlock's back. "How about we make the wedding invitations sometime in November?'

"Sounds good." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "We should probably go for human food only though... just so there won't be any .. complications.. though maybe we should have a small room in the back with multiple keys which we'll hand out to the vampire guests?" he asked and laughed, "And people think different nationalities are complicated when it comes to wedding planning.."

"Who are we gonna invite anyway? Unless we invite the orphanage and some of my friends, we'll have pretty much the same constellation as on Christmas." He said, before asking. "I know none of your friends, do I?" John was busy looking after their private life and maintaining somewhat of a social life, so he hadn't really paid attention to who Sherlock went out with; well, except for the ones he already knew.

"Well you know Jane.." Sherlock said and frowned, "Apart from her I don't really have friends.. I mean, there is Richard and Edgar, but well Richard is your grandfather and Edgar.. as I said, he's a loner, he only writes a letter every 50 years or so."

"I mean, there's still Jim, no erm.. Scott? And his brother." John said, though really, he had half-expected an answer like that; about a year ago he would've said he was Sherlock's only friend. He actually pretty relieved he hadn't been that ignorant of his fiancé's life. And Sherlock had become quite the social butterfly over the past year in contrast to how things had been. "I mean, if you'd rather go on like a pub crawl or a uni party with me and some of my mates instead of having wild sex for several hours when the girls are out, we could definitely do that."

"I'll take the wild sex for several hours, thank you very much." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, "If you want to make me go out with you and your friends, don't make sex with you an alternative option."

John grinned at that, quite flattered. "Just a suggestion in case you wanted to get out of the flat, or the usual routine for that matter. I mean, we obviously can't go out at the same time without a babysitter, but if one of us does, it's usually me. In fact, I'm the one that's regularly out of the flat and the orphanage." He commented; because when it came down to it, he didn't want Sherlock to feel caged in or so.

"You're worried I feel trapped or something?" Sherlock asked with a frown, "I don't, just so you know. I like the way things are right now, apart from the fact that the girls are still in danger, obviously." he said and smiled, "But.. interestingly, I don't mind being the one that home most of the time. Never been much into going out to pubs or parties anyway."

"Okay, good." John with a sigh. "I don't want you to feel neglected or like I'm pushing the child-care duties onto you."

"I don't." Sherlock said and smiled at John, "So don't worry about it. I'll definitely tell you if I feel like I need more time for myself. Though really at the moment, I'd be quite satisfied with more time alone with you."

"Me too." John said and pecked Sherlock's lips. "Didn't we say something about a regular date night at one point?"

"Yeah I think that was some time before the near kidnap.." Sherlock said with a sigh, it really didn't seem like they could safely leave the kids with a babysitter on a regular basis at this point.

"You know, it would be nice if this network would at least take the Saturdays off." John commented . It was a bit ironic how they could only have this Friday for themselves exactly because the planning had been this spontaneous.

"Yeah, we should send them a memo about their office hours." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes, before smiling, "Okay. Enough talk about those guys now. I'd much rather use the time we have to focus on us. Or.. well on sleep for that matter.." he said and yawned as if on command.

"Good idea." John said and ran a hand through Sherlock's hair, yawning too. "Good night."


	113. Chapter 113

The next morning played out mostly like that night before (except for the fact that they spent hours around in bed, rather than rolling around in bed for hours on the way to it). After picking up the girls from Harry and Clara it was soon time for Viktor and Scout to come over and despite his mourning for their alone time, he was glad to have the girls around again. The evening passed mostly uneventful, apart from a small complication that from this day on shall be remembered as the tomato sauce meatball debacle carried out by Rosie and Scout and which resulted in a broken plate and the need to bathe both of them. Eventually, though, both Rosie and Charlie had gone to bed and Scout was contentedly munching on one of the tooth care treats when Sherlock and John sat together with Viktor in the living room, all of them having a glass of wine.

Once the two girls had gone to bed, Viktor remembered the little bug in his coat pocket. Right, now was probably the best time to tell them anyway. "But on a different note" he began after a moment and John looked at him curiously. "Some girl on the street approached me the other day and wanted to pay me to leave a microphone in your flat."

Sherlock nearly choked on his wine at that, "I'm sorry what?" he asked after a minute of violent coughing. "What.. girl?" he asked with a frown, looking at over at John.

To say John was shocked would've been an understatement. Quite numbly, he patted Sherlock's back until he stopped coughing. "Bit younger than you two, shoulder-long blondish hair, two nose piercings, roughly 5ft7 with her shoes." Viktor recounted, thankfully gifted with an impeccable memory. "Hang on, I've got to get something." John said and stood up to get something from their bookshelf. "I said yes, of course" Viktor said and fumbled in his pocket for the device.

Sherlock was just a little taken aback when Viktor said he had accepted the offer, though that lasted only a second until he realised the beauty of that idea, though he decided to wait to discuss anything until John returned with the drawing (which Sherlock was sure he was going to get, he had thought of the exact same thing when Viktor had described her), wanting to know if they were dealing with the same person again.

"Here it is." Viktor said after a moment and put the still-turned-off microphone onto the coffee table. When John came back into the sitting room and handed Viktor Ron's drawing to identify her, he took a few seconds to notice the small thing on the table and gave Sherlock a shocked look. "Yes, that's her. I never forget a face. You already know her then?"

"Well I suppose Charlie's boyfriend who she beat up when he protected Charlie from being taken by her is slightly better acquainted with her we only saw her backside when she ran off." Sherlock said, eyeing the bug on the table, wondering how this would have played out if they'd invited someone with a less tight moral code over "I told you about the kidnap attempt.. that's her, that's the one who tried to take her."

"Damn, I wouldn't have let her go if I had known that." Viktor said and now John slowly cottoned onto why he had accepted her offer. "She told me to leave it somewhere in the living room and turn it on when you weren't looking. She seemed insecure underneath; someone is definitely paying her to do the dirty work." He said but didn't ask why someone would want to put pressure onto Sherlock and John that badly; that wasn't his place.

"Oh for god's sake, I'd have almost hoped they'd just given up, honestly." Sherlock said, taking a large sip of wine, emptying his glass, "I think I need something stronger to handle this conversation.." he said and looked at John with a meaningful gaze, "Anyone else want a bloody mary?" he asked, hoping John would get his slightly awkward choice of a stronger drink.

"Yes, please" John said because he could use some blood too; even if just to feel the alcohol. "I'm good with the wine." Viktor said.

Sherlock nodded, quickly making his way into the kitchen and getting out their actual tomato juice along with a bottle of 'tomato juice', before he started on mixing the cocktails.

  


"Seriously, thank you. I don't want to think about how this would've played out if we had invited someone less honest over." John said. "Don't worry about it, of course I didn't play along." Viktor said and shook his head.

Returning with two glasses of slightly bloodier than usual bloody marys, Sherlock sat down again, handing John a glass, "We have to turn that thing on." he said after a moment of thought, watching the microphone as he nipped on his glass. "Maybe we can have some simple small talk when it's on, pretend you're leaving, you wait downstairs while John and I grumble something about going to bed, before we follow you and we'll go into my landlady's flat. She isn't home for the weekend and I'm sure she wouldn't mind." he suggested with a shrug, "I know this sounds complicated, but whoever is behind all of this is probably already waiting for the mic to come on. It would be suspicious if you wouldn't turn it on soon and.." Sherlock sighed, "We owe you an explanation.. because you might as well be in danger too now.. those people.. there's no telling what they do."

Viktor nodded at that; the plan sounded sensible enough. "An explanation would be good." He said and John picked the bug up to check if there was anything else attached to it, though it didn't look like it. "Want to turn it on then?" He asked and held out the mic to Sherlock.

"Actually.. how about we turn it on and drop it on the floor?" Sherlock asked, taking the bug from John's hand, "You can always say you didn't get a proper chance to hide it somewhere with the girls being constantly around you, so turning it on and tossing it under the sofa with a quick move was your best shot," he said and looked at the tiny thing. "Such a shame that Rosie will drop bowl of cereal tomorrow and we'll have to vaccum under the sofa.." he said and really that was his only idea about how to get rid of the thing soon and without it being suspicious.

"Sounds like a plan." John nodded; they really couldn't just throw it in the bin without an explanation. "And after tonight's events Rosie might actually do that anyway in the morning." John said with a bit of a smile.

"Yeah.. I nearly had a heart attack when we heard the plate crashing in the kitchen, I hadn't even noticed Rosie and Scout had sneaked into the kitchen." Sherlock said and chuckled a little, as much of a mess it had been, Sherlock had never been that thankful for the invention of portable cameras **.**

"Yeah, she's good at that." John chuckled before glancing back at the bug. "So, shall we continue talk downstairs then?"

Sherlock nodded, it went against all his instincts to turn this thing on though, "Not sure if it's actually good.." he began, turning the bug on in the middle of his sentence, "..that she's so good at sneaking off." he continued as he dropped the bug, kicking it lightly under the sofa with his heel, after all one could probably tell by the sound if it was actually under furniture or just lying on the table or something. "Speaking of sneaking off.. I think I'll sneak off to bed soon." he said, trying to sound somewhat tired.

"Oh yeah, it is getting a bit late." John agreed and Viktor stood slowly up. "That's my queue I guess. Wouldn't want to keep you up." He said and clicked his tongue for Scout to come. "It was nice to have you over again. We should do that again sometime" John said with a smile, doing his best to sound beliebable; Viktor wasn't actually leaving after all. "Erm, yeah it was great to be here again." He said, sounding just slightly off, and put his coat on.

Sherlock chuckled a little (which was an actual chuckle, he just couldn't help it, John just wasn't very good at lying or acting for that matter), "That bloody mary might have been a bit too much for you after all." he said teasingly, because tipsiness would probably cover bad acting very well, although he wasn't even sure how much of a good job he was doing himself, but the general mention of them having had alcohol was hopefully good enough to keep whoever was listening from thinking they knew they were being recorded.

"Shut it, will you?" John said half-annoyed and nudged Sherlock with his elbow, this time sounding much less forced. (probably because he wasn't acting that time.) His acting wasn't so bad that they needed a cover-up! Meanwhile Viktor had put his bagpack on and went to the door. "Anyway, have a nice evening."

"You too." Sherlock said as he walked with Viktor to the flat door, "See you soon then." he said, waiting for Viktor to go so he and John could start their brief 'scene' before they'd sneak downstairs.

"See you" Viktor said and walked downstairs and quietly into the open flat on the ground floor. Once he was downstairs, John closed the front door of their flat, immediately opening it again (so as for the sounds to blur together) and let out a sigh. Right, they had to act now; well, at least sighs carried several different meanings. After pecking Sherlock's lips, he took his hand. "Want to call it a day already?"

"I don't know.. we could pop in a DVD and cuddle a bit on the sofa while we have the chance." Sherlock said and winked at John.

What? Why did he- _oh_ okay. "Yeah, let's just do that. How about a James Bond one? Strangely enough we always end up watching Disney films over these beauties" He suggested with a chuckle.

Sherlock nodded, "Yeah, I'm on board with everything that doesn't contain random songs, real people and/or adults." he said with a laugh as he walked over to the TV and grabbed a random bond film from John's collection, putting the disk in.

John sat down on the couch and waited for Sherlock to follow him. Even if it was just a cover-up, he'd still enjoy the first few minutes of it. "Didn't know you liked that one"

Sherlock smirked a little, "Well.. I admit the acting isn't bad by comparison.." he said teasingly leaving open what he compared it with, though John would probably guess.

John rolled his eyes at that but didn't reply as much as he would've liked to defend himself. "Come here then already, you theatre critic, I want to pass out on the couch with you. And if that's not romantic I don't know what is" He said with a chuckle.

"I know something more romantic.. but that's not interruption by children safe." Sherlock said as he sat down on the sofa, toeing off his shoes just so he would make less noise when they'd walk downstairs.

John did the same thing and wrapped an arm around Sherlock's waist to pull him close. "This will have to do then" He said and turned up the TV volume two or three notches higher than usual.

"Hm.." Sherlock murmured and leant down to pick up his shoes, putting them into his lap so he could take them with him downstairs, he didn't know how things would progress tonight so if anything happened he did want to have to deal with them on socks, there was always the possibility that they'd have to leave in a hurry with the girls after all, there was no telling what those people were planning to do with the information they received through the bug. They could just as well be waiting for Sherlock and John to go to bed so they could break in.

John watched Sherlock for a moment before following suit. Right, they might actually have to run tonight if these people thought now was a good time to break in. ...The longer the girls lived here, the more he hated the fact that their bedrooms were technically outside of the flat. If they were fast asleep there was really no way they'd hear someone on the staircase. With a sigh, he pulled Sherlock a bit more closely than usual towards himself.

Sherlock gave John a small sad smile, before he reached for a piece of paper on the table and the ball pen on top of it, scribbling 'I know...' on it before he slid it over the table towards John.

John bit back another sigh and just pecked Sherlock's temple instead. They'd all get through this somehow, he knew they would.

After a few minutes when a particularly noisy scene came on, Sherlock sat up, nudging John a bit, before he carefully stood up, reaching for John's shoes as well as did so, just making sure he wouldn't leave them up here.

  


\---------------------------------------------------

 

Quietly making his way downstairs with John, he gave Viktor a little smile, "Sorry about making you wait that long.. we just thought it would be good to cover up any sound we could make coming downstairs. They'll probably think we've fallen asleep when the film ends and they don't hear anything." he said quietly, shrugging a little.

"No worries, that makes sense." Viktor nodded. "But back to your problem, that girl might approach me again or I might just see her on the street. What do you want me to do when that happens?"

"Let's discuss that inside Mrs Hudson's flat." Sherlock said and pulled out his keys, unlocking Mrs Hudson's door, he was truly glad Mrs Hudson was a vampire as well, that way they at least had a stock of blood down here too for later. "Don't want them to hear us talking down here if the dvd lags or something."

Viktor followed both of them inside the second flat and looked around a bit. It really looked like a mature woman lived in this place. He quite liked her taste. Meanwhile John quietly closed Mrs Hudson's door behind them and went with them into the living room.

"Okay, I definitely feel much better in here." Sherlock said, relieved to be able to talk at a normal volume again. "Okay so.. before we can decide what to do when that girl approaches you again, you need to know the whole story.. where do we even start.." he said and frowned, for a moment wondering if they should mention the vampire part.. though maybe that was too soon, it was probably better if they'd give him the same explanation Ron had received, "Okay so.. it all started when we met Charlie and Rosie..."

"You're /vampires/?" Viktoe asked with wide eyes and stumbled backwards to the door, knocking over a chair in the process. "Sweet mercy, that changes everything..." He mumbled, thinking about how to get out of the locked front of the house. "Look, you've got to differentiate. It's really just a lack of a better-" John began, trying to do damage control.

Viktor listened quietly to what Sherlock told him about Rosie, Charlie, this presumed network. Parts of it didn't quite add up, but he didn't expect to hear half of the information he had got. ..And neither did John by the looks of it. "So let me get this straight, those people are after Charlie and Rosie because they fit a certain profil when they were young girls. And now they want to get at least Charlie back to... make her a member of that group?"

"That's our theory at least." Sherlock said and glanced at John, "And I know you think I should have talked to you about how much we can tell him, but he's on their radar now and could be in danger because of us, so the least we can do is tell him _what it is_ that he got dragged into." he said with a small shrug. Apart from that, by telling them about this he had proven what side he was actually on.

"You're right, I guess." John said and looked over at Viktor. "Look, I'm sorry you got involved in this in the first place." He said. "As far as we know this is the first time they've approached someone we know." Viktor just shook his head. "Sounds like there was no way of knowing that was going to happen. And I appreciate your honesty." He said and paused. "What's the plan when I see her again then?"

"Wait." Sherlock said, having an idea. Standing up he walked out of Mrs Hudson's flat and slowly and carefully sneaked up to their flat again, walking on tiptoes inside it, glad that the film was so noisy as he moved over to his desk and slowly pulled a drawer open, fishing out his old phone with charger and grabbing a loaded power bank from the desk, before he sneaked out of the flat and back downstairs, "There you go." he said and sat down again, "You can call us." he said, plugging the phone in so it would charge.

"Oh, thank you. I'll make sure to call you then." Viktor said and looked at the phone. "But you'll have to explain to me how to do that; the last phone I owned had buttons." He said with a chuckle.

"Actually.. I was a bit taken aback as well when the first phones without buttons appeared. But it's pretty intuitive." Sherlock said and paused, wait... he didn't look very much older than 18.. so the first touchscreen phones came out when he was what, 1? 2? "I mean.. when they appeared for me.. my mum used to let me play with her old chunky phone. My version of a toyphone.. so no buttons completely baffled me then." he said, hoping that sounded somewhat believable.

Viktor chuckled a bit at that. "They used to be much more robust too, from what I hear. Apparently those screens already break when you drop them on the floor." He commented.

"Yeah I remember that too.. I once threw my phone at my brother and it crashed into the wall instead.. the phone was okay... the wall wasn't." Sherlock said, not mentioning that he was more than a century old rather than less than a decade when that happened.

John rolled his eyes at that, able to envision that scene quite well. Viktor chuckled. "You must've been quite a strong kid." He said and John nudged his fiancé teasingly. "I think moody might be a better word."

"Oi.." Sherlock said and gave John a smile, "He was being a cock.. or lets say an annoying cock.. being a cock is generally the way he is." he said and rolled his eyes, "Anyway we're getting sidetracked, I wish we could just lure that girl into a sort of trap.. I would love to talk to her."

"I'm sure I could get her to go to the cafe in front of your house if I do it right." Viktor suggested after a moment. "If I text you, you should have enough time to come there before she leaves."

"That sounds like a good idea." Sherlock said and frowned, "But try to make that past 4pm.. before that we're usually not at home except for weekends."

"I'll try to." Viktor nodded and turned the smartphone in his hands, before looking up. "But if she doesn't want to agree on a time there's not much I can do."

Sherlock frowned, "True.. well, I'll ask my brother he's dating the teacher I work with.. he can probably give him some explanation why I might have to leave in a hurry at some random moment." he said and shrugged, "Although.. maybe we should just let Greg in on it... he's trustworthy and as much as I detest my brother I don't want to burden the first relationship he ever had with lies on my account."

"We should ask Charlie beforehand. From what she's said, she probably knows him best in our family. And I'm sure she'd feel like respected if we let her have a say in who knows about her secret." He commented; and he strongly doubted anyway she'd say no.

"Yeah that's true." Sherlock said with a smile, before huffing a bit, "Still can't believe they've actually tried to get a bug into the flat though.. I mean.. I know it makes no sense to expect people like that to respect boundaries but.. still."

"I know." John said and shook his head before looking over at Viktor. "I suppose we're gonna stay awake tonight, just in case the film seems like an invitation to them. You're welcome to stay, we could use another man. And I doubt Mrs. Hudson would mind if you slept on the sofa" He offered and Viktor gave him a smile. "We'll stay then. That girl sure is feisty" He joked, though he was genuinely glad. And if he could be of actual help, even better.

"Well I usually don't sleep more than 4 hours anyway, so we could take shifts?" Sherlock said and shrugged, feeling like they should try to keep up the 'we're normal humans' act if Viktor was staying. "I take the first shift, John takes the second one.. you should be able to take the opportunity to have a sound sleep.. I kind of doubt sleeping outside feels safe enough to fall into a proper deep sleep."

"No, not really." Viktor said and gave him a wry smile, before patting Scout's head. "So thank you. Just wake me up in case something happens." He said and took his thick jacket off again. Meanwhile John stood up again. "I'll just go get us some blankets. Mrs. H keeps them over there." He didn't want to risk being heard when he went upstairs so Mrs. Hudson hopefully wouldn't mind.

Sherlock smiled, "Get a spare one to make a bed for Scout." he said, to give the dog, who had been very quiet during this whole mess, a little cuddle, "You're a good boy, you know that?" he asked, chuckling a little as Scout licked his hand in reply.

"He's seen a lot in his time, this one." Viktor said and smiled a bit sadly at Scout, before patting his head. "He's very loyal too. You like dogs in general then?" He asked Sherlock after a moment.

"Yeah, I'm definitely on the pro getting a dog side." Sherlock said and chuckled, "But I see John's point too. We're too busy to care properly for one."

"Your girls seem quite keen on the idea too." Viktor chuckled just as John returned with the blankets and put them down on the sofa. "Thank you, John" Viktor said and used the oldest one to make a bed for Scout. "We're to busy to do what?" John asked after sitting back down again.

"To care about a dog.." Sherlock grumbled, not too happy about admitting it to John. "At least for now. But that conversation isn't over yet." he said and smirked a little at John.

"Course not" John rolled his eyes a bit, before leaning over to peck Sherlock's lips.

"Anyway.. I suppose we have bigger issues than the dog discussion on the list right now." Sherlock said and gave Scout another cuddle before standing up and letting the golden retriever walk over to his makeshift bed, which he promptly started circling and inspecting.

Viktor stroked Scout's back once he'd settled and laid out a blanket for himself on the sofa after John had stood up to lie in an armchair. It was surprisingly comfortable, even though he would've preferred to stay awake next to Sherlock, it would've probably been a bit suspicious neither of them needed a lot of sleep.

Sherlock smiled at John, before he stood up and walked into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of blood.

Meanwhile Viktor shifted and quietly began to snore. Seemed like he'd been exhausted for a while.. John got up when he figured he was out cold, using the moment and snuck into the kitchen. "Hey there" He smiled and leaned into the doorframe. "I'm feeling a bit paranoid tonight, so I think I'll go and check if the girls' windows are shut in a few minutes."

"Yeah go ahead.." Sherlock said and pulled out his phone to busy himself a bit, this was going to be a long night.

John nodded and took a sip out of Sherlock's glass. "See you in a few minutes" With that he went quietly out of the flat to go upstairs.

Sherlock sighed as he leant back in his chair, scrolling through a page of possible dognames for... reasons. He really wasn't done with the conversation. One day, he'd find the ultimate argument for a dog that not even John could say no to.

Five minutes later, John went quietly down the stairs and back into Mrs. Hudson's flat to find Viktor snorring and Scout looking up to inspect him. "The windows are closed and they're both fast asleep." John whispered and wrapped his arms around Sherlock from behind.

"Good." Sherlock said and tilted his head a little to peck John's cheek, "I'd honestly rather avoid them noticing any of this, especially Charlie.. it would be just another thing to make her feel.. not safe. This is a sort of sanctuary, at least I'd like it to be for them. A place where they can feel 100% safe. I can't make any promises what I'll do to anyone who changes that."

"Me neither." John said decidedly and sat down in the chair next to him. "Why anyone would even go to such lengths to terrorise her is beyond me. Jesus, I mean she's thirteen.."

"Well.. they want her, we know that." Sherlock said and sighed again, "At least one thing about this makes me feel less panicked as I would be. We know they want to take her to brainwash her and make her part of that.. group, or whatever it is. So should they manage to take her.. at least we know there is time to get her back.. that they wouldn't kill her."

John swallowed and gave a nod. "No, probably not. But she obviously doesn't want to. And even if they don't know that she knows that this network has already killed her parents.. I don't want to think about what they plan to tell her or do to change her mind.." He said and clenched a fist.

"That's good though. That she knows. She won't be stupid if it happens. She's smart. She'll play along until we get her back, because she knows we will." Sherlock said and took a sip of blood, "But in the best case, we'll not let it get that far in the first place."

"No, that's true." John said and took a sip of blood. "Christ, how I hate this, Sherlock. At least we're there now to protect them." He sighed. "You know, I'm almost glad they tried to bug us; we've never been one step ahead of them like this."

"I know." Sherlock said with a bit of a smile, "That girl.. she's likely very inexperienced.. she's good, but sloppy. If you want to pay someone to give you information about another person, it doesn't only matter how long they know that person and how deep their bonds are, you mostly look at their personality and background, take Viktor for instance, we barely know him and he's in dire need for money, that's all true, but she didn't consider that he might have a strong moral code. Just like her kidnap attempt.. so so sloppy.." he said and rolled his eyes.

"Well, all the better for us." John said with a bit of a smirk. "And if she's not a professional, she's probably closely affiliated with the network or part of it. So she has some valuable information either way."

Sherlock smiled, giving a nod. "And that is why we'll catch her." he said and frowned, he had never expected to suggest to kidnap someone, but really? They'd probably be doing her a favour. "I mean, obviously we won't lock her up in a room or something, but we sure won't let her go anytime soon. But we'll be nice, not threatening, not mean.. because I think threats and pressure is the way they get those kids to do what they're doing for them.

 

"I've never held someone captive before, but I don't know if those go together." John said, and even though he didn't like the idea, he felt more strongly about the girls not being kidnapped. "But yeah, the way she's been working, she's probably on her own and forced to do it." He commented.

"They do.. if we treat her.. like we treat the girls I think.. she can't leave so that'll piss her off, but we'll make it impossible for her not to feel comfortable." Sherlock said and gave a shrug, "Let her decide what's for dinner, let her watch TV, shop clothes with her.. online that is. Not that we'll leave her alone with a way to use the internet on her own, obviously. But you get the point."

"She could just jump out of the window; or break one for that matter." John commented with a frown. "Or take a knife and theaten to hurt Rosie if we don't let her out." John commented with a frown. "I mean, we'd have to restrain her. And if she really wants to leave and has the determination, she'll either find a way, don't you think?"

"Also true..." Sherlock said and frowned, "We can always lock her up in the basement flat. No windows to break, the only way out of it is the front door and that we can reinforce."

"So just to be clear, we'll kidnap her and lock her up in the basement flat until she starts talking?" John asked after a moment. Not that he was totally against that; he just wanted to make sure they were on the same page in regards of highly criminal activities.

"Yeah.. still there's nothing speaking against being nice." Sherlock said and shrugged, "I doubt well get anywhere with her if we're being aggressive."

"No, that's true." John nodded and gave a sigh. "I'm glad Mrs. Hudson is out tonight. At least the girl has impeccable timing." He joked with a wry smile.

"Well we still don't know if she's actually going to do anything tonight." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, "I almost hope she does."

"I hate this uncertainty too." John said. "But maybe we'll be lucky; we can't keep giving her opportunities over that bug. I want that thing out of our house as soon as possible."

"Yeah, me too." Sherlock said and stood up for a moment, he just felt restless sitting around like that and waiting for whatever to happen. "I honestly wish we could just do something meanwhile."

"We could always check on the girls again." John said and downed the rest of his glass. "Apart from that we'll just have to wait this one out. We should be able to hear if someone comes in from the front, right?"

"Definitely." Sherlock said with a nod and sighed, yawning a bit, "I better make some coffee.. don't want to fall asleep after all."

"We need to invent caffeinated blood." John commented and covered his mouth as he let out a yawn too. "That's something Charlie could work on the next time she's bored again."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll get the supplies next week." Sherlock said and chuckled a little as he stood up and walked over to the coffee machine.

"Good." John chuckled and turned in his seat to face Sherlock. "By the way, have you already called that new school for Charlie?"

"Yeah, they told me they'd get back to me about a try-out day." Sherlock said and shrugged, "I've sent them a big cheque and a few pages where I describe her intellect and just to be safe subtly make sure the understand that there are more cheques where that one came from." he said and smiled, "I mean, honestly, I don't think we need bribing to get her in, but I want to make 100% sure that it works out for her. There's enough she has to deal with."

"Yeah, true. Usually, I'd be against it, but in this case, I just want her to have one thing less to worry about." John said with a nod, before chuckling a bit at the thought of the presantation. "I mean, just remember the prospective mood chart."

Sherlock chuckled along with John as he switched the coffeemaker on, before turning back around to John, "The idea of extra security having an eye on her seems better and better as well the more I think about it."

"Yeah, and since they apparently haven't bugged us yet, there are no new teachers to be suspicious of either." John said and shook his head at the thought. "I can't believe that this level of paranoia has to be our new careful now."

Sherlock nodded at that with a sigh, "Well, it won't be forever." he said as he sat back down, "We'll work this out and soon enough Rosie and Charlie will both be able to be more free."

"Yes, that's right. And if getting through this won't strengthen our relationship I don't know what will." John offered with a wry smile.


	114. Chapter 114

Exactly one and a half hours after the film had started (and was still running), it was more than obvious that the two men had fallen asleep. There had been no other sounds in the room and the landlady seemed to be asleep too; an old woman like her was probably hard of hearing anyway. Swiftly and calmly, she strode through a few back allies from the small internet café she'd been waiting in. Her slightly moist fingers ran over her lock-picking kit and the sedative in her pocket; good everything was still in place. She could feel an excited tingle in her stomach as she let out a cold breath. Once she stood in front of the door, her fingers trembled as she worked on the lock (it really was just like practice if she forgot her surroundings) Finally, after almost a minute of trying, she heard a loud satisfying click and the door opened... Okay, the film was still running and the girl was in the top room on the left. She would give herself no more than seven minutes to get her down here.. She would show them she could do this.

Sherlock's head shot up from the book he had grabbed from Mrs Hudson's collection when he heard the door, looking at John for confirmation that he hadn't just imagined the sound while at the same time listening hard for other noises from the corridor, "You hear that?" he mouthed, standing up from his chair as he also heard footsteps from the outside the flat.

John looked up at him, quite alarmed and nodded, before rising to his feet, ready to see what was going on. Because yes, there was definitely someone beginning to go up their stairs right now.

  


"I'll go check that out.. if there is someone, I'll hold her, you go up to the girls." Sherlock said and walked out of the flat.

"Got it" John nodded and followed close behind, his heart thudding loudly. // This was it, she'd almost reached the living room, where the film was still rolling. One more flight and she'd be with Charlotte...

"Oh hi there.. nice of you to come around." Sherlock said the moment he wrapped his arms around the girl from behind after sneaking up on her. Better safe than sorry, after the beating she had given Ron, he didn't want to risk her having her hands free. "I wanted to talk to you anyway."

Her heart skipped a beat when the taller one attacked her (she recognised his voice). She immediately began to struggle against his grip to free herself and get back. "Let me go, bastard!" She snarled and kicked his shins with all her strength. She had to get out of here as soon as possible. She couldn't fail another misdion and certainly not be captured in the process... Meanwhile the other one (why weren't they in the living room?!) shot upstairs where she knew Charlotte slept.

Sherlock winced a little, but didn't let go, "Too bad I'm not a 14 year old you can easily beat up, isn't it?" he asked as he dragged the girl back to the stairs and down to Mrs Hudson's flat, "You might as well stop kicking and screaming, the walls are thick and even if someone would call the police, we've got the bug, a witness that you wanted to bug our flat and tried to kidnap Charlie before, now whoever you're working with, I assume they wouldn't be happy if they had to get you out of prison, would they?" he was really only bluffing here, he wouldn't put a vampire into a normal prison, but she didn't know that.

At that, she stopped yelling and struggling for a moment. Would he really do that? Would the family even get her out in under two days after she had failed? Having stopped cursing now, she just focused on fighting and throwing them both down the stairs, before he could drag her anywhere. "You have no idea who you're dealing with" She grumbled angrily. Maybe if she just tilted her head right, she could just reach his skin with her fangs or get through the thin shirt...

"Not yet, but I'm sure you're going to tell us all about it." Sherlock said, thanks to his height being able to avoid the worst of her fighting.

"Ha, you wish" She spat as she was being dragged into the flat of the old landlady. What she didn't expect to see there, however, was the homeless mortal she'd paid, who was now standing in the living room. ...He'd told them. They'd/tricked/ her?! "You dirty mortal" she roared in his direction. "you lot are only good for food, aren't you?"

"Would you just relax for god's sake." Sherlock said, being way too busy with holding her to actually pay attention to what she was saying, given that he was contemplating the pros and cons of tying her to a chair, though perhaps that wouldn't help with creating a sort of bond that would eventually make her spill the beans, but there was no way she wouldn't try to dash once he let go, so really, he didn't have much of a choice as he started to look around for something he could use as makeshift rope or.. oh! "Viktor, there should be some zipties in one of those drawers next to the fridge." he said, remembering to have seen some in one of Mrs Hudson's clutter drawers.

Viktor frowned at the girl's comments, but nodded and went into the kitchen. He'd made a promise to help them after all with any possible intruders; but he'd stay and make sure they didn't do anything to the girl either, just in case they wanted revenge after all. //They wanted to restrain her? Would they go on and torture her? Withhold blood from her to get her to talk? A panic rose in her chest and she didn't stop struggling, now trying to dig her teeth into one of the arms that was restraining her. "No! Let me go!"

"If you would stop struggling, there would be no need for zipties," Sherlock said and flinched a bit as one of her teeth scraped his arm, but didn't do a lot of damage. "But I take I assume you're bright enough to know that we can't simply let you go again, so you better get comfortable, you'll be staying for a while. We won't hurt you though. But we will restrain you if you try to run or hurt our girls."

Seeing that she was too weak to escape right now, she mostly just kept squirming to keep the tall one busy. At the words let out an angry huff. "Hurt them? You're the reason I even have to scare her like that, bastard!"

"Right .. so I'm the reason you and your group keep making a thirteen year old who finally found a home and a family feel unsafe and threatened?" Sherlock asked with a frown, wondering what was taking Viktor so long because it kept getting harder to keep a steady hold on the girl.

"You know what you've done" She snarled, still struggling Shortly after Viktor returned with the zipties and brought a chair from the kitchen. "Couldn't find them right away" He said and pulled the chair up, looking back at the girl again, who just glared back at him, trying to restrain herself.

"The only thing I have done is taking two little girls in a giving them a home. Your group is who terrorises her." Sherlock said and dragged the girl over to the chair, pushing her down on it while trying not to hurt her, "Can you tie her up?" he asked, looking up at Viktor, he obviously couldn't let go of her, "Not too tight though, I really don't want to her to be hurting, but still tight enough for her not to slip out. Oh and she's a mean fighter, so make sure you don't get kicked in the face or anything."

"I'll hang on to that" Viktor nodded and began to tie her up; first her arms and then one leg after the next, not giving her a chance to hurt him. As soon as the last limb was restrained, she gave up fighting and tried to kill them with her eyes. She'd wait for their first mistake and then escape; she could do this. ...It was even more frustrating they hadn't even properly fought her or injured her. A few seconds later Sherlock's text alert went off: _Do you think anyone else might come for her? If so, I'll probably stay up here with the girls. JW_

Pulling out his phone Sherlock hesitated a second, before he replied, "She's much too focused on trying to escape, there's no one coming for her. If there was, she wouldn't be so panicky. SH", he sent, stuffing his phone back into his pocket.

Viktor backed a bit away to Scout and patted his head, since his dog had picked up on his shift in mood. "Good, on my way. JW" The girl swallowed and tested out the restraints, but it didn't feel like she was going to get anywhere right now. "What now?" She demanded after a moment, calming her breaths again.

"Now, I'm going to make you some tea." Sherlock said and shrugged a little, "If you prefer you can watch me make it to make sure I'm not going to drug you, if you are worried about eating or drinking something here."

She blinked at the tall one for a moment. "Tea?" That kind of an answer she hadn't expected. Were they trying to get her to speak that way? "Can't drink tea with my hands bound." She replied simply as the door opened and another person slipped inside. Looked like it was the one who'd chased her. Viktor gave a small flinch at the sound but otherwise didn't do anythihg out of the ordinary.

"Yes, tea. And if you promise not to hit anyone, we can untie your hands, not your feet though." Sherlock said and gave her a proper parents look, "If you do hit someone or try anything, your hands are going to be tied up again."

She startled a bit at the tone of voice (that's not what captors were supposed to sound like), but quickly caught herself again. The more freedom she had, the easier it'd be for her to escape. Idiot. "Fine. I won't. And if you wanted to drug me, I'm at your mercy either way." She said, watching the shorter man enter the living room. "Ah, hello." John said once he could see her. "So that's what you look like from the front." He said, and, when she didn't reply, walked into the open kitchen where Sherlock was standing.

"John can you untie.." Sherlock frowned, turning around to look at the girl, "What's your name anyway?" suddenly realising they didn't even know that.

"So you can get my background information and use that against me?" She asked with a huff and shook her head. "I'm not an idiot." John gave a small sigh (yeah, he was not going to argue with her tonight; Sherlock could do that if he had the nerve) and walked back to her. "Hi not an idiot, I'm John." He said mildly and crouched down next to her, checking her pockets for any weapons before thinking of untying her. The girl couldn't help rolling her eyes at that, but tensed up again when he checked her coat and jeans pockets.

"Just your first name will do too." Sherlock said patiently and turned the kettle on, "Gotta call you something. If you don't give us a name, we have to give you one and we're really terrible at that. But well, if you don't leave us a choice.. John, what do you think of Cecilia, or.. Dolores?" he asked with a faint smirk that only John would probably even recognise as one.

John bit back a snort at that and nodded. "Yeah, the last one works for me." He said and slowly pulled a toolkit, a pocket knife, a phone, keys and a bottle with a clear liquid out of her pockets. The girl's eyes widened a bit (they were actually gonna call her Dolores now?!) and quickly said. "Fay. That's my name, so just call me that. Jeez.."

"Oh yeah that is better than Dolores." Sherlock agreed and turned back around the counter, before letting the smile at her reaction escape as he continued making the tea, "Earl grey, or chamomile?"

"Earl grey." She said after a moment, figuring the caffeine would help her stay awake. Meanwhile John put her belongings onto the coffe table, before taking the pocket knife to free her right hand.

Sherlock could see the thought behind her picking earl grey and really he didn't want to spoil her plan by letting her know that it was decaffeinated earl grey. He did have another idea to get the girl to let her guard down, though, "Viktor, I think you can let go of Scout and let him say hi.." he said, the dog did look like he was curious to inspect their new guest and if he had the same effect on Fay as he had on Charlie and Rosie it might get her to let her guard down a bit more.

Viktor raised an eyebrow but complied, so a few seconds later, he was right at Fay's feet, sniffing her legs curiously and wagging his tail. Fay couldn't hold back a bit of a smile and reached out with her free hand (hadn't the tall one said she could get both hands freed?) to pet him. Cute. And she calmed down (which was only to their disadvantage, because she could think more clearly. Ha.) Meanwhile John gave Sherlock a smirk, seeing how his trick seemed to work.

Sherlock couldn't help but smile back, "Right then.. Viktor.. I think we've got this under control," he said and gave the man a smile, "If you like you can go back to sleep.." he said, pouring a cup of tea for Fay.

"Actually, I think that Scout and I should get going." Viktor said and cleared his throat, closing his backpack. He'd already put his shoes back on in the meantime. John frowned at that; did he suddenly change his mind? "Is everything alright?" He asked after a moment. "Yes, of course. It's just getting too late for me."

"Alright then.." Sherlock said and unplugged the phone he had gotten out for him along with the power bank, "Are you sure you want to go out? I mean.. the offer still stands.. you can sleep here."

"That's alright, I'll just be on my way." Viktor said and ignored the phone, as he shouldered his backpack and (to Fay's disappointment) called Scout to get him back to his side. "Good night" John said, still a bit surprised as he walked out of the door. "Night" And with that he was out of the house.

Sherlock frowned as Viktor just dashed past them which - despite not knowing him that well - just didn't seem like him. "That's weird." he said and leant back against the counter and - oh god. "John.." he said, gesturing him to come over once he had spotted what Viktor must have seen before when he had gotten the zipties.. their glasses.. both still having a rest of blood in them.


	115. Chapter 115

John's eyes wide when he spotted the bloody glasses and quickly guessed why Viktor had behaved that badly. "Shit." Quickly, he walked over to the kitchen window to see if he could still spot Viktor, but he must've gone into a back ally already. "Yeah, he's gone." He said and ran a hand through his hair.

"Well..that's a problem." Sherlock said with a sigh, although it did remind him of something, walking over to the counter, he grabbed a fresh glass and poured some blood for Fay, before walking over to her and setting it down on the table next to her tea.

"Th-" Fay bit her lip lest she wouldn't thank her captor and reached straight for the blood, ignoring the tea for now. Good, they were not going to starve her. Very good actually. After two gulps, she had downed the blood and reached out to drink the tea; she would've actually needed to drink blood eventually, so if they wanted to drug her, they wouldn't have spiked the tea anyway.

Sherlock watched her basically inhale the blood with a frown, "You want some more?" he asked carefully, pouring himself and John a glass from the same bottle (partly to assure her the blood wasn't drugged either), before he pushed the bottle over the table into her reach.

John took the glass and drank a sip, as Fay broke her pokerface to look at the tall one half-confused and half-suspicious. "In exchange for what?"

"In exchange for... you.. not.. going to bed hungry?" Sherlock asked sounding quite confused, "I just thought you might like some more since you seem pretty thirsty." he added and wondered what kind of system made her suspicious about a second glass of blood.

Fay frowned at him, not getting how big the rations were that they were planning to give her. Were they to stupid to plan ahead or did they just have that much? "So you'll just give me as much blood as I want?"

"Well yeah.. basically.." Sherlock said and looked at her, visibly dumbfounded at the question, "I mean.. it's food .. were you thinking we'd use food against you and like.. ration it to make you behave the way we want you to?" he asked and frankly that was a ludicrous idea. He sure wasn't going to stop trying to find out more about the network and what they could do to stop them, but he wouldn't even think about using methods like that.

Fay blinked at him for a few seconds, unsure if he was kidding or playing with her; if so, she didn't get where he was going with it. But it didn't matter as long as she could get more food out of this if she played along. "Course not. I want more blood then."

"Sure.. go ahead." Sherlock said, gently pushing the bottle a little closer to her, before looking at John with a frown, because he was getting a very bad feeling about how exactly those kids were treated.

Fay put on her pokerface again, wondering quietly why they were acting so strangely. Well, she'd figure it out eventually. In the meantime, she continued to drink until she almost felt sick to her stomach, not looking up at the two men in the meantime. John returned the look, but waited until she had finished practically the whole bottle. "Are you feeling hungry a lot of the time?" He asked her eventually and her eyes narrowed. They wanted to bribe her to make her talk. So that's what that had been about. She surely wouldn't tell them anything about their group, so she decidedly turned her head away and stayed silent.

"Look.. _right now_ , we're not trying to get you to spill the beans," Sherlock said softly and unwillingly started to get a little worried about her. "But.. is that how it works in your.. 'group'.. you get assigned blood rations?" he asked with genuine worry in his voice, because after all, she was just a kid.

Fay gave an annoyed sigh, because the answer to that was obvious. "I'm not attacking pedestrians so obviously I've got to get my from food somewhere. And hunger keeps you _sharp_ " She said with a sharp look in John's direction. "Don't mollycoddle me." She said, because _she_ had just broken into _their_ house. And they really weren't treating her like a threat right now.

"We're not, but.. that's.. bullshit, sorry but it's just true. Hunger does not keep you sharp, hunger.. is terrible." Sherlock said and sighed, "Well. anyway, whatever you do or don't tell us, no matter how you behave.. you can have as much blood as you want as long as you're here."

"Okay." Fay said and glanced back down at the empty glass and an ice-cold shiver went down her spine. [I]I assume you're bright enough to know that we can't simply let you go again ... these words suddenly rang in her ears and she sucked in a breath. So that's why they were treating her nicely; guilt. Oh, hell, please, no. "And how long is that going to be if I don't tell you anything?" She asked and lifted her chin challengingly, to hide her fear.

"I don't know." Sherlock replied honestly, giving a small shrug, "Look.. we don't want to hold you captive, we really don't. But.. we also want to protect our daughters and that is our top priority, we can't have people running around terrifying them and trying to kidnap them, we took on a responsibility when we took them in, so yes, we will hold you here until we're a hundred percent certain you're not a threat to them anymore. And that can be a long time. But we will not treat you like a prisoner or anything.. you can watch TV, draw, play an instrument, whatever you like to do, we can give you school lessons.. basically.. we won't treat you any different than we treat our daughters, except that you can't leave."

Fay stared at him (longer than she intended to) and swallowed. They were going to kill her. Why else would they make up a lie like that? Give her unlimited blood supply for a limited amount of time. And until they had enough information on the family, they'd tell her lies to pacify her. She had to get out of here as soon as possible. And she couldn't let them know that she knew. She could do this. She was cunning as a fox and tough as nails. And she'd get the opportunity to talk to Charlotte after all; if they hadn't brainwashed her enough yet, she could get her to run away together with her. ...After having researched her and watched her for that long, she kind of felt responsible for her well-being. "Thank you. That sounds fair enough."

Sherlock suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, he could clearly read from her face that she wasn't believing a word he said, "Well... good then." he said and frowned, "You know what, it's probably best if we all go to sleep now." he said and wondered for a moment what to do with Fay. "John.. do you think you can carry her into the basement along with the chair? I really don't want to risk untying her completely before."

"That shouldn't be a problem if she doesn't try to throw us both down the staircase." John said and turned to look at Fay again. "I'll restrain your arm again, though. Don't want to risk a fight on the stairs." He said and walked into the kitchen and she rolled her eyes, before looking at the taller one who made himself seem sympathetic. "Is he gonna bite me to get me down there?" She asked and glanced at her things that were still splayed out on the coffee table; among them a sedative, which ghey hopefully didn't recognise as such.

"What?" Sherlock asked, quite taken aback at the idea, "No.. he's not..." he said and frowned, again wondering what standards she was used to. "Anyway, I'll grab another bottle of blood for you and.. you want something else? Obviously everything that can be used as tool to pick locks is out of the question. But you can have pen and paper if you'd like to draw.. or maybe a book.."

"Pen and paper sound good." Fay said innocently as John returned and tied her hand back to the armrest. She still had some bobby pins in her hair, so she'd try these first ..."And can I have my phone to listen to music?"

"Nice try." Sherlock said and now did roll his eyes, "Also any jewellery and hairpins will have to come off too." he said and frowned, "Your belt as well." he said figuring she could try something with with pin on the buckle.

"Can't exactly take them off, can I" Fay said and gave him a look, before glancing at her bound hands. "You'll untie me downstairs?"

"Well we'll try it. If the place is trashed when we bring you breakfast tomorrow you'll end up tied up again." Sherlock said and moved behind the girl to remove her hair pins, "It's also your own problem if you destroy something, because you're basically destroying your own home. If you break something on purpose we won't replace it."

Fay stiffened up when he stepped behind her. "Don't talk to me like you're my father" She commented testily. He couldn't seriously think she cared about their belongings; all she wanted was to complete her mission or just get the hell out of there before it was too late.

"I'm not." Sherlock said and cleared his throat, "I'm just saying that you can have a proper little flat down there which we can bit by bit improve a little... maybe even paint the way you like it at some point, or you can sit on a pile of trash.. it's up to you." he said, pulling out the last pin. "Want me to brush and braid your hair before you go to bed?" he asked as he dropped the hair pins on the table, "Just so you don't wake up with a birds nest on top of your head, I mean."

"No." Fay said immediately, before she could even wonder why he'd even offered that for her. She was 17 years old, not 7. "Just give me a hairbrush. Just because I've failed today doesn't mean I'm incompetent." She said and John returned from the kitchen with another bottle of blood, ready to take her downstairs.

"I just figured that'd be easier for me to do, given that my hands aren't tied to a chair." Sherlock said and smirked a little, "You might want to take this as a compliment, but I don't trust you with anything that can be used a club right now."

"I could use one of the lamps downstairs as a weapon." Fay commented, though she did like it that he seemed to be taking her more seriously now. "I'm a creative person. A hairbrush won't give me a lot more options."

"True, but I trust you won't. There are no windows down there and as I said, nothing you break intentionally is going to replaced, so you'll eventually end up sitting in the dark, if that's what you're aiming for.. give it your best shot." Sherlock said and went into the bathroom to grab a hairbrush along with a pencil and a few sheets of paper.

"Let's go then. And do us both the favour and don't try anything funny." John said, before lifting the chair up and basically shouldering both her and the chair in a fireman's grip. Since these were the last few seconds before she'd be taken away (and she was alone with only one man in the room) she used her chance and dug her teeth into John's shoulder the second she could, causing him to break down beneath her because of her saliva. On the ground, John groaned what were presumably curses as Fay balanced herself back on her tip-toes and kicked him with one of the chair's legs. She'd only have to crash the chair or get out of here some other way before the other one would come back.

Sherlock dropped the stuff he had been holding when he heard the thud from the kitchen and shot back over to the two and had to push down a wave of fury as he spotted John on the ground, "Alright, that's it." he said and grabbed a kitchen towel from the table, using it as a sort of gag as he wrapped it around the girl's mouth, figuring that John would be fine. "You'll be spending the night in the chair. Tied up." he said and right now really didn't care about building up a sort of bond. Making sure the gag sat tight enough to keep her from biting anyone, he dragged the chair into a corner from behind so she couldn't lash out any other way, before he dashed back over to John and crouched down next to him, pulling him gently up, "You okay?" he asked, shooting a glare at Fay, before he looked back down at John.

John nodded and gave Sherlock a quick sort of smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got a bit surprised there." He said, wincing a bit as he got to his feet. "I wouldn't have thought she'd bite, but you're always smarter in hindsight." He commented as Fay watched them from the side.

Sherlock gave him a slight smile, "I guess.." he said and looked at John's shoulder, shaking his head, "Well.. I'm done being nice for a while." he said and shot daggers at Fay with his eyes again, though he was still talking to John rather than to her, "You can talk to her now, I'm done."

"Sure." John said and back to Fay. "There's really not much I've got to tell you now though. You'll stay tied up until sometime tomorrow, because I'm too pissed off now to come down here in the middle of the night to give you a toilet break. It really is simple for us; we'll do a bit more than necessary to make sure you're not hurting anybody in this family. If you can't understand that, you'll spend some time in that chair." Fay avoided to look at either of them, though especially the taller one was a lot more intimidating now.. "That's all I've got to tell you; see you tomorrow."

Sherlock sighed, standing up and still glaring, he grabbed a blanket from the sofa and put it over Fay (because some reasonable part of him did still know that she was just a kid), tucking her into it so it wouldn't fall off, she couldn't pick it back up if it'd fall down after all, before he turned away and picked up Fays things from the table, just in case. "Shall we shall we carry her downstairs then?" he asked, looking at John.

"Yes, let's get that over with." John nodded and walked back towards the bound girl. "I wouldn't put it beyond her to get out of that chair and we don't need her to be surrounded by knives if she does." John said and picked her back up, though this time around Fay wasn't moving much at all. "Could you open the door, please?"

"Sure.." Sherlock said and eyed Fay as he opened the flat door, feeling only slightly bad about the gag and the ties, just not enough to untie her. "Lets lock her into the bedroom downstairs additionally.. don't want her to go ninja and hide in some corner to assault us when we come back downstairs."

"Sounds reasonable." John nodded and began to carefully carry her out of the flat and down the stairs. He genuinely wished all of this wasn't necessary, but they didn't have much of a choice apparently. Fay, meanwhile, stayed still as they went down the stairs and kept her eyes closed as she thought; it would get her nowhere to injure just one of them, especially if she hurt herself. She almost regretted she'd turned against them right away, though now their dynamic actually seemed to resemble that of a captive and captors.

Sherlock followed very closely, keeping his muscles tensed so in the worst case he could grab John and keep him from falling down the stairs if Fay tried something else. He did feel slightly guilty about not really thinking about how he might save Fay from falling, but really.. she had it coming and he was fuming right now. Thankfully she didn't and they all arrived safely downstairs, which did feel a bit like they'd just stepped back into the 30's, made worse by the fact that Mrs Hudson regularly dusted the place and the furniture had barely been used. "Right then, into the bedroom with her then."

Fay sucked in a sharp breath when the flat door in the basement fell shut. She swore she'd do everything she had to to get out of here alive. John eventually set her down in the middle of the room and tucked the blanket back around her shoulder as she stared at the wardrobe across the room, determined not to look anywhere else. "There we are." John said and stepped back.

"Alright.. you're coming?" Sherlock asked and pulled the bedroom key out of the inside of the door, waiting for John to leave the room so he could lock it.

"See you tomorrow, Fay." John said and left the room, before waiting for Sherlock to lock it. Fay didn't give any reaction at all.

Sherlock sighed as he locked the door and stuffed the key into his pocket, "Are you really sure you're alright?" he asked quietly as they walked out of the flat, "I can't believe she bit you."

"Neither can I to be honest." John said and ran a hand over his shoulder. "I guess you're not supposed to crowd terrified dogs for the exact same reason." He commented, following Sherlock outside. "I'm alright, though, it's already healed anyway."

"She's like a wild animal." Sherlock said and rolled his eyes, "I honestly don't think we should let her be around the girls anytime soon. I mean.. I guess we have to tell Charlie about her.. but it seems unlikely she'll want to hang out with the girl that tried to kidnap her.. feels more like she'd try out her karate moves on her."

"Yeah, probably. But we don't need two wild girls in the house so please don't encourage our daughter. We'll just tell her a short and sober version of tonight for now." John said and sighed. "Damn. But you're right, she wouldn't have behaved like this if she had thought someone's coming for her, so there's that."

"That's what worries me in a way.. why is no one coming for her?" Sherlock asked and frowned, "They're quite eager to get Charlie.." he said and looked back at the closed bedroom door, before he looked at John again, "Why aren't they eager to get her back? Is this like a worthy and unworthy thing? If she gets caught and kidnapped or even killed.. how can they just don't do anything?" he asked and shook his head. This whole group seemed so messed up.

  


"I don't know. It sounded like her well-being wasn't too important to them in general." John said with a sigh and began to walk out of the flat. "I mean, she made the impression that she really didn't have any boundaries, apart from disloyalty maybe, kicking, screaming and biting like that. What's even going on in her mind?"

"Maybe we should let Charlie talk to her after all.. I mean.. it's probably more believable if she tells her about what we've found out.." Sherlock said, figuring Fay wouldn't believe a word they'd say if they asked about her parents and told her that her own network was responsible for what happened to them. "It's a good thing that we know her name though. Fay isn't that common so maybe we can find her file before we try to talk to her again. Might give us a bit of an advantage."

"True. It would at least be good to know when she got into the network." John nodded. "We'll break the news to Charlie tomorrow morning, I mean it's only Sunday, so we can't really keep a girl in the basement from her if she's here all day. Are we going to tell Rosie though?"

  


"I don't know.. I mean.. we can't really hide it from her." Sherlock said and frowned a little, "But.. well I suppose we have to try at least. I don't want Fay to try to brainwash her.. she'd be more susceptible to that. So.. let's try to keep all of this away from her as long as we can." he said and suddenly had an idea, "We can try to let my mother talk to Fay every now and then though.. even if Fay doesn't open up to her, she might be able to create some sort of psychological profile."

  


"True, that'd be helpful. I think she might be underestinating how much she's actually been revealing about herself." John commented as he closed the flat door.

Sherlock nodded at that, locking the flat door as well, "Is it stupid that I feel quite bad about leaving her tied up and now even gagging her? I mean, I'm still mad as hell at her, but .. it still feels weird."

"No, I get what you mean." John said and let out a sigh. "But at the same time she bugged us, broke in our house, tried to kidnap Charlie, hit and kicked us both and actually bit me. We can't turn her over to the police and we also can't just let her do all that all over again." He said and scratched his head. "I hate the fact we're doing this, but what's the alternative here?"

"I'm just glad you're alright." Sherlock said and frowned, "If it wasn't so humiliating for her, I'd probably go and get a muzzle for her."

"Yeah, I think that'd be taking things too far; she's only a young girl." John said and shook his head. "I mean, I just hadn't even thought about her teeth, but we won't make that mistake again. The way she's restrained right now, she's a danger to no one."

"Wouldn't put it past her to untie herself though.." Sherlock said and shrugged, "Anyway.. I'm just.. really tired." he said and sighed, "Who would have thought someone finding out about us being vampires would be the last on our list of problems."

"At least no one would believe the story." John said with a dry laugh, before taking Sherlock's hand. "Let's go to sleep, love. We've got to go back down here in roughly a handful of hours anyway."

Sherlock smiled, "Yeah.. true.." he said and frowned, "We can't really go through with the no bathroom breaks thing though.. but the threat was a nice touch."

"Thanks, it comes naturally when I'm pissed off." John said and gave a chuckle. "Let's get some sleep first though."

"Sounds good." Sherlock said and locked the door leading to the basement as well once they were back upstairs. "I'll quickly go and grab the stuff you took from her, I want to do some tests tomorrow on that liquid in the bottle she carried, probably some sort of sedative she wanted to use on Charlie." he said as he walked back over to Mrs Hudson's flat.

"Hm, that'd make sense. And here I go, getting mad again." John said and shook his head, before going upstairs to turn off the telly.

Sherlock sighed, grabbing all of Fays belongings, including the hairpins, before he moved to lock the front door, better safe than sorry, before he followed John upstairs, sniffing briefly at the liquid in the bottle, before closing it again, "It's cloroform." he announced as he arrived upstairs, "No further testing needed, simple, but effective."

"Great. Didn't they use that as a narcotic in surgery back in the day?" John asked, putting the film back to the rest of his small collection.

"I think so.." Sherlock said and sighed again, "You think it's safe to pour this down the drain?" he asked with a frown.

"Nope, the degradation products are toxic and I'm pretty sure the stuff itself is carcinogenic." John said, remembering that from a book about the history of medicine.

"Sounds about right." Sherlock said, way too exhausted from everything that happened tonight to think much about this as he decided to put it into their bedroom drawer for now, which they could lock.. for reasons. It might seem a little paranoid, but with Rosie coming to their room nearly every night, he hadn't wanted her to rummage around in them at some point and they'd wake up to her playing with things she really shouldn't be playing with.

John took Sherlock's free hand and went on his tip-toes to peck his lips. "Come on, let's go to sleep."

  



	116. Chapter 116

About an hour after they've gone to bed and tried to sleep, Sherlock sat up with a sigh, "Alright.. I can't keep her sitting there like that any longer." he stated and rolled his eyes about himself.

John let out a sigh and opened his eyes. "Yeah, me neither." He said and rolled out of bed. "I say we show her we don't pull through with our threats and give her a bathroom break. And take away that gag."

"Maybe give her a change of clothes too.." Sherlock said and frowned little as he stood up, "She's kind of short.. do you think one of Charlie's larger pyjamas would fit her?"

"Yeah, I actually think they just might." John said and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "I get the clothes and you already go downstairs?"

Sherlock nodded, "Yeah, I'll just grab some other stuff before as well, like you know.. bedding that is less than 50 years old.." he said and shrugged, "And a bottle of blood.." he said, still shuddering at the idea of using food as a sort of salary, or having it rationed in that kind of way. "Pen and paper too." he said as he threw a tshirt on, not really wanting to give her the wrong impression if he'd come in shirtless and just wearing loose sweatpants.

"You do that." John said, putting on something too (he couldn't exactly walk into Charlie's room looking like that) before leaving the room. Meanwhile, Fay had succesfully cut through a bit of that handles of the armchair using the zipties; she'd also cut into her wrists, but that would heal once she had a safe place to spend the night. However, with time her energy had started to drain, so right now she was rubbing a little aimlessly at the armrests. Her eyes were closed again to help with her growing headache. And she was also beginning to seriously regret having drunk that much; damn, at least now she knew what that had been about... She needed to get out of here and get Charlotte, before these men came back in the morning and did god knows what. She could do this. They wouldn't have locked the door if they didn't think she could get out of that chair.

When Sherlock had finished his little carepack, consisting of a fresh set of bedding and extra blanket, some chocolate chips cookies in a freezer bag, a bottle of blood and a notebook and some short crayons (he didn't trust her with normal long ones, she actually might try to stab them with those), he walked downstairs, waiting at the basement door for John. He figured it'd be better to go down there as a united front, rather than risking her attack them again (if she should have managed to untie herself).

  


John came downstairs a few minutes later, carrying Charlie's pyjamas. "Okay, there we are." He said and looked over the stuff Sherlock had brought. "Are you sure about the cookies? That seems like a bit too much of a treat all things considered" He said and raised an eyebrow. "I could go get an apple instead though, that's at least got some nutrition." He commented and Fay perked up at hearing a faint voice outside. Her eyes flashed open again as she forced herself to stay collected and get the hell out of there. Her heart was beating like mad, as she tried to stand up and smash the chair so she'd be free to fight whoever was coming in. This escape atempt quickly ended with Fay just knocking the chair over to the side and hitting her head on the ground. She groaned; Great, now she was dizzy and didn't face the door anymore...

Sherlock frowned as he heard a thud from the bedroom, quickly unlocking the door for them and stepping inside and he nearly groaned in frustration as he dropped the stuff on the bed and crouched down next to Fay, "Could you at least try not to hurt yourself?" he asked and sighed, "I'll untie you now.. do not bite, fight or anything like that. John is right behind me, you wouldn't get away anyway." he said as he reached for the pair of scissors on the bed and started to cut the zipties.

John followed close behind and cleared his throat to let her know of his presence. Fay stayed stlll as he cut through the plastic, though her hands immediately reached up to get that gag out of her mouth; it was degrading. Meanwhile her eyes searched the room and she remained on the ground. What had he just put on that bed?

"You okay?" Sherlock asked, genuinely worried about her now, "Let me take a look at your head there." he said and slowly, like trying not to scare a wild animal, reached up to tilt her head a little, "Got a bit of a bump there.." he said and looked back at John, waving him over, since that really was his area, he really just wanted him to make sure she wasn't having a concussion.

"Can I just take a look at that?" John asked and down next to her and Fay winced a little when the other one crouched down next to her too. As if anticipating a blow, she didn't turn her head away, but rather attempted another glare. "Don't worry, I'm an EMT." He said and took a look a look at the bump. "Do you feel especially dizzy or sick?" He asked after a moment, frowning a bit since she had frozen the moment they'd come closer. "I'm fine" She said after a few seconds, making herself keep John's gaze. "Can you just follow my finger there?" He asked to check if her eyes were still moving symmetrically to each other. Fay, a little taken aback, did just that, unsure what exactly he was doing. "Okay, I can't see anything out of the ordinary. But please tell me if you start feeling funny or get a headache." He commented and got back on his feet.

"Alright then.. If you want some painkillers, though.. let us know.. and if it makes you feel better, we can give them to you in the original package so you know we didn't mess around with them." Sherlock said and stood up, holding up out a hand to help her stand up.

Fay didn't take it and stood up by herself. "No need." She said and frowned at all the things they'd brought. "Why have you come back again?"

"Alright." Sherlock said and turned to the bed, "Well.. we thought you might want to get off that chair and try sleeping in a bed." he said as he unfolded the bedding, "We've also got a pyjama for you. You can change in the bathroom." he said and nodded to the small door on the other side of the room. "Also we have some more blood, some cookies and pen and paper."

Fay looked at all of the things trying to find the catch. Were they trying to get her to trust them? Or trting to buy her off? Or was this so she'd owe them something? "I want to talk to Charlotte." She instead demanded, making herself stand a little more upright and ignoring the fact she really wanted to use the loo.

"Not happening." Sherlock said and shook his head, "Besides the fact that we don't want to risk that you attack her, you tried to kidnap her and beat up her boyfriend, do you really think she wants to talk to you?"

"She'll have questions. Why I did it, who I'm working with, what's up with the adoptions and a lot more about her personal history. You can torture me all you want, but I'm only talking to her." Fay said and looked him straight in the eye. "I swear I won't hurt her. I have no reason to."

"Okay let me get a few things straight here. We already know a lot more than you think about the adoptions and Charlie's personal history.. which is also Rosie's personal history and I'm guessing yours as well if the pattern is consistent. Long story short, you will not talk to Charlie unless she explicitly wishes to talk to you." he said and sighed, "And we won't torture you. So get that idea out of your head. If you misbehave there'll be punishment, like going to bed early, no tv, whatever, but no torture.. and well unless you act out like you did before we won't tie you up again.."

Fay stared at him for a few seconds before swallowing. "You took her away from us" She began lowly to sound more threatening. "so apparently you're against us. I'm doing what I'm doing for her own well-being and happiness, so in hindering me from getting her back you're proving you're against her. Don't act as if you care about her, it's disgusting." She said and paused to give her glare more gravitas; she did after all mean every word she said. "She's young and impressionable, so a seemingly perfect little home with a tv and... cookies might work on her, but _I_ know what you're doing. So talk straight to me because I'm not buying any of your lies." She said more confidently than she felt, but right now these captors were more contradictory and unpredictable than they were intimidating.

"I'm sorry, what?" Sherlock asked, completely taken aback now, "We did not take her away from you. We took her from an orphanage, an orphanage she was only sent to because someone brutally murdered her parents when she was two years old, then turned a little baby into a vampire and left it." he said, taking a breath to calm himself down, "If you want, we can give you the files on the murder of her parents and the murder of Rosie's and with a bit of time, I'm sure we'll find a similar file on yours." he said, because really he was done sugarcoating things. "You're trying to pull her into that messed up group of yours with food rations and training kids to be criminals and leaving so called family members to whatever happens to them, because I don't see anyone coming for you..If Charlie would be out and wouldn't return home and we'd have the faintest idea where she could be, we'd be up and about raiding that goddamn place and doing unspeakable things to anyone who hurts her or does anything to her against her will. Because that's what a family does, they protect each other."

"Liar." Fay said after a moment and started going towards the bathroom. After pushing down the doorhandle she turned around again to add. "And I'd kill for my 'so-called' family and that includes Charlotte. So talk them bad all you want - you don't even know them - but if you continue to lie and deceit her like that I will find a way to make you pay." With that she closed the door behind herself.

Sherlock bit his tongue to keep himself from losing it right then, because it made absolute sense that they were the bad guys here.. "Honestly.. I can't believe they're telling those kids that kind of nonsense." he said and sighed, "I mean.. god. They actually turned the whole thing around."

John shook his head. "Jesus, she's not even being irrational given the information she has." he said after a moment. "But we can't let her talk to Charlie, can we?"

"Absolutely not." Sherlock said and shook his head, "First of all, I don't trust her. She might after all do something to Charlie.. or to herself, who knows if they have some sort of if you can't get back kill yourself thing.. so better not give her anything she could light a fire with or decapitate herself with."

"Right, we've got to Fay-proof this flat then because there are bound to be knives etc. to hurt herself with." John commented with a sigh.

"Well at least the bedroom is Fay proof.." Sherlock said, looking around for a moment, before he started to change the bedding on the relatively large bed. "Did she take the pyjama with her?"

"I think she forgot that when she stormed out." John said and put the clothes onto the bed, keeping an eye on the bathroom door lest she slip out and try to make a run for it. "Having heard her story, suddenly I don't feel as bad about keeping her jere anymore."

"No really, me neither. It's actually good for her, probably." Sherlock said and sighed, "Letting her watch TV is probably also good. You know, letting her get an idea what actual families are like.. and maybe she could meet a few of our friends.. You think Carl would be okay with letting her look up her own case file in the police database?"

"Genuinely? I've no idea. Do you trust him enough to let him in on this anyway?" John asked just as Fay came back into the room. She'd washed her face, so it was still a bit wet. Apart from that she looked just the same and sat down on the bed, taking up the blood and keeping her eyes on the men.

"Right anyway," Sherlock began, sitting down next to Fay, "How about we make a deal, since you're being here for a while anyway.. we should try to work on a friendly basis. We can fight with words, but physical fighting is out of the question. If you do start to bite and kick and hit again, you'll end up on the chair again. If you behave like a sensible person, you can live here like a more or less normal teenager. And I'm not trying to bribe you. It's just common sense. The second thing is.. you will start to eat normal food. 'Mortal' foods. Vegetables, fruit, meat.. because.. I keep getting the feeling you haven't so far.." he said, noticing that her skin looked a lot like Charlie's had a few weeks ago and since they made sure she got regular meals it had become much better. "And we found out, it's actually really important for your well being. Another thing is that you will have study sessions, whether you like it or not."

"I'm not a mortal, why would I eat food like that if not to water it down?" Fay said and rolled her eyes at the idea. Sure she'd eaten them when she'd been really hungry, but of course they never filled her up like blood did. She did however perk up at the last bit; that sounded like access to new books... "And what am I supposed to study? Your lies?"

"More like maths, english, history, geography, politics, maybe a foreign language, I'm fluent in a few of them, so you can pick." Sherlock said and gave her a little smile, "And.. one other thing.. I'm getting an idea what you've been told all along and I get it's hard to accept that it might not have been the truth, so I don't expect you to believe everything we say just like that, but.. I do believe you're a smart girl with a bright head.. I do expect you to look at the evidence we can provide and judge for yourself. You don't have to choose a side here, I just want you to get a chance to look at the facts and make your own opinion." he said and stood up again,

"And about the food issue, you're still growing, I've met a few vampire kids now and all of them have been getting regular meals, by that I mean actual food, once we took Charlie and Rosie in, we only had blood meals because we didn't know any better, but they've been getting sick more often and had bad skin, they were very often feeling tired and getting headaches.. since they're getting vegetables and fruit and water.. they're feeling better again and on your skin, I can see the same thing Charlie had.. dry spots, probably itching sometimes as well, right? I just want to see if it'll make you feel better, that's all. After all if you come out of this knowing how to help your friends to feel better as well.. that's a good thing, right? So it can't hurt.."

This sounded tempting. Very, very tempting, especially the school part; she'd be able to tell when to think critically, surely. And she was kinda embarrassed by the fact that regular teens outside the group must have known so much more facts than her (no matter what her stupid guide had said about sciences only being for lazy uni students...). And the food thingy too, though she had a hard time wrapping her head around how the elders had got that one wrong. But wasn't this what she'd been warned about? Empty promises, a seemingly carefree simple life to lure you in when they actually hated you and wanted to kill you. And Charlotte, she couldn't forget the poor girl who still had to live as an outsider here. Didn't these people even want to transfer her to a mortal school now? No, these promises didn't make sense, the tall one had to be lying through his teeth. Eventually she asked. "I thought we'd already settled you're a liar. Why should I believe you're actually being nice to me?"

"Well.. I suppose I can't force you to believe what I'm saying, guess you'll have to wait and see and.. _eventually_ you might get to talk to Charlie, if she wants to and under supervision." Sherlock said since that was what they had decided anyway.

Or they'd kill her. Alternatively. Regular people like them hated her anyway, she knew that, and just because these ones here were cruelly good at deceit, that didn't change the facts. ...She had to get out of here. As soon as possible, no matter the cost and together with Charlotte. She had her duties and family and these people were standing in the way of that. So she'd do what she'd already decided to do; not believe a word, play along and wait for a mistake on their side. "I suppose I have no other choice."

"By the way, if you want to learn to play an instrument.. I mean I could teach you to play the violin, or if you like that better, you could also learn to play the guitar." Sherlock offered and shrugged a little.

Fay perked up at that. After obseeving her for a while, she'd found out that she played the guitar, so that might actually establish some commonality (if it ever actually came to those lessons that was). "The guitar sounds good." She said and drank a good swig of blood; as much as she hated to admit it, this part of captivity was nice. Though, she didn't even think about whether she was actually still hungry or stress-drinking.

"Alright.." Sherlock said and smiled a little, "Well... I guess that's it for tonight. So.. sleep well." he said and walked quickly over to the bathroom, just to check for blunt or sharp objects since he didn't want to be surprised in the morning, before he walked back over to John.

Fay watched him wordlessly, determined to pay attention to where he stored keys on himself. If he ever came downstairs by himself she'd surely be able to take them from him. ...Once they were gone she'd search the room for possible weapons. "Good night, we'll see you in the morning." John said and turned around to walk with Sherlock out of the room.

Once they were back upstairs and all the doors were locked, he turned to John with a sigh, "Okay.. I kind of feel better now, knowing she can actually move and breathe properly... and use the bathroom."

"Yeah, me too." John said with a nod. "And she's also told us a lot about this network. ..It really shouldn't be surprising that she expects us to torture her, if she believes we're worse than her 'family'."

"Well, she's in for a surprise then." Sherlock said and shrugged, giving a yawn, "But seriously.. I want to actually sleep now." he said, running a hand through his hair.

"God, me too." John said and took Sherlock's hand, praying to god no one upstairs (or downstairs for that matter) had night terrors. "Let's go to bed."

"Best idea I've heard today." Sherlock said with a smile, lacing his fingers with John's. "Thank god it's sunday tomorrow."

 


End file.
